a new york times notable book for 2011we all want to know how to live but before the good life was reduced to ten easy steps or a prescription from the doctor philosophers offered arresting answers to the most fundamental questions about who we are and what makes for a life worth livingin examined lives james miller returns to this vibrant tradition with short lively biographies of twelve famous philosophers socrates spent his life examining himself and the assumptions of others his most famous student plato risked his reputation to tutor a tyrant diogenes carried a bright lamp in broad daylight and announced he was looking for a man aristotles alliance with alexander the great presaged senecas complex role in the court of the roman emperor nero augustine discovered god within himself montaigne and descartes struggled to explore their deepest convictions in eras of murderous religious warfare rousseau aspired to a life of perfect virtue kant elaborated a new ideal of autonomy emerson successfully preached a gospel of selfreliance for the new american nation and nietzsche tried to compose into one and bring together what is fragment and riddle and dreadful chance in man before he lapsed into catatonic madnesswith a flair for paradox and rich anecdote examined lives is a book that confirms the continuing relevance of philosophy todayand explores the most urgent questions about what it means to live a good life