The sage train - Nicky Hansell

Friedrich Nietzsche is dead. Not only that, but he's lost and alone, climbing a mountain with no one to talk to. So, when he spies someone coming towards him, he's delighted. Surely this man is important; someone who walks his own path? The writer, G. K. Chesterton, is no Nietzschean hero. But he does have a knapsack of food. Its not long before some of history's greatest ever philosophers are seen winding their way towards them. The unlikely pair decide to visit the Sages; not in heaven but as they were on earth and embark on an extraordinary journey. Travelling with them, we meet the greats and see what their lives were about. Did you know, for example, that Thomas Hobbes was so scared of spirits that he slept with his servant at night, or that the great Immanuel Kant went for the same walk every day, so precisely that his neighbours could adjust their clocks? A blend of biography, philosophy and fiction, The Sage Train introduces the reader to the minds of these and other luminaries; Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, the pleasure seeker Aristippus, A J Ayer, Aquinas and Baruch Spinoza. Within each Sage's story the philosophy comes to life, allowing the reader to compare the ideas and how useful they still are today. Hailed as a triumph by teachers, students and dinner party guests, this book has a humorous, accessible tone that makes abstract ideas seem easy and shows how philosophical questions remain at the core of our lives.