Bellow gives readers much to think about

For the title of a new collection of nonfiction by Saul Bellow, Benjamin Taylor borrowed the name of a 1992 essay that Bellow wrote called There is Simply Too Much to Think About.

In this splendid volume, Bellow does indeed give us much to think about, although many of the essays Taylor has selected keep returning to two major themes.

First, Bellow's ceaseless and moving exploration of his vocation as writer and public intellectual. Second, his uncompromising stand on his Jewish identity, of which he was fiercely proud.