Descartes’ Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason
By Russell Shorto
Doubleday $26, 386 pages

Russell Shorto’s animated account of the life and influence of Réne Descartes seeks to introduce the 17th-century French philosopher to a popular readership. The importance of Descartes to the modern world, according to Shorto, is his reliance on reason and fact in pursuit of scientific enquiry, as opposed to Medieval religious faith.