A Little History of Philosophy

Nigel Warburton is a freelance philosopher, bestselling author of many popular introductions to philosophy, and co-host of the much-loved Philosophy Bites podcast. He lives in Oxford, UK.

"'Survey the entire history of (western) philosophy through short intellectual biographies of 40 philosophers from Socrates to Peter Singer, in as broadly approachable a style as EH Gombrich's A Little History of the World. A tall order; that Warburton (of the excellent podcast Philosophy Bites) has succeeded so well is a triumph.' (Steven Poole, The Guardian) 'Warburton packs a heck of a lot in to what is something of a Goldilocks volume: neither too much nor too little, the exegesis neither too thin nor too thick and lumpy, his Little History can be consumed as a nourishing treat in its own right or provide the perfect fuel to kick-start anyone's journey into philosophy.' (Julian Baggini, The Observer) 'The magic of Nigel Warburton's book is its disarming accessibility. It closely follows the template of A Little History Of The World - Ernst Gombrich's 1935 introductory text for children, recently translated by Yale - and Warburton is the ideal shout for a writer to match Gombrich's terse charm and easy authority. Anyone who's enjoyed Warburton's brilliant podcast series, 'Philosophy Bites', where he and fellow demystifier David Edmonds half-nelson academics into spelling out their theories, will know he has a special gift for defusing complexity.' (Chris Brown, Time Out) 'This book is a little classic.' (Merryn Williams, Oxford Times)"