Publisher's Synopsis
In this new collection A.C. Grayling extends the range of his previous two books to show how much understanding people can gain about themselves and their world by reflecting on the lessons offered by science, the arts (including literature) and history. The book's essays are divided into these three sections - The Arts, Science and History - and Grayling illustrates in his celebrated accessible prose what each area offers to thought. In doing so he covers subjects as wide-ranging as Jane Austen's Emma, The Rosetta Stone, Shakespeare, the Holocaust and the Brain. By extending the range of topics discussed, THE MYSTERY OF THINGS shows how far-reaching Grayling's masterly, and timely, commentary of the humanities is to the general reader.
