– + Critic. 49: 191. Ag. ’06. 110w. + – N. Y. Times. 11: 376. Je. 9, ’06. 230w.
Haldane, Elizabeth S. Descartes: his life and times. $4.50. Dutton.
“Miss Haldane has hit upon a fortunate analysis of the life of Descartes, and its distribution under three general heads: His education, from 1596 to 1612; his ‘Wanderjahre,’ from 1612 to 1628, spent in seeing the world, in travel and warfare, and, finally, what may be called his constructive period, ‘after his warfare was over, and this dates from 1628 to 1650.’... In tracing his experience in each of the periods Miss Haldane gives much and very intelligent attention to the environment, historical and personal, in which it was passed; and this has the merit not only of bringing out more distinctly the true picture of Descartes, but of rendering the general reader, for whom obviously the work is done, more at home with the man, since he is realized in his surroundings.”—N. Y. Times.
“If Miss Haldane’s ‘Life of Descartes’ smacks rather of a description of genius in a dressing gown, what it lacks in breadth of outlook it certainly gains in possessing the personal note, no small merit when we consider how comparatively uneventful was the philosopher’s history.”
+ + – Acad. 71: 82. Jl. 28, ’06. 660w.
“Miss Haldane has given us the standard life of Descartes. Its interest is not merely biographical, for it throws light on many points of difficulty in Descartes’s philosophy, and on his relations to the philosophers and scientists of his time.” R. Latta.
+ + Hibbert J. 5: 205. O. ’06. 1580w. + Ind. 59: 1538. D. 28, ’05. 320w.
“Is by far the fullest and most interesting account of Descartes’s life and times in English.”
+ + Lond. Times. 5: 35. F. 2, ’06. 1640w.