Over on Crooked Timber, the philosopher Ingrid Robeyns has a post up about what makes a popular philosophy book a good book. In comments, the historian Rachel Stone (of Magistra et Mater) adds an additional criterion to the list given by Robeyns: a popular book should be nonpartisan: I need to feel comfortable that the author is not ignoring evidence that doesn’t suit their argument, and I often find that that can stem as much from ideological viewpoints as from purely financial motivations. It’s obviously impossible to avoid some ideological bias, but I think you need to have some secure Read more