Aristotle wrote on everything from the shape of seashells to sterility, from speculations on the nature of the soul to meteorology, poetry, art, and even the interpretation of dreams. Apart from mathematics, he transformed every field of knowledge that he touched. Above all, Aristotle is credited with the founding of logic. When he first divided human knowledge into separate categories, he enabled our understanding of the world to develop in a systematic fashion.

In Aristotle in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Aristotle’s life and ideas and explains their influence on man’s struggle to understand his existence in the world. The book also includes selections from Aristotle’s work, a brief list of suggested readings for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place Aristotle within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.