Great Lives Series

René Descartes was born in La Haye en Touraine, France, on March 31, 1596. He attended a Jesuit college and studied law for two years, but he soon gave up formal academics to immerse himself in “the great book of the world.” In 1618, he joined the army, where he became interested in military engineering and expanded his knowledge of physics and mathematics. Then, one night in 1619, he experienced what he described as divine visions, which inspired him to create a new mathematics-based philosophy. He spent the next 30 years writing a series of works that radically transformed mathematics and philosophy and, by the time of his death in 1650, he was recognized as one of Europe’s greatest philosophers and scientists.  In Simply Descartes, Professor Kurt Smith offers the general reader an opportunity to get better acquainted with the philosophy of the man who, as much as any individual, helped shape our contemporary way of thinking. Written in simple, nonacademic language and based on the best recent scholarship, Simply Descartes is the ideal introduction to Descartes’ life and work—from the famous Cogito (“I think, therefore I am”) to the development of analytic geometry, to the nature of God.  Not to mention which, if you’ve ever wondered whether all living things are nothing more than fancy machines, or whether life is really a Matrix-like dream, you’ll be amazed to discover that a 17th-century philosopher was asking (and answering) the same things!

Nobel Laureate and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner William Faulkner (1897–1962) was one of America’s greatest and most celebrated writers, whose work reflects and, at the same time, questions the South's most deeply held values. His novel The Sound and the Fury is frequently cited as one of the best books of all time, and all of his works powerfully explore complex societal and family issues that continue to be relevant in our own day. Yet, because of his decidedly difficult, stream-of-consciousness style, Faulkner’s books remain sadly unknown to many readers.  In Simply Faulkner, author Philip Weinstein not only helps us understand these challenging works, but also explains why Faulkner had to write them as he did, in an effort to capture the sheer abundance and unruliness of life. Further, in his exploration of the author’s own colorful life—including decades of working for a film industry he despised—Weinstein reveals a fascinating connection between Faulkner’s troubled personal biography and his groundbreaking fiction.  The goal of Simply Faulkner is not to simplify the author, but, rather, to create a framework that allows us to comprehend him in his own idiosyncratic way. It strives to show us the real Faulkner—warts and complications and all—and to demonstrate why his brilliant masterpieces still speak to us in a deeply meaningful way.

Born in a small town near Warsaw, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was a musical prodigy who began giving public concerts and composed his first piano pieces at the age of seven. Following studies at the Warsaw Conservatory, he left his native Poland in 1830, eventually settling in Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. There he cultivated friendships with prominent musicians and intellectuals of the period and quickly achieved renown as a virtuoso performer and pioneering composer. However, by 1842, his lifelong health issues had become increasingly serious, and his brilliant career went into a precipitous decline, concluding with his untimely death at the age of thirty-nine.  In Simply Chopin, Dr. William Smialek presents an accessible and revealing portrait of a musical genius, including his artistic development, his tempestuous love life, and his towering artistic achievements. Relating Chopin’s life story to his historical place and time, Dr. Smialek intimately chronicles his influences and significant relationships, in particular, his long love affair with the writer George Sand. The book also draws on recent research to explore the compositional technique displayed in Chopin’s piano compositions, with commentary on his most important works.  Intended for a general readership, Simply Chopin is both a lucid introduction to a giant of classical music and an insightful look at a key moment in musical history, as nineteenth-century Europe turned toward Romanticism and the powerful idea of nationalism.

Born to a poor Lutheran pastor in what is today the Federal Republic of Germany, Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866) was a child math prodigy who began studying for a degree in theology before formally committing to mathematics in 1846, at the age of 20. Though he would live for only another 20 years (he died of pleurisy during a trip to Italy), his seminal work in a number of key areas—several of which now bear his name—had a decisive impact on the shape of mathematics in the succeeding century and a half.  In Simply Riemann, author Jeremy Gray provides a comprehensive and intellectually stimulating introduction to Riemann’s life and paradigm-defining work. Beginning with his early influences—in particular, his relationship with his renowned predecessor Carl Friedrich Gauss—Gray goes on to explore Riemann’s specific contributions to geometry, functions of a complex variable, prime numbers, and functions of a real variable, which opened the way to discovering the limits of the calculus. He shows how without Riemannian geometry, cosmology after Einstein would be unthinkable, and he illuminates the famous Riemann hypothesis, which many regard as the most important unsolved problem in mathematics today.  With admirable concision and clarity, Simply Riemann opens the door on one of the most profound and original thinkers of the 19th century—a man who pioneered the concept of a multidimensional reality and who always saw his work as another way to serve God.

Though he was born in St. Louis, Missouri and attended Harvard University, at the age of 26, Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) emigrated to England, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Influenced equally by his formative years in the New World and his experiences in London during and after World War I, Eliot strove to reconcile a variety of conflicting ideas while trapped in an unhappy marriage - a struggle that gave rise to some of the greatest poems of the 20th century. In Simply Eliot, Joseph Maddrey plumbs the emotional and intellectual life of the man whom critic Edmund Wilson called "one of our only authentic poets.” Taking The Waste Land (written in the aftermath of World War I) and Four Quartets (published 1936-1942) as reference points, Maddrey chronicles Eliot's attempts to create a coherent worldview, and explores how his religious conversion in 1927 led to a spiritual rebirth that allowed him to produce his ultimate poetic statement. Making use of previously unavailable materials, including over 5,000 personal letters, Maddrey offers an intimate and incisive portrait of Eliot, and illustrates his continued relevance as both a Romantic and Classical poet, as well as a religious and spiritual thinker.

Born in Bonn, Germany, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) showed musical talent from an early age and was first taught by his musician father, Johann, an alcoholic who often beat his son. At the age of 21, Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he studied with composer Joseph Haydn and quickly became renowned as a pianist and conductor, as well as a composer. He continued to perform until 1811 when increasing deafness made it impossible, but until his death in 1827, he continued to create timeless works, including such masterpieces as the Ninth Symphony and the late string quartets. Plagued by illness and repeatedly thwarted in love, Beethoven rarely achieved personal happiness; yet he transcended the many setbacks and disappointments in his life to produce some of the greatest music ever written, which has come to be identified with the indomitableness of the human spirit. In Simply Beethoven, Professor Leon Plantinga offers the lay reader a fascinating account of Beethoven’s life and music in its singular historical context, a time that saw the upheaval of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic conquests, as well as the rise of the European middle class. It was in this milieu that Beethoven composed the groundbreaking, highly individual works that changed the course of music and have continued to inspire and delight listeners for more than two centuries. For anyone who is interested in knowing more about the extraordinary music that has become an integral part of Western culture, as well as the troubled genius who created it, Simply Beethoven is a perfect introduction to the man and his work.

Born in Stuttgart, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) attended the Gymnasium Illustre and, at the age of 18, entered the Tübingen Seminary, from which he received his theological certificate in 1793. His early writings, composed while he was serving as a family tutor in Bern and Frankfurt, dealt with religious subjects. From 1801 until his untimely death thirty years later, Hegel held professorships at several prestigious universities and went on to write the landmark works for which he’s known, including his masterpiece the Phenomenology of Spirit (1807). Renowned in his own time, he gained great fame as a lecturer, with students coming from all over Europe to attend his classes.  In Simply Hegel, Robert L. Wicks presents Hegel’s revolutionary philosophy in clear and simple language, illuminating not only his basic ideas, but also the deeper meanings hidden within the text. Wicks’s analysis also contextualizes Hegel’s thought by providing a vivid chronology of his times, which included such earth-shaking events as the French Revolution and Napoleon’s invasion of Prussia.  Offering the reader key insights into German idealist philosophy, as well as Hegel’s unique role in the evolution of ideas, Simply Hegel is a superb introduction to both a towering historical figure and a philosophical system that continues to echo through our own times.

Born and raised in a small town in Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) began his career in philology (the study of language), and served as a professor at the University of Basel. In 1879, he was forced to leave due to health issues, which afflicted him throughout his life. Supported by his university pension and aided by friends, he spent the next decade as an independent author, writing the books for which he would become famous, including Thus Spake Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, and On the Genealogy of Morals. In 1889, at the age of 44, Nietzsche had a mental breakdown from which he never recovered, dying in 1900. Yet in just ten years, he produced a body of work that would mark him as one of the most influential philosophers of all time.  In Simply Nietzsche, Professor Peter Kail traces the development of Nietzsche’s thought through the various phases of his life. Emphasizing the philosopher’s critique of modern morality and his revolutionary conception of the self, he also discusses key motifs of Nietzsche’s thought, such as the death of God, the will to power, and the eternal recurrence.   Even those who have never read Nietzsche or are unsure of why he’s important have heard his name. With Prof. Kail as a guide, Simply Nietzsche provides an unparalleled and accessible introduction to the life and ideas of this most remarkable thinker.

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was born in Paris during a time of great social and political upheaval, a ferment that is dealt with extensively in his monumental work In Search of Lost Time. He was a sickly child and spent the earlier part of his short life pursuing a variety of sometimes frivolous activities, which led to his not being taken seriously as a writer. It was not until 1909, when he was 38 years old, that he began work on the groundbreaking novel for which he is known, a task that consumed the rest of his life.  In Simply Proust, Professor Jack Louis Jordan presents an incisive, yet thoroughly accessible, introduction to Proust’s landmark work, helping the reader to fully appreciate the scope of the author’s achievement, as well as the fascinating process that underlay its creation. Emphasizing the fundamental role of psychology and the unconscious, Jordan shows how Proust’s methodology and our understanding of his novel are connected, and how this makes for a unique and endlessly revealing literary experience.  At once philosophical, psychological, and deeply human, Simply Proust offers an invaluable entry point into a masterpiece of world literature and takes the measure of the flawed and brilliant man who transformed the material of his life into a transcendent work of art.

Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) divided his time between law studies and music until 1906, when, under the tutelage of composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, he dedicated himself exclusively to composition. Five years later, he achieved international fame with his ballet scores, The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring, the last of which caused a riot at its Paris premiere in 1913. For the next 50 years, both Stravinsky’s music style and his life were characterized by dramatic changes, as he moved from his “Russian period” to neo-classicism to serialism, and from Russia to Switzerland to France to the United States. Yet no matter how much his style changed, his music was always distinctively his, and his compositions remain among the greatest produced in the twentieth century.  In Simply Stravinsky, Professor Pieter van den Toorn takes a fresh look at the composer and his legacy, providing a compact, exciting, and accessible introduction to the twentieth century’s most celebrated composer and his timeless music. From Stravinsky’s apprenticeship in St. Petersburg to his life among the émigré community in Southern California, Prof. van den Toorn shows how the composer’s music was tied to his personality and how it came to influence artists from Aaron Copland to Philip Glass.  Designed for classical music beginners, as well as those who want to know more about one of the great musical innovators, Simply Stravinsky is an insightful and highly readable portrait of the man who helped define modern music.

Born in the port city of Taganrog in southern Russia, Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) survived a difficult childhood with an abusive father and put himself through school (while supporting his family), qualifying as a physician in 1884. At the same time he began practicing medicine, he also became celebrated for his short fiction, which redefined the genre with its formal innovations and psychological depth. His first serious play, The Seagull, was booed at its premiere in 1896, but—along with his other plays Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard—it came to be seen as a masterpiece, bringing a new realism to the theater and to acting, which continues to reverberate today. Afflicted with ill health for much of his life, Chekhov died of tuberculosis at the age of 44, prematurely depriving the world of a great writer and a great humanist. In Simply Chekhov, Professor Carol Apollonio provides a concise and accessible introduction to Chekhov, both within his time and place (Russia on the eve of revolution) and as a master of world literature. Readers will meet the major figures of Chekhov’s era—as well as his colorful family, lovers, colleagues, and friends—and gain an appreciation for the ways in which this real-life cast of characters are reflected in Chekhov’s stories and plays. Drawing on insights from her more than three decades of Chekhov scholarship, Apollonio not only presents strikingly original insights into Chekhov’s major works, but also explores the concerns—from the place of humans in the natural world to the threat of homelessness—that made him such a compelling figure and that remain relevant to the crises we face today.

Born in Vienna, Austria, Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) was the only child of a Catholic father and an Austrian-English Lutheran mother. He attended the University of Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 1910. For the next 45 years, he held positions at many different universities in Europe, the U.K., and the U.S., a result both of his antipathy to Nazism, as well as his unconventional lifestyle, which often involved living with multiple women at a time. After appointments at Oxford, Princeton, and the University of Graz in Austria, Schrödinger was invited in 1938 to help set up the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, where, from 1940 until his retirement in 1955, he served as the director of the School for Theoretical Physics. In addition to his groundbreaking work in physics—for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1933—Schrödinger had a lifelong interest in philosophy and Eastern religion, and his lectures and writings included discussions of such topics as consciousness, free will, and the nature of reality. In Simply Schrödinger, acclaimed science writer John Gribbin takes the measure of this singular scientist, who stands with Einstein, Heisenberg, and Dirac as one of the creators of a new scientific reality. While the focus is primarily on Schrödinger’s particular contributions to quantum physics—including wave mechanics and wave-particle duality, as well as the famous feline—Gribbin also delves into Schrödinger’s fascination with Eastern philosophy and the other distinctive traits that differentiated him from his peers and made him who he was. Written in a personable and accessible style that minimizes jargon and doesn’t require a degree in physics, Simply Schrödinger is a fascinating introduction to one of the giants of the 20th century, who blazed his own trail in science and in life.

Born in the port city of Taganrog in southern Russia, Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) survived a difficult childhood with an abusive father and put himself through school (while supporting his family), qualifying as a physician in 1884. At the same time he began practicing medicine, he also became celebrated for his short fiction, which redefined the genre with its formal innovations and psychological depth. His first serious play, The Seagull, was booed at its premiere in 1896, but—along with his other plays Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard—it came to be seen as a masterpiece, bringing a new realism to the theater and to acting, which continues to reverberate today. Afflicted with ill health for much of his life, Chekhov died of tuberculosis at the age of 44, prematurely depriving the world of a great writer and a great humanist. In Simply Chekhov, Professor Carol Apollonio provides a concise and accessible introduction to Chekhov, both within his time and place (Russia on the eve of revolution) and as a master of world literature. Readers will meet the major figures of Chekhov’s era—as well as his colorful family, lovers, colleagues, and friends—and gain an appreciation for the ways in which this real-life cast of characters are reflected in Chekhov’s stories and plays. Drawing on insights from her more than three decades of Chekhov scholarship, Apollonio not only presents strikingly original insights into Chekhov’s major works, but explores the concerns—from the place of humans in the natural world to the threat of homelessness—that made him such a compelling figure and that remain relevant to the crises we face today.

Born in Dublin on Good Friday, Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) attended Trinity College and taught briefly in Belfast before moving to Paris, where he lived for most of his adult life. Deeply influenced by James Joyce, who became a close friend and mentor, he published poetry, novels, essays, and reviews before stunning Paris, and eventually the rest of the world, with his play Waiting for Godot in 1953. Famously described by one critic as “a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats,” Godot redefined dramatic structure and showcased Beckett’s commitment to an art based on the ideas of “non-knowing” and powerlessness. In Simply Beckett, professor Katherine Weiss provides a highly accessible and insightful introduction to the award-winning author and his paradoxical works, with a particular focus on Beckett’s theater activities, both as a writer and director. Through discussion of the written texts, significant productions of the plays, and audience and critical reactions to Beckett’s work, Weiss helps the reader understand the groundbreaking nature of his achievements and points the way toward a greater appreciation of his oeuvre. Combining admirable erudition with reader-friendly style, Simply Beckett is a fascinating journey into the world of an author whose work went to the heart of the human condition.

Avram Noam Chomsky was born in Philadelphia in 1928 to Jewish immigrant parents who were both educators. His parents were mainstream liberals, but through relatives, Chomsky was exposed at an early age to socialism and other progressive ideas that shaped his politics. After earning his Ph.D. in theoretical linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1955 and a fellowship at Harvard University, Chomsky became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His first book, Syntactic Structures, published in 1957 and now considered a classic, not only shook up the study of linguistics, but also had a profound effect on philosophy and psychology, and laid the groundwork for the field of cognitive science. In the 1960s, Chomsky took part in protests against the Vietnam War and began writing the articles that initiated his other career as a public dissident and political thinker. Over the course of the next 60 years, Chomsky would continue to be a major voice in both areas, embodying a lifelong commitment to intellectual exploration, freedom of thought, and human rights.  In Simply Chomsky, Professor Raphael Salkie provides a compact, user-friendly introduction to Noam Chomsky’s political activism and his groundbreaking work in linguistics. Unlike most Chomsky studies, Prof. Salkie not only covers the essentials of Chomsky’s thought and accomplishments, but also explores his most recent concerns—including the climate crisis, the threat of nuclear holocaust, and current geopolitical hotspots—which are often very different from the topics that preoccupied him decades ago. For students of linguistics, for those interested in U.S. foreign policy, and for anyone concerned about the enormous problems facing the world, Simply Chomsky will be exhilarating and thought-provoking reading.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was born in Ulm in the German Empire and received his academic teaching diploma from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in 1900. Unable to secure a teaching post, he eventually found work in the Swiss Patent Office in Bern, where he began to develop his special theory of relativity. In 1905 (his “miracle year”), he published four revolutionary papers, which came to be recognized as stunning breakthroughs in physics. For the next 25 years, while continuing his research, he taught at several universities in Europe, relocating to the U.S. in 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power. During World War II, his insights regarding mass-energy equivalence led to the development of the atomic bomb, a practical demonstration of his theories that shook the world. Einstein was horrified that the bomb was used, and he spent the rest of his life warning about the dangers of nuclear weapons and advocating for peace and international cooperation. In Simply Einstein, Professor Jimena Canales offers the reader a unique perspective on the man who occupies a singular place in the popular imagination. Unlike many Einstein biographies, her book does not glorify the scientist or get lost in esoteric details, but takes pains to present a straightforward, thoroughly readable introduction to the man and his work that shows just how and why an eccentric physicist became a household name.  The universe that Einstein described is the one in which we now live, a world of paradoxes and uncertainty, as well as infinite possibility. For anyone interested in better understanding how this came to be–and in gaining a fuller appreciation of the brilliant, flawed human being who changed everything–Simply Einstein is essential reading.

Born in Cambridge, England, to an upper-middle-class family, John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) attended Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge, where he received a BA in mathematics in 1904. From an early age, he evinced an optimism about improving human life and believed in the power of government to change things for the better. During World War I, Keynes served in the Treasury and his success in this role led to his appointment as a representative to the Versailles peace conference in 1919. While this experience was ultimately frustrating and disillusioning, it laid the foundation for his later work during the Great Depression and World War II, when his ideas gained increasing influence and were gradually adopted by economic policymakers throughout the world. In Simply Keynes, Professor Roger Backhouse provides a comprehensive introduction to Keynes and Keynesianism, arguing that Keynes should be seen not only as an economist, but also as a moral philosopher who believed the state had a moral obligation to intervene for the greater good. Beginning with the economist’s early life and the context in which his ideas arose, Professor Backhouse chronicles the transformation of economics in the so-called “Age of Keynes,” the opposition that arose in the 1970s, and the revival of Keynesianism following the 2007-08 global financial crisis. For 100 years, the ideas of John Maynard Keynes have been central to discussions and decision-making about economics, free markets, and the role of government in capitalist systems. With admirable concision and clarity, Simply Keynes allows the lay reader to understand not only the critical importance of Keynes’s ideas in recent history, but also their continued relevance in our own day and into the future.