Abstract
Tracing twenty-five centuries of human history, from the fourth century BC to the present day, Manguel dedicates each of his chapters to a single character- ranging from our best-known thinkers, scientists, and artists to seemingly minor figures of whom we know little more than one inspired utterance- in whom he identifies a particular way of asking the question 'Why?' Above all, he aims to 'awake in readers a consciousness of their own powers of enquiry and imagination, of their right to doubt and contest assumed answers, and of their responsibility in furthering the questio