Philosophy

This fascinating book charts the relationship between Mark Rowlands, a rootless philosopher, and Brenin, his extraordinarily well-travelled wolf. More than just an exotic pet, Brenin exerted an immense influence on Rowlands as both a person, and, strangely enough, as a philosopher, leading him to re-evaluate his attitude to l... read more

Over the past 30 years, philosophy has become a vital arena for feminists. Recent feminist work has challenged canonical claims about the role of women and has developed new methods of analysis and critique, and in so doing has reinvigorated central areas of philosophy."The Blackwell Guide to Feminist Philosophy" is a definit... read more

Helene Cixous: Live Theory provides a clear and informative introduction to one of the most important and influential European writers working today.
The book opens with an overview of the key features of Cixous's theory of ecriture feminine (feminine writing). The various manifestations of ecriture feminine are then ex... read more

Mary Wollstonecraft produced her declaration of female independence in 1792. Passionate and forthright, she attacked the prevailing view of docile, decorative femininity and laid out the principles of equal education, an end to prejudice, and the call for women to become defined by their profession, not their partner. A Vi... read more

Virginia Woolf's blazing polemic on female creativity, the role of writers and the silent fate of Shakespeare's imaginary sister remains a powerful reminders of a woman's need for financial independence and intellectual freedom.

One of the world's most celebrated scholars, Stephen Greenblatt has crafted both an innovative work of history and a thrilling story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, changed the course of human thought and made possible the world as we know it.
Nearly six hundred yea... read more

Po Bronson's new book tackles the biggest, most threatening, most obvious question that anyone has to face, What should I do with my life? It is a problem, he explains, that is increasingly encountered not just by the young but by people who have half their lives or more behind them. With the intoxicating days of the 80s and ... read more

Do we have bigger brains than dolphins? Does your dog remember where it buried its bone? Why don't sheep laugh or gorillas lie? Why do we remember faces but not names?
In 21 short walks around the human brain, acclaimed psychologist Michael Corballis answers these and other questions by introducing us to what we've lea... read more

Have you ever lain awake at night fretting over how we can be sure of the reality of the external world? Perhaps we are in fact disembodied brains, floating in vats at the whim of some deranged puppet-master? If so, you are not alone and what's more, you are in exalted company. For this question and other ones like it have be... read more

How to know that you exist. How to be an object of desire. How to think like a bat. How to bring meaning to life. From the realm of the unconscious to the principles of logic, How to Outwit Aristotle will help you think like a philosopher. Witty and accessible, this is a superb introduction to the subject by one of Britain'... read more

Two pioneers in health - Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E. Tanzi, one of the world's foremost experts on the causes of Alzheimer's - share a bold new understanding of the brain and a prescriptive plan for how we can use it to achieve physical, mental and spiritual well-being. In his bestselling books Ageless Body, Timeless Mind an... read more

In What Do We Really Know? Simon Blackburn addresses the twenty most-asked philosophical questions, including 'Can machines think?', 'What is the meaning of life?', 'Is death to be feared?', 'Why be good?', 'What am I?' and 'What do we really know?' Each 3000-word essay examines a question that has eternally perplexed enquiri... read more

Gravity and Grace was the first ever publication by the remarkable thinker and activist, Simone Weil. In it Gustave Thibon, the farmer to whom she had entrusted her notebooks before her untimely death, compiled in one remarkable volume a compendium of her writings that have become a source of spiritual guidance and wisdom for... read more

The sixth in the bestselling 50s series, and a lively entry point to the field by exploring the works of 50 of the most significant philosophers; including those that show us how to think (Descartes, Foucault and Wittgenstein); how to be (Aristotle, Spinoza, Satre); how to act (Bentham, Kant, Singer) and how to see (Baudrilla... read more

Since the beginning of time mankind has struggled with the big questions surrounding our existence. Whilst most people have heard of Socrates, Machiavelli and Nietzsche, many are less clear on their theories and key concepts. In The Great Philosophers, bestselling author Stephen Law condenses and deciphers their fundamental i... read more

'Most of the serious thinking I have done over the past twenty years has been done while running.' Mark Rowlands has run for most of his life. He has also been a professional philosopher. And for him the two - running and philosophising - are inextricably connected. In Running with the Pack he tells us about the most signi... read more

The good news is that the great thinkers from history have proposed the same strategies for happiness and fulfilment. The bad news is that these turn out to be the very things most discouraged by contemporary culture. This knotty dilemma is the subject of The Age of Absurdity - a wry and accessible investigation into how the ... read more

What does it really mean to love another person? Is there such a thing as the 'perfect' partner? How does infatuation differ from the real thing? The need to love is central to our idea of happiness, yet it sometimes seems that the more we reflect on it the more elusive it becomes. In this lucid and graceful meditation o... read more

"Lou Marinoff is a fellow pilgrim, always ready to tell the story that hasn't been told, always ready to take the risks that haven't been taken." - Paul Coehlo "This is a journey wrth taking, and one that makes you think." - Independent

In his reflections on Christianity, Saint Thomas Aquinas forged a unique synthesis of ancient philosophy and medieval theology. Preoccupied with the relationship between faith and reason, he was influenced both by Aristotle's rational world view and by the powerful belief that wisdom and truth can ultimately only be reached t... read more