Great Minds on Small Things

Three centuries ago, Voltaire published hisDictionnaire philosophique, taking in such idiosyncratic topics asadultery, mountains, nakedness, and others besides. In 1957, another French philosopher of more recent vintage, Roland Barthes,mused in hisMythologiesonthe masculine pursuits of wrestling, striptease and theCitroen DS. Since the dawn of philosophy, the world's great thinkers have been unable to resist the lure of applying their formidable brains not only to the meaning of life, but also to the meaning of coffee, trapped wind or efficient boiler installation.

Now, from Wollstonecraft to Wittgenstein, Laozi to Locke, Aristotle to Arendt,Great Minds on Small Thingsbrings together their varied observations, alongside delightful black and white illustrations, in a highly entertaining and eye-opening miscellany that is guaranteed to make life's mundanities suddenly seema lotmore highbrow.