In his funny and thoughtful introduction, Critchley explains how philosophers have for thousands of years attempted to “learn how to die” in order to make sense of life.  From the very beginnings of philosophy in the accounts of the death of Socrates, Critchley outlines humanity’s attempts to overcome the essential fear of death through religion, psychology, sophistry, and the hardcore reasoning of his favorite philosophers.

The book’s short entries on “190 or So Dead Philosophers” describe the central ideas of thinkers from Pythagoras to Descartes to Sartre, stopping along the way to consider a number of overlooked female and non-Western philosophers.  In linking their major themes with the facts of their deaths, Critchley finds plenty of evidence of one of his own recurring ideas, that “it is the fear of death and the longing for immortality that ruins life.”

Along the way the author catalogs a number of bizarre, comical, and even inspiring tales of the deaths of the philosophers themselves.  The 4th century female Greek philosopher Timysha, for instance, was persecuted and tortured for her unorthodox beliefs.  Critchley notes that before she was finally killed, she bit off her own tongue and spat it in the face of the Sicilian tyrant who had hounded her family and community.

Less incandescent manners of death include tales of drowning in cow dung, eagles dropping tortoises upon philosopher’s heads, and grisly suicides too numerous to mention.  Critchley’s descriptions of the many ways thinkers have come to terms with death ultimately attempt to find a way towards the possibility of happiness.  Whether laughing at death; writing Zen haikus on their deathbeds; or finding peace in nature, art, or pure thought, Critchley’s anecdotes are ultimately as much concerned with how to live well as with how to die.

This Guardian UK piece outlines the author’s “Top 10 Philosophers’ Deaths.”

In this interview with The Believer, Critchley discusses the possibility of either finding meaning in life or figuring out how to deal with meaninglessness itself.