Siri Hustvedt, an authoritative and independent-minded writer on the arts and sciences, brings the felt experience into her smart, stimulating and hefty new collection of essays ... What’s exciting about Hustvedt’s work is her desire for us to see the world anew ... Hustvedt does not resolve her many questions, but her exhilarating conclusion testifies to the virtues of doubt ... the strength and lucidity of Hustvedt’s good thinking calls us to have confidence in our own instincts, to be alert to delusions and inherited traditions, and to realize that many truths are fiction, and only exist to the extent that we believe them.
Among the best essays are the ones in which Hustvedt skilfully weaves her personal stories (about her mother, her daughter, her own childhood) with the state of the world, academia and technology ... I found her criticism of several thinkers, such as Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, rather unbalanced and unfair ... Hustvedt’s voice fluctuates as she moves between different subjects of interest and you might find yourself disagreeing with a few of her conclusions but it is obvious that hers is a great mind that is constantly exploring, searching, 'becoming' ... Hustvedt has provided us with an impressive collection that celebrates critical thinking.
For me, the work in the first section was the strongest, demonstrating that Hustvedt is a writer with an unusual blend of incisive intelligence, humour and imagination ... [Hustvedt] is able to combine this personal perspective with erudite analysis and, as the personal perspective is at the forefront, she is always open to uncertainty, which she sees, rightly, as itself a political stance ... We are fortunate to have Hustvedt voicing doubt so intelligently.
