Viviamo in un operiodo storico in cui scienza e ragione sono sotto attacco su piu' fronti. Questo libro, seguendo la storia delle ossa di Cartesio ci riporta indietro di alcuni secoli aiutandoci a riscoprire il valore della ragione. La lenta e sofferta accettazione delle idee di Cartesio ci ricorda che molte delle posizioni che diamo per scontate e siamo disponibili a barattare in nome di un presunto rispetto della diversita' o della tolleranza sono state difficili conquiste che hanno richiesto secoli di maturazione e lotte (non solo accademiche). Il messaggio di questo volume e' che la ragione e la scienza sono i fondamenti della societa' occidentale moderna e come tali andrebbero risonosciuti e difesi.

Dualism arose because of all the hocus-pocus of "The Church." If only believers used their Bibles and followed Romans 12:1 (written around 60 AD.) they would have seen the conjunction of body and mind in worship of God.
"Therefore, I appeal to you by the compassions of God, brothers, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason."

The expression “power of reason” is translated from the Greek word lo·gi·kosʹ. In this context, it conveys the idea of sacred service rendered in a “logical,” “rational,” or “intelligent,” manner. One lexicon defines it as “pert[aining] to being carefully thought through, thoughtful.” Christians are often called on to weigh Bible principles carefully. They need to understand how Bible principles relate to one another and to decisions under consideration. They can use their God-given power of reason, or thinking abilities, to make balanced decisions. This way of worship was a change for many Jews who had become Christians. They had previously lived their life following the many rules dictated by tradition. Since then, and after the apostolic teachings had been corrupted, man succumbed again to following traditions and rituals and literal interpretations of everything. Historic recurrence.

While the history of the battle between science and theology was mildly interesting, I felt like the title was a bit misleading. I expected more Descarte and his bones and less of a history lesson.

This book is hard to classify. It's sort of a history of science, or a history of modernism, or even more specifically a history of the philosophy of science. I would liken it to books such as [b:The Measure of All Things|847635|The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World|Ken Alder|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178863107s/847635.jpg|464560] in that the author relates the specific (the migration of Descartes' body after his death in Sweden) to a more general idea (the evolution of Descartes' ideas about the mind/body problem) over a specific period of time. He draws his stories and examples from a wide range of disciplines, and takes pains to tie almost every personage back to Descartes. I would recommend it to somebody interested in this genre/sub-genre, but it is probably too unquantifiable to appeal to a more general audience.

Disappointing for me. I was expecting a sort of historical detective story, and got some heavy-duty philosophy instead. Shorto is a good writer, but still ...
Also discovered at the end of the Kindle book that there's a big section of notes that was not linked to the text. Boo.

This was one of those audiobooks I snapped up on my "get all the nonfiction audiobooks possible from the library" spree a few months back. From the brief description on the jacket I was intrigued but knew nothing more than that.

I wish I had passed it up. It's not that it is a bad book; I simply learned nothing from it. It's not actually a good book either.

First, the narrator was fairly decent though a bit boring.

I knew from the start that I would be frustrated by this book. The word "skeletal" is on the (sub)title. In this case, the author certainly provided a skeletal history that also lacks the crucial connecting bits.

(As an aside, after my experience with a History of Philosophy class I should have known better than to read a book involving Medieval philosophical proofs and discussions. So boring!)

My list of issues with the book is fairly long but I'll book it down to the essentials.

First, for a book purportedly about the father of reason, the author uses a tremendous amount of religious language.

Second (and most importantly) the two "halves of the book (philosophical discussion and "history" Descartes' remains) never really come together even when the author makes a Hail Mary attempt in the final chapter to connect them.

Ultimately, the author fails to prove his point. This is a disappointing book because the author wastes such rich material.

I don't recommend it.