Culture

Author: A. C. Grayling
Publisher: Bloomsbury
(4/5)

I must admit to not being A. C. Grayling’s biggest fan: we’re in opposing camps on many issues. However, I do appreciate his role as a public intellectual, bringing philosophy (or critical thinking, if you prefer) to the masses. It’s a hard job, updating the laity on the cutting edge in academia, and he does it better than many others. With that preamble, I’m pleased to recommend Grayling’s latest book to precisely this audience: the (intelligent) laity. 
Thinking of Answers is a collection of short essays about all sorts of socially-relevant issues, including ethics, religion, politics, science, climate change, love, friendship, drugs, art, and sports. Each entry is just a few pages long, and will take less than ten minutes to read. They’re Grayling sound-bites, if you will, but they’re less about what Grayling thinks than Grayling’s attempt to get the reader thinking for herself. And for the most part, I think they’re successful attempts. Most of the entries are thought-provoking, and not overly biased, though Grayling’s personal beliefs become clear when you read the book from cover to cover. The one thing I thought would improve the book was the inclusion of discussion questions after each article. I can imagine philosophical novices going, “So ... where to from here?” on many of these issues, and some questions to ponder might help guide their further thinking.
If you’re interested in thinking critically about current affairs and other existentially significant issues, but don’t have much of a philosophy background, this is a great place to start. It’s bound to be a great book for a discussion group too, though I don’t suppose that sort of thing happens too much these days. Philosophy majors probably won’t like it as much, but even they shouldn’t have too many complaints, given the undogmatic tone of the book.