This is an excellent biography of an extraordinary man. Benedict Spinoza, a lapsed Jew excommunicated by his synagogue and living in a Holland rancorously divided between Calvinists and Catholics, republicans and monarchists, was far ahead of his time. Even the most liberal of his contemporaries could not stomach his sceptical views of religion. The only major work that he published (anonymously) in his lifetime made him the target of vicious attacks, to the point that his grand opus, the Ethics, was published only after his death. Besides being brilliant, Spinoza lived very modestly, never sought public attention, and was known for his kindness and even temper. He died young of a respiratory illness exacerbated by years of grinding lenses and inhaling glass dust, but he may have been lucky to die when he did. Just five years before his death in 1677, the De Witt brothers, Jan and Cornelis, were beaten to death by an angry mob that stripped them naked, mutilated their bodies, and hung them up by their heels. Spinoza’s insistence on logic and reason put him at odds with his own age, and indeed with almost any place or time, and it is not hard to imagine him becoming another victim of the mob. I wish I could have met him, and shook his hand . . . and warned him about inhaling glass dust.