The New Humanists

The thesis of this collection of essays is that scientists must be the new humanists since the traditional humanists are getting more and more removed from the real world, into a self-fulfilling world of their own whose jargons no one understands and whose concerns and commentaries make no sense to most people. The collection is divided into three parts, the first containing articles written mostly by humanists who “dare” to think non-traditionally, the second by computer scientists, and third mostly by physicists.

Each essay in this collection is brilliant. Being a scientist myself I have obvious bias toward the thesis of the essays, but there may be some truth to it given that several responses to the book (including those of the humanists) broadly agree. The essays are deep and touch a variety of subjects. Even though I was familiar with some of the topics already, most essays make fascinating reading. With a few exceptions the essays are well written. Definitely a book worth going back to for a reread.

Impression: The thesis is appealing even if sometimes deeply embedded and easily lost in the myriad topics of individual essays. The writing is gripping and insightful.