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A review by raykluender
The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought by Dennis C. Rasmussen
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.