MixedIrish Times (IRE)Being a skilful practitioner of this publishing genre, he duly expands his single insight into an overarching theory about humanity itself ... Pinker delivers his case much like a sprightly college lecture ... His most revealing chapters explore why we use innuendo ... Despite Pinker’s obvious erudition, this isn’t one of his most satisfying works. It is glaringly padded out with repetitive logic puzzles…to prove some banal principle .... Ends up feeling like 100 pages of clever and original material stretched into a volume three times that length ... Pinker’s common knowledge paradigm could do with a little more self-awareness.
Malcolm Gaskill
RaveThe Irish Independent (IRE)... powerfully evocative ... Gaskill is an emeritus professor at the University of East Anglia and already the author of several books on witchcraft. This one, however, is a little less academic and a little more novelistic. He describes The Ruin of All Witches as a \'micro-history\', using one specific episode to teach broader lessons about superstition, mental illness and human cruelty ... Gaskill’s narrative carefully builds up the suspense by drip-feeding us important developments. Suffice to say that this is a grimly compelling morality tale with more than one unexpected twist. It has a supporting cast of vivid characters ... Gaskill’s impressively wide range of sources include letters, diaries, sermons, pamphlets and court records. Most importantly, he creates an immersive atmosphere by describing in raw, visceral detail how these people actually lived ... Just occasionally, Gaskill stretches his imagination a little too far ... an outstanding achievement, haunting, revelatory and superbly written — a strong contender for the best history book of 2021.
