This book is a detailed account of Aristotle, the society that he lived in, the politics of Greece in his time, his relationships with Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great and the school that bore his name. It is heavily referenced and is written in a scholarly manner. The style is that quotations from existing ancient textual works are expressed in bold and are embedded within the text developed by the author. The book is clearly a definitive work on the life of Aristotle within the context of his historical environment.
As I read the book I was saddened by the many times there was a statement of the form, “unfortunately, that work no longer exists.” There are many holes in the record, and at those points Natali does the best he can to fill in the details and when the evidence dictates, states a logical conclusion. In other cases he simply says something of the form, “there is scholarly disagreement on this issue” and points the reader in the proper directions.
This is not a book about the works and thought of Aristotle, the man that established so much of modern logic and philosophy. It is about his life and the world that he had to survive in. For that reason historians will also find it interesting. Even the greatest of minds are partially shaped by the social and political world they live in and Aristotle is no exception.
Charles Ashbacher splits his time between consulting with industry in projects involving math and computers, teaching college classes and co-editing The Journal of Recreational Mathematics. In his spare time, he reads about these things and helps his daughter in her lawn care business.