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doctortdm's review
4.0
A well-composed story of these two men of their relationship and contributions.
raykluender's review
3.0
I had no idea Hume and Smith had such a strong influence on each other! Hume may be my favorite philosopher and Smith's ideas have shaped my worldview and career path arguably as much as anyone in history so it was interesting to discover they were best friends.
It was also neat to see the areas where they disagreed, and how much Hume actually influenced The Wealth of Nations -- it suggests to me he may be underrated!
That being said, they're both sedentary academics and lifelong bachelors so there's not much of interest in the historical narration of their friendship. An awful lot of historical footnotes as the author accounted for time (e.g. "sadly, we do not have any letters from this period...") that diminished the experience a bit for me.
It was also neat to see the areas where they disagreed, and how much Hume actually influenced The Wealth of Nations -- it suggests to me he may be underrated!
That being said, they're both sedentary academics and lifelong bachelors so there's not much of interest in the historical narration of their friendship. An awful lot of historical footnotes as the author accounted for time (e.g. "sadly, we do not have any letters from this period...") that diminished the experience a bit for me.
theramblingreader's review
4.0
I was familiar with the works of these two thinkers, but until reading this book had no idea the two were such close friends. Understanding this friendship may not be strictly necessary for understanding either of their independent works, but it certainly does help understanding the context in which the words were written.
robk's review against another edition
4.0
I agree with some of the other reviews that mention that this book sometimes focuses more on a summary of each thinker's work rather than their friendship, but nevertheless, there is much to be learned from these two thinkers, who, despite the fact that they didn't always agree, demonstrated loyalty to one-another and mutual respect.
askannakarenina's review against another edition
5.0
Great biography of both Hume and Smith, as well as a great overview of their philosophies. Definitely meant for those interested in the political theory of the Scottish Enlightenment, but excellent nonetheless.
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