Published by Templar, 2023.

Great Minds, 2500 Years of Thinkers and Philosophy is an utterly absorbing book. Spanning time, continents and cultures, its scope is huge. It really is a thoroughly comprehensive introduction to human thought and belief systems. I especially love how diverse the book is. We are not presented with a male, white-centric history of philosophical thought.

You might worry that deep philosophical questions and existential musings might be beyond the grasp of most children, but the book is pitched perfectly at its target audience. Complex theories are explained in a really accessible way. The book’s graphic novel style design really helps here too: the illustrations and the layout aid understanding and help to break the concepts down into digestible chunks.

The book encourages the reader to think and reflect, often posing direct questions and inviting the reader to relate concepts to their own lived experience. In this way, theories are given context and children are more readily able to understand their relevance.

Great Minds considers all of life’s big questions: people’s place in society (including issues of race and gender); the existence of God; action and consequence; the value of art; the existence of nothing; whether animals have rights; and ethics, to name but a few.

The book also reflects on the purpose and impact of philosophy and demonstrates how philosophy can (and does) change the world.

Rating: 💙💙💙💙

Suitable for children aged 8+

Thank you to Templar for sending me this book to review.