Negative Positive
Title: Annoying chatty tone ruins good survey
Review: The author's notes at the beginning explain that the content of the book comes from Stevenson's first year mandatory class at a university in Scotland. Unfortunately, it was not really repackaged for a more general and sophisticated audience. So there's a lot of space wasted with reminders that, for example, Greek society was very different from ours or that we shouldn't dismiss Marx because of Lenin and Stalin. There are also annoying chatty asides, that feel like the kind of lecture tool required to grab the attention of uninterested first years. Despite all this, it's a useful survey with some good introductory information, it's just a bit painful to read.Additionally, it seems that Stevenson's Christian background completely muddles that chapter and infects the rest of the book.The two Haberman chapters are actually quite good.
Is the review positive or negative? 