The Making of a Philosopher

Part memoir, part study, The Making of a Philosopher is the selfportrait of a deeply intelligent mind as it develops over a life on both sides of the Atlantic. The Making of a Philosopher follows Colin McGinn from his early years in England reading Descartes and Anselm, to his years in the states, first in Los Angeles, then New York. McGinn presents a contemporary academic take on the great philosophical figures of the twentieth century, including Bertrand Russell, JeanPaul Sartre, and Noam Chomsky, alongside stories of the teachers who informed his ideas and often became friends and mentors, especially the colorful A.J. Ayer at Oxford. McGinn's prose is always elegant and probing; students of contemporary philosophy and the general reader alike will absorb every page.

Colin McGinn was educated at Oxford University. He has written widely on philosophy and philosophers in such publications as the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the New Republic, and the New York Times Book Review. He is a professor of philosophy at Rutgers University and lives in New York City