I bought this book based on a fantastic podcast interview and I was even more impressed by the book. This is one of those rare non-fiction books that I was not able to put down and I completed this in less than 48 hours. The topic does align with my interests, and Montás does a beautiful job of weaving his own personal story through the more technical aspects of the four figures he focuses on, the intricacies of the modern university research institution, and how best to reintegrate humanities within the context of a post-secondary educational institutional paradigm that privileges future potential earnings; as Montás articulates ‘Liberal education looks to the meaning of human life beyond the requirements of substance - instead asking how to make a living, liberal education asks what living is for.’

Montás' argument at the conclusion is that a liberal education should be a part of all fields of study whether STEM, Medical, Law or any other field of study that now does not require the study of humanities. I couldn't agree more. I think a big reason when we look around the world at this current conjuncture and ask ‘why does everything suck so much’ I would point to the extrication of a liberal arts education from the core requirements of post-secondary education as a fundamental driver in the state of things.

I love the idea proposed by Jimena Canales who argues for a melding of the ‘hard sciences’ and humanities into what she brilliantly calls ‘Sciumanities.’ The rapid disintegration of our social order in the West is directly tied to the separation of the ‘Why’ from the ‘What’ in our post-secondary pedagogy. We need a sustained and intensifying rebraiding of the humanities into the ‘hard’ sciences, if we are to have much hope for a future which will sustain the conditions for human flourishing.