A cerebrally enjoyable survey, written with great clarity and touches of wit . . . The non-western section throws up some fascinating revelations

Grayling has written a masterful and often entertaining chronicle of the epic intellectual journey we humans have taken, in different periods, countries and cultures, to understand ourselves, our world, and how we ought to live. An extraordinary accomplishment that transcends the usual bounds of academic specialization

Accurately offers itself as a successor to [Bertrand] Russell’s classic survey . . . No other popular survey possesses this range . . . The History of Philosophy isn’t just worth buying; it’s worth scribbling in and dog-earing. For a work of scholarship, there can be no higher praise.

He’s more historically-minded than Russell, less dogmatic than Dawkins and less in thrall to the charms of his own fluency than Hitchens

Undeniably thought-provoking

Grayling is particularly good at illuminating the knottiness of moral discourse

Lucid, informative and admirably accessible

Grayling writes with clarity, elegance and the occasional aphoristic twist

Five minutes with any passage will have you contemplating all day

I find the clarity of his thinking so refreshing

If there is any such person in Britain as The Thinking Man, it is A. C. Grayling

The History of Philosophy is an excellent overview of great philosophical thought by an insightful practitioner of the field. It is a credit to Grayling’s abilities that he has penned such a perspicuous book on some very difficult subjects-giving the a reader a clear overview of the complexities of Scholastic logic, Analytic philosophies of language and mind, and much else besides is no easy feat, but Grayling has achieved it. This is a book to be treasured, both as a guide to the subject and as a beautiful piece of writing in itself, containing great insight and wisdom. It is a testament to the continuing importance and value of philosophy.