Customer Reviews

Germs: A Memoir of Childhood

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I had the tremendous opportunity to become acquainted and study with Richard Wollheim when he served as the Chair of the Philosophy Dept at UC Berkeley. He was a remarkable man of superior intellect, passion, and charm. We had many conversations on art, music, and his recently published book on the emotions. This memoir, which was in part printed in the London Review of Books, is a marvelous retelling of his childhood memories, and it takes the reader through several of his war experiences as well. I highly recommend this book. It discusses the cultural milieu of his childhood upbringing, family life, school years, and sheds light on the education of a philosopher. The sentences here are often as eloquent as those in Henry James (Wollheim actually wanted to write a novel)--remarkable writing style. Wollheim was a genuine gentleman scholar--he loved ideas, art, and music--a genuine aesthete. I loved listening to his stories. Many stories of his childhood and youth can be found in this book... I also recommend Bryan Magee's page-turner 'Confessions of a Philosopher.'

This memoir set in pre-World War II England has many very well written passages that nicely evoke a bygone era. It is centered on Professor Wollheim's recollections and introspections on his emotional start to life. With his sexual identity up in the air, being a social zero, and faced with irrational fears at every turn, this was not a blissfully happy childhood. Dr. Freud would have had a field day with this raw material of a life.