The late Mortimer Adler, once a professor of philosophy at Columbia University and a contributor to Encyclopedia Britannica, was an advocate for moral truth. In this short volume, originally published as Desires, Right & Wrong (New York: Scribner 1991), he argues that there are some truths, which may be called moral, that are not reducible to matters of fact, and that desires may be classified as either real or apparent, right or wrong. He identifies money, power, fame, and pleasure as the wrong sort of desires when sought in and for themselves, while making a case for what he calls the "totum bonum"--the integral whole of all real goods. Included are an epilogue on transcultural values and two appendixes: excerpts from his 1970 book The Time of Our Lives and a commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)