The Making of a Philosopher follows Colin McGinn from his early years in England, reading Descartes and Anselm, to his years in the States, first in Los Angeles, then New York. McGinn presents a contemporary academic take on the great philosophical figures of the twentieth century -- including Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Noam Chomsky -- alongside stories of the teachers who informed his ideas and often became friends and mentors, especially the colorful A. J. Ayer at Oxford. Always elegant and probing, The Making of a Philosopher is for the student of contemporary philosophy as well as the general reader. Both will absorb every page.