Want to know what books Edith Hall recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Edith Hall's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
The remarkable but neglected story of Aristotle’s founding role in the scientific study of nature
Both a travelogue and a study of the origins of science, The Lagoon shows how an ancient thinker still has much to teach us today. Aristotle’s philosophy looms large over the history of Western thought, but the subject he most loved was biology. He wrote vast treatises on animals, dissecting them, classifying them, recording how they lived, fed, and bred. He founded a science. It can even be said that he founded science itself.
In this luminous book,... more The remarkable but neglected story of Aristotle’s founding role in the scientific study of nature
Both a travelogue and a study of the origins of science, The Lagoon shows how an ancient thinker still has much to teach us today. Aristotle’s philosophy looms large over the history of Western thought, but the subject he most loved was biology. He wrote vast treatises on animals, dissecting them, classifying them, recording how they lived, fed, and bred. He founded a science. It can even be said that he founded science itself.
In this luminous book, acclaimed biologist Armand Marie Leroi recovers Aristotle’s science. He explores Aristotle’s observations, his deep ideas, his inspired guesses—and the things he got wildly wrong. Leroi visits the Aegean island where Aristotle plumbed the secrets of the living world in all its beauty. Modern science still bears the stamp of its founder. The Lagoon reveals that Aristotle was not only the first biologist, but also one of the greatest. less 
Edith HallLeroi’s book is a panegyric on Aristotle the natural scientist. Aristotle was remarkable: he seems even to have invented the spreadsheet. (Source)
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2
This book offers a systematic overview of Aristotle's conception of well-being, virtue and justice in the Nicomachean Ethics, and then explores the major themes of Politics: civic-mindedness, slavery, family, property, the common good, class conflict, the limited wisdom of the multitude, and the radically egalitarian institutions of the ideal society. more This book offers a systematic overview of Aristotle's conception of well-being, virtue and justice in the Nicomachean Ethics, and then explores the major themes of Politics: civic-mindedness, slavery, family, property, the common good, class conflict, the limited wisdom of the multitude, and the radically egalitarian institutions of the ideal society. less Edith HallIt’s a superb book. It’s inspiring, beautifully-written, and from the very best Aristotelian mind around. (Source)
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3
This is a close and comprehensive study of the main themes of Aristotle's ethics. Sarah Broadie concentrates on what he has to teach about happiness, virtue, voluntary agency, practical reason, incontinence, pleasure, and the place of theoria in the best life. Never forgetting that ethics for Aristotle is above all a practical enterprise, she sheds new light on ways in which this practical orientation affects both content and method of his inquiry. The book culminates in a sustained argument showing how even Aristotle's ideal of theoretic contemplation in integral to his essentially... more This is a close and comprehensive study of the main themes of Aristotle's ethics. Sarah Broadie concentrates on what he has to teach about happiness, virtue, voluntary agency, practical reason, incontinence, pleasure, and the place of theoria in the best life. Never forgetting that ethics for Aristotle is above all a practical enterprise, she sheds new light on ways in which this practical orientation affects both content and method of his inquiry. The book culminates in a sustained argument showing how even Aristotle's ideal of theoretic contemplation in integral to his essentially practical vision of human nature. Ethics with Aristotle is a major contribution toward the further understanding of Aristotle's ethics.
less Edith HallIn my view it’s the very best accompaniment to the Ethics in the English language…A long, highly engaged critical reading. (Source)
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4
Europe was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten, until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. His ideas spread like wildfire across Europe, offering the scientific view that the natural world, including the soul of man, was a proper subject of study. The rediscovery of these ancient ideas sparked riots and heresy trials, caused major upheavals in the Catholic Church, and also set the stage for today's rift between reason and religion.
In Aristotle's... more Europe was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten, until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. His ideas spread like wildfire across Europe, offering the scientific view that the natural world, including the soul of man, was a proper subject of study. The rediscovery of these ancient ideas sparked riots and heresy trials, caused major upheavals in the Catholic Church, and also set the stage for today's rift between reason and religion.
In Aristotle's Children, Richard Rubenstein transports us back in history, rendering the controversies of the Middle Ages lively and accessible-and allowing us to understand the philosophical ideas that are fundamental to modern thought.
less Edith HallI really enjoyed this book. I learnt a huge amount from it, and I found it fun to read, but also because its author has an agenda which goes beyond telling the story of Aristotle. (Source)
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5
The definitive account of Aristotle's life and school
This definitive biography shows that Aristotle's philosophy is best understood on the basis of a firm knowledge of his life and of the school he founded. First published in Italian, and now translated, updated, and expanded for English readers, this concise chronological narrative is the most authoritative account of Aristotle's life and his Lyceum available in any language. Gathering, distilling, and analyzing all the evidence and previous scholarship, Carlo Natali, one of the world's leading Aristotle scholars, provides... more The definitive account of Aristotle's life and school
This definitive biography shows that Aristotle's philosophy is best understood on the basis of a firm knowledge of his life and of the school he founded. First published in Italian, and now translated, updated, and expanded for English readers, this concise chronological narrative is the most authoritative account of Aristotle's life and his Lyceum available in any language. Gathering, distilling, and analyzing all the evidence and previous scholarship, Carlo Natali, one of the world's leading Aristotle scholars, provides a masterful synthesis that is accessible to students yet filled with evidence and original interpretations that specialists will find informative and provocative.
Cutting through the controversy and confusion that have surrounded Aristotle's biography, Natali tells the story of Aristotle's eventful life and sheds new light on his role in the foundation of the Lyceum. Natali offers the most detailed and persuasive argument yet for the view that the school, an important institution of higher learning and scientific research, was designed to foster a new intellectual way of life among Aristotle's followers, helping them fulfill an aristocratic ideal of the best way to use the leisure they enjoyed. Drawing a wealth of connections between Aristotle's life and thinking, Natali demonstrates how the two are mutually illuminating.
For this edition, ancient texts have been freshly translated on the basis of the most recent critical editions; indexes have been added, including a comprehensive index of sources and an index to previous scholarship; and scholarship that has appeared since the book's original publication has been incorporated.
-- "Choice" less Edith HallSo much more than just a biography. The original book was ground-breaking because, before it, studies of Aristotle’s life had been highly speculative. (Source)
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