What does it mean to be awake? What exactly is therapeutic about retail therapy? And what are you really working on when you're at your desk, in the gym, or having dinner? From getting ready in the morning, through heading to work, going to a party, having sex and falling back to sleep, "Breakfast with Socrates" provides an hour-by-hour commentary on what history's greatest philosophers have said about the meaning behind everything we do. A fascinating exploration of our daily lives, "Breakfast with Socrates" also draws on literature, art, politics and psychology to offer an informal introduction to the history of ideas that will help anyone to think more healthily. Breakfast will never be the same again...

Robert Rowland Smith was for ten years a Prize Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and is a consultant, lecturer and writer on philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis. He is a frequent contributor to the Independent and the Philosophy Bites podcast series, and features regularly on the radio discussing philosophy and our everyday lives.