I am intimidated by writers who can express so much in not very many words. Hick is such a man, so was John A.T. Robinson, so was Paul Tillich (when he wanted to be).
Hick has been called, "a man who knows how to poke a bear with a stick." This is quite right, his ideas are provocative. One cannot simply read them, nod, and move on. Virtually every paragraph of this book incites a vast array of thoughts in a vast number of directions. This is not the sort of book one can gallop through in an afternoon, despite its length. This is one of those pondering, ponderous reads. This was the first piece of Hick's that I ever read and he quickly jumped to the top of my short list of theologians.
Best of all, the man is still going, there's more to come and we get to read it.