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Great Minds on Small Things
Matthew Qvortrup

Great Minds on Small Things

ISBN 9780715654965 Published 5 October 2023
£12.99

Three centuries ago, Voltaire published his Dictionnaire philosophique, taking in such idiosyncratic topics as adultery, mountains, nakedness, and others besides. In 1957, another French philosopher of more recent vintage, Roland Barthes, mused in his Mythologies on the masculine pursuits of wrestling, striptease and the Citroën 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 Things brings 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 seem a lot more highbrow.
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Pre-order: charged now, published 5 October 2023. Print is despatched on publication; ebooks are ready to download that morning.

Pre-order: charged now, published 5 October 2023. Print is despatched on publication; ebooks are ready to download that morning.
Book details
Format
Hardback
ISBN
9780715654965
Published
5 October 2023
Pages
224
Dimensions
129 x 198 mm
Imprint
Duckworth

Reviews

'A tour de force of philosophical frivolity that enlightens as well as entertains' 

Philosophy Now

About the author

Matthew Qvortrup

Matthew Qvortrup

Matthew Qvortrup is an award-winning journalist, academic, and broadcaster, now working as a senior reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He is the author of 15 books about politics and philosophy, including the critically acclaimed biography of Angela Merkel (2021) and popular philosophy collection, Great Minds on Small Things (2023). Matthew has previously presented programs for the BBC, and has written for, among others, the Sun, Bloomberg, Australian Financial Review, and the Scotsman. He trained in law and political science, holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford and is the recipient of, respectively, the Oxford University Press Law Prize and the PSA Prize. Matthew is also an adjunct Professor at LUISS in Rome and a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian National University. You can learn more about him on the ABC.

Everything by Matthew Qvortrup

Books by Matthew Qvortrup

Great Minds on Small Things Great Minds on Small Things 2023 Angela Merkel Angela Merkel 2017