The Explicit Animal

Reviews / Votes

'There may be other professors of geriatric medecine who have chosen to write down their views on life, the universe and everything...Raymond Tallis is unusual in that he is philosophically well educated and alert; his books are genuine contributions to professional debate and must be assessed as such. It is, of course, acutely irritating that someone with a different professional competence should have read more widely, and more attentively, in one's own field than oneself; even more irritating that there are no obvious misreadings...It is to be hoped that Raymond Tallis finds time, amid his professorial and clinical duties, to continue the exploration.' - Professor Stephen Clark, Times Literary Supplement

From the reviews of Enemies of Hope:

'`Tallis....is a high achiever with a range of expertise that would leave Jonathan Miller gasping' - Walter Ellis, The Sunday Times

'As its title and length indicate, this is a Big Book. It is written, nevertheless, in a clear, accessible, unpretentious and often witty style. And as anyone familiar with Raymond Tallis's other similar works will know, it has important things to say....there is about his panoptic sweep an intrepidity, a candour and open-mindedness, a gameness for anything, a total lack of vanity or self-importance, and a generous hatred of cant, that are extremely engaging. Every page of Enemies of Hope is lit by its author's characteristic wisdom and luminous intelligence, and by flashes of novel, striking insight. That alone is as much as to say, read it.' - Robert Grant, The Times Literary Supplement

'Brilliantly argued and with a wide range of erudition' - Nicholas Kochan, The Financial Times

'There may be other professors of geriatric medicine who have chosen to write down their views on life, the universe and everything...Raymond Tallis is unusual in that he is philosophically well educated and alert; his books are genuine contributions to professional debate and must be assessed as such.' - Stephen R.L. Clark, Times Literary Supplement