I can't tell you in this space how good this book is. It reviews all forms of counter-enlightenment zealotry individually: the postmodernists, the romantics, the zoologists of humanity, the cognitive machine theories of humanity, and so on. Tallis is a very sensitive man who has gone to a great deal of effort to understand the arguments of the opponents of rationalism and science. He has good credentials too, since he is an MD who has published an awful lot of articles in his field, gerontology. He is British, to boot, so he writes well and with wit. I know of no other complete review of the counter-enlightenment goofs under a single cover. In addition, Tallis is careful to extract the Scottish from the French enlightenment, where the French is the strand with the excessive moral zeal that wanted to perfect all nations into models of the French, which is the chief thorn making the counter-enlightenment crowd angry. If you take the social activism element out of the enlightenment, you are left with only the scientific element, and the charge that the enlightenment was an attempt at cultural hegemony is ludicrous. The final chapter is a defense of the enlightenment that is careful, strenuous and clear eyed. This book is excellent reading, and a very nice contribution to the central debate of our times.

It is unfortunate that Tallis' views seem to be rather obscure compared to the large piles of tripe put out by people such as Dennett, Dawkins, Foucault and the Churchlands. In the series of essays contained in this book Tallis mehodically dismantles many aspects of both modernism and its antithesis, post-modernism.

Both have needed to have their fundamental frameworks laid bare but few have been able to cut through all the self-grandizing hyperbole to really go for the jugular. Tallis' essays demonstrate his wide range of knowledge and very perceptive views.

The first essay, "Explicitness and Truth (and Falsehood)" is worth the price of the book alone since it brings to the fore how the nature of truth itself has been obscured and twisted to suit modernism and post-modernism. Not only does Tallis' argument lay bare the problems but this is one of the few philosophical works that is quite readable. That is, Tallis' tone and style make this book quite enjoyable to read.

The "A Critical Dictionay of Neuromythology" neatly debunks the interesting variations on definitions readily invented by authors such as the Churchlands and Dennett. I suspect they will bluster and perhaps produce some responses but the true nature of their arguments, incoherence, shines forth after reading this work.

I enjoyed Tallis' references to Wittgenstein and the critique of de Saussure in addition to the other essays. Throughout the book Tallis displays a quiet brilliance that will hopefully be recognized by others in the philosophy of mind.

Enjoy.