In an age when philosophers had scarcely glimpsed the horizons of the mind, a boy named Aristocles decided to forgo his ambitions as a wrestler. Adopting the nickname Plato, he embarked instead on a life in philosophy. In 387 B.C. he founded the Academy, the world's first university, and taught his students that all we see is not reality but merely a reproduction of the true source. And in his famous Republic he described the politics of "the highest form of state."
In Plato in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Plato'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 Plato's work, a brief list of suggested reading for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place Plato within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.
What promises to be a brisk and entertaining foray into the life of the best-known classical philosopher fizzles into a historical drone. While the author labors to keep the subject matter palatable and entertaining, and Robert Whitfield is more than equal to the task, the text lacks what it takes to feed a thirsty ear. This is particularly true on Cassette Two, when we lose all sense of storytelling and find ourselves in a dark wood of fact reciting. It's worth spending 90 minutes reading an actual book on Plato in this case, rather than depleting your Walkman batteries. D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
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