Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse - Softcover

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 * 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. -- 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 *

Mr. 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. Drawing on figures as various as Plutarch and Hegel, Kierkegaard and P.G. Wodehouse, Elias Canetti and Anthony Trollope, he provides a sharply observed tour of Western intellectual and artistic aspiration. "A master of the genre, as collections of his pieces attest, none more impressively than this set."-Booklist Starred Review.