What is humanism, and why does it matter? /

This book's title might suggest a good introduction to humanism, with insight into how its ethical values are distinct from but complementary to the related concepts of atheism or freethinking. Readers are soon disappointed, however, since the essays (mostly versions of presentations made in 2011 at the American Humanist Association's annual conference) are scattered and uneven, doing little to answer the title's questions. Anyone not already familiar with the basic concepts and history of humanism will be quickly confused by the first essay's long, baffling digressions on topics like Einsteinian space-time or Aristotle's theory of tragedy, conjoined with a failure to adequately explain brief references to concepts like "praxis." The next five essays have similar issues, with wandering discussion of topics that apparently interested the authors, but often are only vaguely connected to humanism. The two best essays come at the end. Maggie Arediente and Roy Speckhardt's final piece on contemporary issues in humanism might have made a decent introductory chapter. Dale McGowan's piece on children's questions about death is focused and clear, but Raising Freethinkers by McGowan et al. (2009) covers the same topic and many others more thoroughly. Summing Up: Not recommended. S. E. Forschler St. Cloud Technical and Community College