Irreverent yet accurate, Mark Steele takes people who have made a mark in history (or at least are mentioned often enough that their names are familiar) and gives you the highlights of their lives in a way that makes you remember the important bits.
Here are the great minds of Western civilization and their pivotal ideas, from Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud. Richard Tarnas performs the near-miracle of describing profound philosophical concepts simply but without simplifying them. Ten years in the making and already hailed as a classic, "The Passion of the Western Mind" is truly a complete liberal education in a single volume. …