Descartes in 90 Minutes

By: Paul Strathern

Narrated by: Robert Whitfield

Rene Descartes spent most of his childhood in solitude, a situation that also came to characterize his adult life. Fortunately, these countless lonely hours helped Descartes produce the declaration that changed all philosophy: "I think, therefore I am." Eventually convincing himself to doubt and disregard sensory knowledge, Descartes found he could prove his existence through his thoughts. This internal information, he believed, was the true reality and external forces were hopelessly deceiving.

In Descartes in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Descartes' life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world.

©1996 Paul Strathern (P)2003 Blackstone Audiobooks

Banger

Paul Strathern is such a funny writer, one of the best one of an already great series.

Pretty good

Overall interesting summary of Decartes' life. Occasionally the author inserts their own opinions into the narration in kindof a snide way, but it's not enough to make it unlistenable.

worth another gander!

This book was a great quick read. I am going to have to read it again. Descartes is profoundly interesting. I will be sure to finish more of Paul Strathern's work to get a nice overview of the lives of many influential philosophers.

short and to the point, but good

listening to this is like watching the highlights reel in the news. it had all the main points without any filler.

Great listen

If only I’d had this 30 years ago in Philosophy 101!! I now understand Descartes.