Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
by Diogenes Laertius

It's all very well to listen to Diogenes Laertius being quoted in modern lectures on ancient Greek philosophy, but nothing is like getting a taste of the original (although in translation): this giant hodgepodge concocted in the 3rd century AD is a cornucopia of curious, bewildering, intriguing, sca......more

I am very sorry that we have not a dozen Laertiuses, and also that he was not more expansive or more thoroughly informed. For I am equally eager to know the fortunes and lives of these great teachers of the world, no less carefully than their doctrines and ideas.—Montaigne, Book II, Essay X: Of Book......more

Just lovely. Even though it is not obvious that Diogenes understood or even read the persons under discussion, a recitation of their ideas is less important to his project than the biographical examinations, which are full of fascinating detail (which, of course, we are cautioned might be fictional)......more

If you are not totally familiar with philosophy or it is hard for you to understand it, then you should read the "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers" for its simplicity and ancient humor. I will never regret reading this book. Although I am not a specialist philosopher, I regard "Lives of Eminent Phi......more

What I love about Lives of the Eminent Philosophers is the sense it gives of the intense intellectual ferment that was such an important part of ancient Greek culture. These were people who had escaped (at least partially) from superstition and dared to think for themselves, to use reason instead of......more