Almost a novel, albeit with a lot of historical background. This is because so little is known of the real Socrates, I guess. ( )

This is a necessarily short book. We know little about Socrates's life and all of it indirectly. He lived, after all, twenty-five hundred years ago. I would like to give it a higher rating, and please note that the rating I gave it is purely a reflection of the biographer, not its subject, whom I admire.

Mostly I was annoyed by Johnson's lack of objectivity. He's primarily a journalist not a historian, and it shows---particularly after having read Oleg Khlekniuk's careful biography of Stalin.

Johnson's book is rife with opinion presented as fact. An example: ``[Athens] was the cultural capital of the civilized world.'' So much for objectivity, to say nothing it being offensive to any of a number of contemporaneous civilizations (China's Zhou dynasty was 500 years old at the time of Socrates). Hell, at least acknowledge this is a matter of opinion not fact, you arrogant ass.

A judgmental gem: Plato's ideas about the soul are referred to as ``absurd.'' Oh, pray tell us, Mr. Johnson, what is the true nature of the soul and how did you come by this information? Smug bastard.

As an account of Socrates's life, it seems fine. The biographer's first task is to make the biographee sympathetic. Hard with some subjects, but easy enough with Socrates. Johnson manages this, but too much. He's more a cheerleader than a proper biographer. It's technically well-written, but the writing is academically shitty.
( )

I had only read Plato’s dialogues, and so only knew Socrates from Plato. Great to get a more complete picture of the man, and not just the character Plato created. As an example, I had no idea that Socrates had lived through Periclean Athens, and through its downfall and domination by Sparta after the Peloponnesian War. I had always believed his trial and execution were conducted during Athens’ golden age, and couldn’t understand why it happened in such an otherwise enlightened city. But, in fact, his trial was after the reign of the 30 Tyrants, who had effectively ended Athenian Democracy by the time charges were brought against Socrates. ( )

A bit repetitive in spots. Tells about the life of a truly remarkable man. ( )

A well summarized view and look at the life of Socrates. The first few chapters details Athens and Greek society as a whole. It also goes heavily into the Sophists, Plato, democracy, and a lot on Pericles and how his governing of Athens affected Socrates. It also goes into Euripedes and Aristophanes a lot and how they affected his life (especially Aristophanes' Clouds play).

Sadly, due to nothing being written by Socrates we have to take a lot from Xenophon, Plato, and others. And Plato tended to use Socrates name as a vehicle for his own philosophies.

The author does a fair bit of 'guess-work' which at times hinders the book I think. He'll say things like "Socrates did this, and I believe this is why" or other such things. And granted we don't know the blanks, I'm not a big fan of hearsay in a non-fiction biographical piece of work.

The author does a fair job of highlighting Socrates' strengths and comparing them to some more modern aspects and people and showing how his life is relevant to our times. ( )