If you are familiar with philosophers and have spent some time in their company, you many have noticed that they are rarely sad. As you read this highly accessible book, you will encounter many philosophers, some famous, others little known; some ancient, others modern; some from the East, others from the West. In the process, you will realise that these builders of ideas, often unjustly regarded as daunting, are really adventurers belonging to a special species. They are existential experimenters. And there is no reason to fear them. They will show you that the activities of thinking, living and laughing are really all quite similar.

From Socrates and Plato to Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, the author demonstrates that the daily practice of philosophy is a struggle against just two enemies: stupidity and sadness.

Roger-Pol Droit is a philosopher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and a columnist for the French daily newspaper Le Monde.