Examined lives: twelve great thinkers and the search for wisdom, from Socrates to Nietzsche

Before the good life was reduced to a bottle of Prozac, it was philosophers who offered answers to the most fundamental questions about who we are and how to live well.

Here, James Miller returns to this vibrant tradition with short and spirited biographies of 12 famous thinkers, examining the interplay of their life and thought.

From Plato, who risked his reputation to tutor a tyrant, to Kant, who wrestled with hypochondria while advocating arch-rationality in his writings, each thinker took their own unique approach to 'the good life', but often struggled to put their theories into practice.