Truth is a diamond among the rough truth-naysayers. To trust what a person says as fact,...the truth, is the very bases we humans rely on and yet it is falsehoods, fake news and misleading marketing that bomb blasts us daily. Non-truth tears at our moral fabric, fractions our society and spirals our country down among other nations.

On Truth speaks to how valuable truth is for individuals and society. Our very existence depends on truth.

A sequel to the author's surprise hit, On Bullshit, this follow-up might be anticipated to be as pretentious and poderous as a reader might have thought the previous book to be silly. Happily, both were delightful.

There is nothing weighty and imponderable about On Truth. Any conscientious high school student can tackle it and finish it in a sitting or two.

The author makes a point at the beginning that his discussion would have nothing to do with the method of seeking truth or (other than the obvious) what are actual truths. Instead, he writes only of the nature of truth and its importance. Indeed it is an important concept to grasp in an age where so many people have fallen victim to falsehoods so completely that they have taken a stand on the ridiculous, being willing to risk their very lives on what is preposterous. Does it matter? Yes, it does.

It's worth noting that On Truth is a Borzoi book from Alfred Knopf, one of the better book publishers. A Borzoi book is one they put their special stamp of approval on and give special attention to editing, typesetting, binding, and advertising. I failed to note whether its predecessor was a Borzoi book (I usually notice). Both are extremely short (just essays in hard covers) bound in a high-quality pocketbook format.

A short read, but an interesting one. Gave me a new perspective on the relationship between truth and society. Most memorable to me was the idea that a lie put its believer in a different, unreal world. Probably will need to read it again to really digest its contents.

its sort of a sequal to On Bullshit. It examines why bullshit is so harmful to us. The first book just examined the difference between truth, lies, and bullshit. But this details what truth is and why truth is so necessary. Not only for engineers and doctors and other professions that require accurate portrayal of facts, but for all of us. It's not quite as funny as On Bullshit, but it is still very good.

I read this quick little treatise on the heels of a conversation with a dear friend who suggested that truth was not a primary consideration form them when contemplating their beliefs. I was honestly hoping for a bit more robust philosophy, but instead got a quick and dirty response; truth does matter to most of us, and is actually critical to the functioning of our society. There is not much in the way of debate or discussion in this work, I would think partially due to the brief page length. This book, however, is very approachable and easy to engage with. It does feel like a bit of a gimmick, being suspiciously similar in size and length to the books I read with my one-year old son. As an introduction, it is valuable. I find myself still wanting a deeper engagement on the topic of truth as I set it back on the shelf.

Mediocre. An essay on truth whose primary argument is that it's useful. Well-written but leaves a lot of questions on the table.

Depois de Bullshit, HG Frankfurt resolveu atacar o problema da verdade de frente, escrevendo este ensaio não sobre aquilo de que é feita a verdade, mas antes a razão pela qual a verdade é importante para as nossas sociedades.

Não me pareceu tão rico com o livro anterior, porque funciona mais como um lamento, e simultaneamente porque as justificativas para sustentar a verdade acabam não indo além do senso comum.

This was my first philosophy book. Thought provoking as it was - I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of them. The book was admittedly well written and laid out, and I honestly enjoyed Harry Frankfurt’s writing style - however, I feel like it was very redundant and had a couple of chapters that were a bit unnecessary or not fully developed. For instance, in one chapter, Frankfurt dissects a quote by a philosopher that lived hundreds of years ago. Okay… why do I care about this philosopher? I’ve never heard of him, so I don’t understand how him or his quote give any evidence towards your argument about the importance of truth - by the way, he concluded that the philosopher was saying “as humans we are in love with truth”. While I can understand why this conclusion helps build his argument as to why truth is important, the author assumes his readers know who this guy is and why they should value his opinion. In another chapter Frankfurt dissects a sonnet by Shakespeare about two lovers lying to each other. While it’s always interesting to pick apart Shakespeare, I genuinely didn’t feel like this evaluation added anything to his argument. Ultimately, though, Harry Frankfurt does offer his reader “food for thought” - which I’m sure is the goal of a philosophy book… It’s just odd (to me at least) going from science and history books to philosophy.

From early on, it became clear that this book was less subtle than its daringly named predecessor, On Bullshit. The two are linked, of course, and Frankfurt works his way into a discussion of why we should care about Truth through its famous/infamous cousin topic, Bullshit. It is not until the last two chapters, however -- especially the clever commentary about Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, "My love swears that she is made of truth", and its deceiving/accepting lovers -- that this volume rises to the compelling level of its cousin volume.

Frankfurt is a good writer who is interested in using plain language to address weighty philosophical issues, but this book doesn't go as far as the other one to get its reader to enjoy the philosophical weight.

A truly philosophical treat. A must read for people with influence and power, and if you are reading also read 'on bullshit'!

I thought this would be interesting, but never really got engaged with the writing. I don't think I am cut out for philosophical writing, even when reduced to its most conversational forms. This one never really held my attention, and did not seem particularly illumination. But if truth, and why it matters, were so simple to articulate human beings probably would not continue to ponder it over the course of millennia.

frankfurt lucidly and tersely expounds on the philosophical notion of truth. although his arguments against a post-modern notion of truth are cogent, there are premises of dubitable origin and issues left unaddressed. for example, one can't simply assume that if there is a state of affairs that factually obtains to the world that we can therefore know what this state of affairs is. the reflections also fall short of engaging a perspectival notion of truth, which, i believe, may very well undermine the distinguished position we grant ourselves in thinking rationally. however, for the small treatise of which this is a type, one shouldn't expect too much. but it is a good account of a realist epistemological position.