Patrick Geddes's Intellectual Origins

Reviews / Votes

Superb new study of Geddes. Very well researched, drawing on new material as well as earlier work. Detailed notes will be extremely useful to other researchers. And written in a clear accessible style - unlike some academic books. Strongly recommended whatever aspect of Geddes's work is of most interest - biology, ecology, town planning, environmental improvement, cultural renewal, university education. * Amazon.co.uk * A brilliant introduction to Geddes and his world. -- James Robertson * Best Scottish Books 2020 * ...stresses Geddes's internationalism; with other early 20th-century thinkers he shared an intellectual project of cultural nationalism as a basis for cooperation. -- Clarisse Godard Desmarest * Cercles: Revue pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone * This definitive account illuminates Geddes the man, the thinker and the activist. Murdo Macdonald deals with the remarkable range of Geddes's ideas - in science, ecology, culture, history, town planning, and education. Professor Macdonald's own breadth and depth of scholarship is admirably matched to the richness of his subject. * Lindsay Paterson, University of Edinburgh * The book is well-written and scholarly, without being abstractly theoretical. The influence of Geddes radiated in multiple disciplinary directions, and he motivated his co-workers and students alike to push back the boundaries of contemporary thinking in ways that we are still discovering [...] I thought that I knew about the life of Patrick Geddes, but I discovered in this book some lovely anecdotes that illustrate his personality quirks and his almost casual genius. I have only ever found a few biographies that actually leave the reader with a wish to befriend the subject, but this book is different. This book should be read as much for its insights into turn-of-the-century Scottish society as for the biography, and I am left wishing that I had been acquainted with Patrick Geddes. -- Frank Rennie * Scottish Geographical Journal * Patrick Geddes, nearly 90 years after his death, does indeed speak to us now with urgency and, as importantly, with hope... Macdonald's study could hardly be improved on as a starting-point for further exploration of Geddes's multi-channelled mind. It draws together a mass of interconnected information about him and his associates, creating a fascinating and in places rather beautiful web. -- James Robertson * Scottish Review * Superb and scholarly. -- R. J. Morris * The Drouth * The fine new book, Patrick Geddes's Intellectual Origins... stresses Geddes's interdisciplinary approach to knowledge. -- Ramachandra Guha * The Telegraph (Kolkata) *