Whom do you read even though you disagree with them?

Originally asked

Vox, to writers and thinkers, 9 Questions, 2017

Vox used this as one of nine fixed questions in its 2017 series on intellectual habits.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Richard Wolfson said elsewhere, not written here
I chose this book because it’s written by a physicist, very elderly now, who has spent all his life working in controlled fusion. The title is a take on Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth . The first part of the book is Chen claiming that fusion is indispensable for our future, and why. He has a very readable section on climate change, a section on fossil fueled energy and a section on renewables—in which I disagree with him strongly, because he denigrates solar energy—and then goes on to say that we need fusion.

Sophie Roell, Five Books interview, published transcript, 24 May 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

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Skye C. Cleary Philosopher and author of Existentialism and Romantic Love
It’s short. About 50 pages. I don’t agree with everything she says because, despite her interlocutor and friend being homosexual, she makes a few homophobic comments. I chose this book because it’s witty and fun, it raises some fundamental questions about the nature of love, and also it’s a fascinating insight into society at the time.
Recorded Nigel Warburton, Five Books interview, published transcript, 3 September 2018 source ↗
Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysicist; director of the Hayden Planetarium
The National Review, on occasion. An attempt to understand the brain wiring of as many points of view as I can.
Recorded Sean Illing, Vox, “9 questions” series, 25 March 2017 source ↗
Kwame Anthony Appiah Professor of philosophy and law at New York University
Frank Henderson Stewart is a very distinguished scholar, now retired, an expert on the ancient Near East, but he thought deeply about honour. He read ancient texts and legal documents because, as you know, honour is a legal concept in German law and you can seek to have your honour protected in various ways – it’s sort of what they have instead of libel. Analysing and thinking deeply about it, he tries to understand how honour developed, and it was he who led me to see the core thought, which is that honour is an entitlement to respect, and that what honour codes do is say how you get to be entitled to respect. I disagree with a lot of what he says – in particular that he wants to give up on honour because it has such negative connotations: I think it needs reform as a concept – but I think it’s a very lovely piece of scholarly analysis.
Recorded Five Books interview, published transcript source ↗
Bill Nye Science communicator and television presenter
I disagree with virtually everything I’ve ever seen on Fox News, but I watch it anyway.
Recorded Sean Illing, Vox, “9 questions” series, 17 June 2017 source ↗

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