"Each of these little books is witty and dramatic and creates a sense of time, place, and character....I cannot think of a better way to introduce oneself and one's friends to Western civilization."-Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe. "Well-written, clear and informed, they have a breezy wit about them....I find them hard to stop reading."-Richard Bernstein, New York Times. "Witty, illuminating, and blessedly concise."-Jim Holt, Wall Street Journal....

"We all want to know how to live. But before the good life was reduced to ten easy steps or a prescription from the doctor, it was the philosophers who offered arresting answers to the most fundamental questions about who we are and what makes for a life worth living. Here, James Miller returns to this vibrant tradition with short, lively biographies of twelve famous philosophers. With a flair for paradox and rich anecdote, this is a book that confirms...

Introduced with a stunning portrait of each featured philosopher, the biographies trace the ideas, friendships, loves, and rivalries that inspired the great thinkers and influenced their work, providing revealing insights into what drove them to question the meaning of life and come up with new ways of understanding the world and the history of ideas

Presents the life of a Egyptian woman who lived in fifth century Alexandria and became a respected scholar in mathematics and philosophy.

A biography of the pre-Socratic Pythagoras whose intellectual accomplishments reach far beyond the Pythagorean theorem for which we remember him today.

Explores philosophy and notable philosophers, discussing "thought experiments," and how to explain a complex idea through a story.

"Nietzsche wrote that all philosophy is autobiographical, and in this vividly compelling, myth-shattering biography, Sue Prideaux brings readers into the world of this brilliant, eccentric, and deeply troubled man, illuminating the events and people that shaped his life and work. From his placid, devoutly Christian upbringing-overshadowed by the mysterious death of his father-through his teaching career, lonely philosophizing on high mountains, and...