List of Michael Polany’s Concise Book Reviews

NB. This document is included as “Appendix: List of Michael Polanyi’s Reviews” in Alessio Tartaro and Phil Mullins, “Reading Polanyi’s Reading: Michael Polanyi’s Book Reviews” (Tradition & Discovery 50, 2024: 76-91). Consult this essay for additional details about Polanyi’s short book reviews, including discussion of several selected reviews in different areas.

The following list of forty-four short reviews, published between 1939 and 1971, was compiled by Alessio Tartaro and Phil Mullins as described below. Initially, we consulted the major bibliographic resources treating Michael Polanyi’s works. These include:

• “A Bibliography of Michael Polanyi’s Social and Philosophical Writings,” compiled by Richard L. Gelwick and available in Thomas A. Langford and William H. Poteat, eds., Intellect and Hope: Essays in the Thought of Michael Polanyi (Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1968), 432–446.
• A Classified and Partially Annotated Bibliography of All Forms of Publications, Sound Recordings, Internet Documents, etc. by and about the Anglo-Hungarian Philosopher of Science Michael Polanyi, compiled by Maben Walter Poirier (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2002). This bibliography is currently out of print.
• “Bibliography of Michael Polanyi’s Publications,” compiled by Harry Prosch and available in Harry Prosch, Michael Polanyi: A Critical Exposition (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986), 323–346.
• “Bibliography of Works by Michael Polanyi,” compiled by William Taussig Scott and Martin X. Moleski, S.J., and available in William Taussig Scott and Martin X. Moleski, S.J, Michael Polanyi: Scientist and Philosopher (OUP 2005), 327–350.
• The Michael Polanyi Papers 1900–1975 (MPP) is an archival collection of materials held by Department of Special Collections of the University of Chicago Library. There is an online “finding guide,” Guide to the Michael Polanyi Papers 1900–1975, at https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.POLANYI.This finding guide has an electronic search function. Forty-four boxes of the MPP have been digitized by the Michael Polanyi Liberal Philosophical Association (MPLPA) centered in Budapest, Hungary. The MPLPA also produced a database on materials in the forty-four digitized boxes of archival materials. While the materials of the MPP and the resources for using the MPP are not strictly bibliographic resources, these resources have been used to helpfully supplement the major published Polanyi bibliographies noted above.

Upon examination, we have found that none of the published bibliographies are wholly accurate or exhaustive as far as Michael Polanyi’s reviews are concerned. Meticulous cross-checking and consulting the MPP has however allowed us to curate what we believe is the most comprehensive bibliography of reviews available to date. It is worth noting that drafts of some reviews, often with helpful notes about publication, were located in the digital copy of the MPP specifically in boxes 26 to 34.

Using the interlibrary loan system, we have acquired digital copies of reviews in order to validate information gleaned from the reference bibliographies. This project has been untiringly supported by the good work of two reference/interlibrary loan librarians from Missouri Western State University, Jennifer Galloway and Jackie Burns. For this we are very thankful.

With digital copies in hand, we have corrected any errant bibliographic records, refining details in existing bibliographic entries. In some instances, we amended publication dates or page numbers in some bibliographies. On occasion, we discovered and added the published title or newspaper headline for a review along with the title of the book being reviewed. Our exploration within the MPP boxes led to the identification of a few reviews previously unknown that apparently were never published.

We hope that the list below will prove useful to Polanyi scholars. Inquiries about particular reviews are invited; simply e-mail queries to both Alessio Tartaro (alessiotartaro@gmail.com) and Phil Mullins (mullins@missouriwestern.edu).

Published Reviews

Polanyi, Michael. 1939. Review of Colin Clark, A Critique of Russian Statistics. In The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies 10 (October 1939): 202–203.

———. 1943. “Mr. Laski’s Thesis.” Review of Harold J. Laski, Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time. In The Manchester Guardian, 8 October 1943, 3.

———. 1944. “The Socialist Error.” Review of F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom. In The Spectator, 3 March 1944, 293.

———. 1945. “Science and Life.” Review of Erwin Schrodinger, What Is Life? In The Manchester Guardian, 26 January 1945, 3.

———. 1945. “Cultural Crisis.” Review of José Ortega y Gasset, Mission of the University. In The Manchester Guardian, 1 June 1945, 3.

———. 1945. “Planning of Science.” Review of J. R. Baker, Science and the Planned State. In The Manchester Guardian, 27 June 1945, 3.

———. 1946. “Soviet Economics.” Review of Alexander Baykov, The Development of the Soviet Economic System. In The Manchester Guardian, 27 March 1946, 3.

———. 1946. Review of Kenneth E. Boulding, The Economics of Peace. In The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies14 (September 1946): 81–86.

———. 1947. Review of S. N. Prokopovicz, Russlands Volkswirtschaft unter dem Sowjets. In Economica 14 (May 1947): 156–158.

———. 1947. “Russian Science.” Review of Eric Ashby, Scientist in Russia. In The Manchester Guardian, 24 October 1947, 3.

———. 1948. “Power Politics.” Review of Han J. Morgenthau, Scientific Man versus Power Politics. In The Manchester Guardian, 24 February 1948, 3.

———. 1948. Review of E. M. Friedwald, Man’s Last Choice. In Discovery, March 1948, 94–95.

———. 1948. “The Free Society.” Review of John Middleton Murry, The Free Society. In Time and Tide 29 (13 March 1948): 265–266.

———. 1949. “Social Adjustment.” Review of John Maurice Clark, Alternative to Serfdom. In The Manchester Guardian Weekly, 17 February 1949, 12.

———. 1949. Review of J. E. Meade, Planning and the Price Mechanism. In Economica 16 (May 1949): 169–170.

———. 1949. “Mr. Koestler.” Review of Arthur Koestler, Insight and Outlook. In The Manchester Guardian, 28 June 1949, 4.

———. 1949. “Research.” Review of Paul Freedman, The Principles of Scientific Research. In The Manchester Guardian, 9 August 1949, 4.

———. 1949. “Research.” Review of Paul Freedman, The Principles of Scientific Research. In The Manchester Guardian Weekly, 18 August 1949, 11.

———. 1949. Review of F. A. Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order. In Economica 16 (August 1949): 267-268.

———. 1950. “A Great Scientist.” Review of Max Planck, Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers. In The Manchester Guardian, 6 October 1950, 4.

———. 1950. “Science as Saviour.” Review of Barbara Wooten, Testament for the Social Sciences. In The Manchester Guardian, 28 November 1950, 4.

———. 1951. “Totalitarianism.” Review of Hannah Arendt, The Burden of Our Time. In Time and Tide 32 (25 August 1951): 801–802. Arendt’s book was later republished as The Origins of Totalitarianism.

———. 1951. “Planning for Freedom.” Review of Karl Mannheim, Freedom, Power, and Democratic Planning. In The Manchester Guardian, 3 July 1951, 4.

———. 1951. “Marx and the Peasant.” Review of David Mitrany, Marx Against the Peasant. In The Manchester Guardian, 21 December 1951, 3.

———. 1952. “Humanism.” Review of Erwin Schrodinger, Science and Humanism. In The Manchester Guardian, 18 January 1952, 4.

———. 1952. “Communist Revolts.” Review of Alex Weissberg, Conspiracy of Silence. In The Manchester Guardian, 28 March 1952, 4.

———. 1952. “Russell on War and Peace.” Review of Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society. In The Manchester Guardian, 16 May 1952, 4.

———. 1952. “Mannheim’s Historicism.” Review of Karl Mannheim, Essays in the Sociology of Knowledge. In The Manchester Guardian, 9 December 1952, 4.

———. 1953. “Scientism.” Review of F. A. Hayek, The Counter Revolution in Science. In The Manchester Guardian, 2 January 1953, 2.

———. 1953. “Marx and St. Paul.” Review of Alasdair C. MacIntyre, Marxism: An Interpretation. In The Manchester Guardian, 17 March 1953, 4.

———. 1953. “Scholarship.” Review of Jules Monnerot, Sociology of Communism. In The Manchester Guardian, 26 May 1953, 3.

———. 1953. “America and Europe.” Review of Robert Strausz-Hupé, The Estrangement of Western Man. In The Manchester Guardian, 28 July 1953, 4.

———. 1953. “Applied Sociology.” Review of Bernard Barber, Science and the Social Order. In The Manchester Guardian, 27 October 1953, 4.

———. 1954. “Foundations of Morality.” Review of Ralph Barton Perry, Realms of Value. In The Manchester Guardian, 1 October 1954, 4.

———. 1954. “Hide and Seek.” Review of Arthur Koestler, The Invisible Writing. In Time and Tide 35 (3 July 1954): 886–887.

———. 1954. “Koestler’s Inner Struggle.” Review of Arthur Koestler, The Invisible Writing. In The New Leader 37 (11 October 1954): 18–19.

———. 1954. “Dr. Oppenheimer.” Review of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Science and the Common Understanding. In The Manchester Guardian, 12 October 1954, 4.

———. 1954. “Sociology Surveyed.” Review of W. J. H. Sprott, Science and Social Action. In The Manchester Guardian, 16 December 1954, 10.

———. 1955. “Logic of Stalinism.” Review of Gabriel A. Almond, The Appeals of Communism. In The Manchester Guardian Weekly, 8 March 1955, 4.

———. 1956. “What Is Truth?” Review of V. G. Childe, Society and Knowledge. In The Manchester Guardian, 26 October 1956, 8.

———. 1959. “A Philosophy of Perception.” Review of Sir Russell Brain, The Nature of Experience. In Brain 82 (June 1959): 292–293.

———. 1959. “Darwin and His Evolution.” Review of G. Himmelfarb, Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution. In The New Leader, 31 August 1959, 24-25.

———. 1960. “Morals—A Product of Evolution.” Review of C. H. Waddington, The Ethical Animal. In The New Scientist, 22 December 1960, 1666–1667.

———. 1960. “An Epic Theory of Evolution.” Review of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man. In Saturday Review 43 (30 January 1960): 21.

———. 1971. Review of Marjorie Grene, Approaches to a Philosophical Biology. In British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 22 (Fall 1971): 307–308.

Unpublished Reviews

Polanyi, Michael. 1951. Review of Ernest Barker, Principles of Social and Political Theory. Draft copies dated 27 December 1951 in Box 33, Folder 5, 0194-0199, MPP.

———. 1948. Review of Bertrand Russell, Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits. Draft copy dated 24 November 1948 in Box 32, Folder 1, 0053-0056, MPP.