The Mystery of Things

by A.C. Grayling

In is new book, A. C. Grayling shows how much understanding people can gain about themselves and their world by reflecting on the lessons offered by science, the arts, and history. In the book's essays, Grayling illustrates what each area offers to thought, and in doing so, he covers subjects as wide-ranging as Jane Austen's Emma, The Rosetta Stone, Shakespeare, the Holocaust, and the brain.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essays, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Anthony Clifford "A. C." Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, an independent undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991. He is also a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

He is a director and contributor at Prospect Magazine, as well as a Vice President of the British Humanist Association. His main academic interests lie in epistemology, metaphysics and philosophical logic. He has described himself as "a man of the left" and is associated in Britain with the new atheism movement, and is sometimes described as the 'Fifth Horseman of New Atheism'. He appears in the British media discussing philosophy.

Reviews

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowledge is a great treasure, but there is one thing higher than knowledge and that is understanding. Information by itself is worth little unless its arranged in ways that make sense to its possessors. There are many resources people can use to attain understanding, but three are of special value because they provide the best materials for reflection on knowledge, science, history, and the arts.

The essays in this book aim in brief to illustrate what they offer to thought, your thoughts, my thoughts, everyone's thoughts. The essays are also designed to pique interest in particular subjects with a view to the reader finding out more, should they so desire. The subjects of the essays range from alien abductions to Marie Curie to The Rosetta Stone to German Resistance to Hitler.

This is a book you never finish with as it's really a reference book that should be on everyone's shelf in case you need a quick understanding of an aspect of the world.

[Jenni Norey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me a while to read; mainly because it was so interesting, I found myself re-reading things to try and make them stick in my mind. Something I'll definitely keep hold of and dip back into.

[Kevin Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Mystery of Things', a collection of essays, or more tellingly, vignettes by A.C. Grayling is an important little book, to say the least. In an age of texting, gaming and CGI, what is Real is rapidly becoming cliche' as the synthetic moves in to become the order of the day. Grayling, however, is one of the last voices of the human, a mind able to unflinchingly tackle such diverse subjects as the City of Ur and the heroin addiction of William S. Burroughs. Thankfully not a specialist, Mr. A.C. Grayling divides the pages of this powerful little nugget of a book into the Arts, the Sciences, and History. A Purist you may ask? Perhaps. But no snobbery is to be found here, where the author assumes one is interested and has therefore heard of the various subject matters contained within these pages.

In the Arts section, one of the fascinating topics is collecting, and Grayling has certainly turned a master's eye to the collection of these writings. Standing alongside the somewhat luddite-ish complaint of modern architecture in 'The Cities of Modern Culture', one finds a nice retelling and critique of 'A Winter's Tale' by Shakespeare (within a stone's throw at least) and without feeling seasick from the sea change.

As made manifest in the essay on Art and Nature, Grayling betrays a soul as sensitive and keen as a John Ruskin when extolling the golden age of European voyagers and their exploits where Captain Cooks were teamed with Naturalists and Artists who documented the New Worlds of the West Indies.

Do you, like me, feel we are missing something in our postmodern culture? A.C. Grayling expertly goes back and picks up the pieces, fitting them together in perhaps surprising ways, to form one Great Culture.

[Zanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sort of refresher course in art, history and science in the form of a miscellany of essays on particular topics. Grayling offers insight and opinion on the virtues of a liberal education, the trouble with Norman Foster, the brilliance of Marie Curie and of Simone de Beauvoir, amongst many reflections.

I usually agree with whatever I'm reading and I felt along with Grayling at times, including in his impatience with mysticism and critics of science, but I've since become disillusioned with the evangelical atheist crowd and distanced myself from their ilk. I remain unconvinced by his conservatism about modern architecture and the classical world.

It's all a bit bland though and Grayling certainly takes his own white man 'common sense' to be the final word (an appropriate disclaimer at the start is present, but does not erase all the right-thinking bluster) I think if he stuck his neck out a bit further I'd get my claws in.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

… so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies.
-- King Lear


This thoroughly enjoyable as well as informative collection of over fifty essays and reviews by the philosopher A C Grayling (its title inspired by Shakespeare) perfectly illustrates both the wide range of his interests and his ability to write engagingly, in a style that neither talks down to his audience nor spares them his sometimes forthright views.

At the time of writing he is extremely active on social media decrying the disaster that is Brexit, taking British politicians to task over their wilful decisions and canvassing for a People's Vote; but -- even though you could argue this overshadows his day job -- differing philosophies are actually at the heart of this make-or-break point in the UK's history; and it's important to distinguish between rational arguments and emotional responses, which of course is the job of the philosopher.

Unsurprisingly, then, The Mystery of Things also wanders the borderlands between reason and emotion. The first (and longest) section treats with the arts, from architecture to visual media, from film to drama and from language to literature. Some pieces ramble pleasantly without a firm conclusion -- how should we pronounce the surname variously written as Bruegel, Breughel and Brueghel, for example? -- while others gently question the aesthetics of much modern architecture or discourse on William Burroughs and on Shakespeare, on Austen and on the Brontës and on Goethe, on Latin and on French.

After 'A Miscellany of Arts' Grayling goes on to 'Aspects of History', and here he casts his net equally wide, whether discussing the Bible as history, Hannibal traversing the Alps, Machiavelli, anti-Semitism or, indeed, The History of Philosophy: "Isaiah Berlin once remarked that what philosophers do in the privacy of their studies can change the course of history," he writes, going on to suggest that Berlin's thesis is "wholly generalisable":

… for humanity lives by ideas, and many if not indeed most of the conflicts and turmoils, revolutions and resurgences that mark the epochs of history are driven by philosophies -- often half baked and usually less than half understood, dreadfully oversimplified when turned into slogans for mass consumption, and invariably destined to harden into stone if adopted by ruling establishments, so that to disagree with them is to risk all forms of punishment up to and including death.

Grayling's final section, 'Spectating Science' similarly surveys a broad landscape: "I am not a scientist, but an admiring and fascinated observer of science, who tries to act upon the belief that all non-scientists should take an interest […] in what is happening in its major branches." On this admirable basis he plunges into quantum matters and genetics, wades through the murky waters of anti-science and alien abductions, examines the life scientific of Galileo, Newton and Marie Curie, and runs the gamut from human consciousness to life elsewhere in the universe.

It's hard not to perpetually quote not just sentences but whole passages. It indubitably helps that I'm largely in agreement with his points of view, as for example when he writes that for humankind to become "a fraternity intent on saving itself and improving its mutual lot […] reason and kindness would have to flourish greatly at the expense of superstition, tribalism, enmities, greed and fear" -- even as he acknowledges that it is "a hopeless-seeming prospect".

But philosophy is not an airy-fairy pursuit, whatever the nay-sayers assert: "Knowledge," he declares in his introduction, "is a great treasure, but there is one thing higher than knowledge, and that is understanding." If philosophy translates as 'a love of wisdom' I'd rather be wise and understanding before the event than after. Forewarned is fore-armed, as they say: we, as what Lear called 'God's spies', would therefore be in a position to do our damnedest to persuade others of the horrors that face us all if we continue our thoughtless race towards Armageddon.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an immense joy of mine to read this particular series of philosophical musings by A.C. Grayling. I love all of them but this one could possibly be my favourite, which is saying alot considering their quality.

[Rachel Glass · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know whether I just didn't 'get' the point of this but but I found it very difficult to get into. It seems to be a series of loosely connected short essays or reflective pieces on things Grayling has read or thought about or got any sort of opinion on. It seemed to be to be extremely self-indulgent and intellectually narcissistic, particularly as a good number of the pieces were potted biographies, or summaries of other people's books. I also found his perspective that religion is the root of all evil worryingly closed-minded and arrogant. I think I was expecting a thoughtful look at some of the topics covered, but generally I found them either annoying or uninteresting - perhaps that is my failing rather than Grayling's.

[Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some elegance and a few hairy warts: Grayling sees himself as the sort of person who would continue to play the piano as the ship sinks. I figure we don't share in that.

All in all, Grayling calls for healthy skepticism and open-mindedness for a better world. We share in that.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grayling briefly explores the world through essays on art, science, and history...

[Marwa Tageldeen · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book has some very interesting thoughts and concept but the language is really difficult and it is laid out in a very boring way.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as well-organized as the other Grayling books I've read recently, but still an excellent little volume of philosophy. Worth reading - but you might want to read some of his other works first . . .

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intermittently interesting, occasionally annoying, bringing nothing particularly new or startling to the table. I'm not familiar with the author but I think he'd be a bit of a bore to spend an evening with.

[Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening, broad and diverse. Though some are a little too opinionated, in general they are quite good.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Critical in writing, this book is lapse between amateur and the expert. I personally was lost halfway in it as the author dwelled dryly on some issues for the expectant professional reader.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The choice of the essays is a bit random.

[severyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather fine, and short, essays on the arts, history, science.