One of our most astute cultural critics offers a study of genius - and psuedo-genius - at work, and shows how intelligence can be used and abused.
“In the faculty of writing nonsense,” the English critic Walter Bagehot once observed, “stupidity is no match for genius.” In Lives of the Mind, Roger Kimball, one of the best of our cultural critics, offers a lively and penetrating study of genius—and pseudo-genius—at work and investigates the use and abuse of intelligence. When does a love of ideas become a dangerous infatuation? What antidotes are there for the silliness of unanchored intellect? Drawing on figures as various as Plutarch and Hegel, Kierkegaard and P. G. Wodehouse, Elias Canetti and Anthony Trollope, Bagehot and Wittgenstein and Sybille Bedford, Mr. Kimball provides a sharply observed tour of Western intellectual and artistic aspiration. He shows what happens when intellect trumps common sense, and how an affirmation of shared values and ordinary reality can rescue us from the temptations of the higher stupidity. Part cautionary tale, part literary celebration, Lives of the Mind is a witty, deeply engaging guide for the perplexed. The New York Times Book Review has called Mr. Kimball “a scathing critic but one whose tirades are usually justified....His intellectual rigor is refreshing.” And Gertrude Himmelfarb has written: “His essays reflect a steadiness of mind, a coherence, conviction, and passion that make him one of the most candid and perceptive critics of American culture.”
“We rely on the true critic to cultivate our intelligence, refine our tastes, and show us the way to higher pleasures. Roger Kimball is just such a critic.”
Lives of the Mind is a work of generous humanity. The Weekly Standard
Kimball does a very good job of integrating the lives of his subjects with the development of their ideas. CHOICE
[Kimball] writes with verve and can unpack complex arguments and make them luminously clear….His work…is criticism at its best. New York Sun
-- Mark Miller The Wall Street Journal
Anyone interested in language, thought, and their sociocultural embeddness will find this a both dynamic and practical book. Virginia Quarterly
Kimball’s…essays make for bracing and satisfying reading. -- Virgil Nemoianu Review of Metaphysics
Rich and accessible essays.... Kimball writes with verve... Sewanee Review
Roger Kimball is managing editor of the New Criterion and an art critic for the London Spectator. His other books include Art's Prospect, Experiments Against Reality, The Long March, and Tenured Radicals. He lives in South Norwalk, Connecticut.
"In the faculty of writing nonsense," the English critic Walter Bagehot once observed, "stupidity is no match for genius." In Lives of the Mind, Roger Kimball, one of the best of our cultural critics, offers a lively and penetrating study of genius--and pseudo-genius--at work and investigates the use and abuse of intelligence. When does a love of ideas become a dangerous infatuation? What antidotes are there for the silliness of unanchored intellect? Drawing on figures as various as Plutarch and Hegel, Kierkegaard and P. G. Wodehouse, Elias Canetti and Anthony Trollope, Bagehot and Wittgenstein and Sybille Bedford, Mr. Kimball provides a sharply observed tour of Western intellectual and artistic aspiration. He shows what happens when intellect trumps common sense, and how an affirmation of shared values and ordinary reality can rescue us from the temptations of the higher stupidity. Part cautionary tale, part literary celebration, Lives of the Mind is a witty, deeply engaging guide for the perplexed. The New York Times Book Review has called Mr. Kimball "a scathing critic but one whose tirades are usually justified....His intellectual rigor is refreshing." And Gertrude Himmelfarb has written: "His essays reflect a steadiness of mind, a coherence, conviction, and passion that make him one of the most candid and perceptive critics of American culture."
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