Human Studies (2006) 29: 123–127 DOI: 10.1007/s10746-005-9014-1 C  Springer 2006 Book Review Lessons in Conversation Hans-Georg Gadamer, A Century of Philosophy: Hans-Georg Gadamer in Conversation with Riccardo Dottori. Trans. Rod Coltman with Sigrid Koepke. New York: Continuum, 2004. A Century of Philosophy consists mainly of an extended interview with Hans-Georg Gadamer by Riccardo Dottori, an Italian philosopher who knew Gadamer for more than thirty years. The recorded conversations took place at unspecified times during the years 1999 and 2000. The title of the book – at least for the English translation – stems from the fact that in the second calendar year during which the interview was conducted Gadamer turned one hundred years old. The book originally appeared in German in 2001, and included a very brief forward by Gadamer that is not included in the English translation. Dottori’s introduction to the interview recounts his first acquaintance with Gadamer, moves interestingly through a brief personal sketch of notable philosophical events in Gadamer’s life over the subsequent thirty years, and ends with an orientation to problems in Gadamer’s hermeneutics in light of an essay by J¨ urgen Habermas written on the occasion of Gadamer’s one hundredth birthday. The book concludes with a brief essay by Dottori in which he discusses the nature of portraiture in light of a then recently composed portrait of Gadamer by Dora Mittenzwei. A reproduction of this portrait covers the front of the book. In this extended interview with Gadamer, Dottori, to his credit, does not subject Gadamer to a questioning that would have him simply review and clarify his position put forward in Truth and Method. This is not to say that there is no place for such an interview. In point of fact, this kind of interview has been conducted on numerous occasions and has come to publication in several journals and books. The most successful of this kind of interview is the one conducted by Carsten Dutt which was published in 1993 with the title Hermeneutik – ¨ Asthetik – Praktische Philosophie: Hans-Georg Gadamer im Gespr¨ ach. Dutt’s sectioning of his interview into three parts (hermeneutics, aesthetics, and practical philosophy), along with his handling of the inter- view, allowed room for Gadamer to give us fresh insights into his work.