Biography & autobiography / Philosophers

A Personal Odyssey

by Thomas Sowell

This is the gritty story of one man's lifelong education in the school of hard knocks, as his journey took him from Harlem to the Marines, the Ivy League, and a career as a controversial writer, teacher, and...

The Journals of Ayn Rand

by Ayn Rand

Rarely has a writer and thinker of the stature of Ayn Rand afforded us access to her most intimate thoughts and feelings. From Journals of Ayn Rand, we gain an invaluable new understanding and appreciation of...

The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America

by Don Lattin

This book is the story of how three brilliant scholars and one ambitious freshman crossed paths in the early sixties at a Harvard-sponsored psychedelic-drug research project, transforming their lives and American...

A Short Life of Kierkegaard (New in Paperback)

by Walter Lowrie & Alastair Hannay

A small, insignificant-looking intellectual with absurdly long legs, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a veritable Hans Christian Andersen caricature of a man. A strange combination of witty cosmopolite and...

John Stuart Mill

by Dale Miller

This book offers a clear and highly readable introduction to the ethical and social-political philosophy of John Stuart Mill.

Dale E. Miller argues for a "utopian" reading of Mill's utilitarianism. He analyses...

The Philosopher, the Priest, and the Painter: A Portrait of Descartes

by Steven Nadler

In the Louvre museum hangs a portrait of a middle-aged man with long dark hair, a mustache, and heavy-lidded eyes, and he is dressed in the starched white collar and black coat of the typical Dutch burgher....

Thomas More

by Richard Marius

Most previous biographers of Thomas More have sought to prove him a saint; in this, the first full-scale biography of More in half a century, Richard Marius, a leading Reformation historian, seeks to restore...

The King of Infinite Space: Euclid and His Elements

by David Berlinski

Geometry defines the world around us, helping us make sense of everything from architecture to military science to fashion. And for over two thousand years, geometry has been equated with Euclid’s Elements...

Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman

by Jeremy Adelman

Worldly Philosopher chronicles the times and writings of Albert O. Hirschman, one of the twentieth century's most original and provocative thinkers. In this gripping biography, Jeremy Adelman tells the story...

Philosophers Behaving Badly

by Nigel Rodgers & Mel Thompson

An engaging and often hilarious survey of the far-from-fusty extra-curricular activities of some of philosophy’s finest practitioners Philosophers Behaving Badly examines the lives of eight great philosophers—Rousseau,...

Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre

by Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir’s account of the last ten years of Jean-Paul Sartre’s life provides a focus for understanding one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century. But the book, consisting of both a...

Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre

by Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir’s account of the last ten years of Jean-Paul Sartre’s life provides a focus for understanding one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century. But the book, consisting of both a...

Maverick Genius

by Phillip F. Schewe

Scientist. Innovator. Rebel.

For decades, Freeman Dyson has been regarded as one of the world’s most important thinkers. The Atlantic wrote, “In the range of his genius, Freeman Dyson is heir to Einstein...

Beyond the Homestretch: What Saving Racehorses Taught Me About Starting Over, Facing Fear, and Finding My Inner Cowgirl

by Lynn Reardon

Lynn Reardon presents a vivid inside look into the world of horse racing, beautifully depicting the insights horses can offer when we reevaluate our relationship with them.

Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity

by Rebecca Goldstein

Part of the Jewish Encounter series

In 1656, Amsterdam’s Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty–three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating...

How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

National Book Critics Circle for Biography 2010

by Sarah Bakewell

Winner of the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography

How to get along with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love—such questions arise in most people’s...

Ockham Explained

by Rondo Keele

Ockham Explained is an important and much-needed resource on William of Ockham, one of the most important philosophers of the Middle Ages. His eventful and controversial life was marked by sharp career moves...

Friedrich Nietzsche

by Curtis Cate

There is currently no description available for this title at this time.

Maimonides

by Abraham Joshua Heschel & Joachim Neugroschel

Heschel's classic work on Maimonides, originally published in Berlin during the thirties, is one of the few scholarly biographies available of the great medieval philosopher.

A Short History of My Philosophy

by Agnes Heller

A Short History of My Philosophy is an autobiographic account of Agnes Heller's intellectual and academic career. It traces the development of ideas and gives a thorough account of some of Agnes Heller's most...