The Intellectual: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking.

Steve Fuller's book dissects what it means to be an intellectual. What distinguishes them from philosophers, scientists, politicians or entrepreneurs? Why are they happy to be insulted as long as they are not ignored? Why do they thrive on conflict? And why is Batman the intellectual's favourite superhero?
As well as a history of the intellectual from Ancient Greece to post-9/11, Steve Fuller also provides an essential guide to the species. Think you would recognise an intellectual when you saw one? Entertain hopes of intellectualism yourself? Meet exemplars from the past - Voltaire, Sartre, Norman Mailer or Bertrand Russell - alongside many living examples in this original road-map to the intellectual life.

Steve Fuller is a trainee multi-media public intellectual. He has appeared on UK radio and has written for the New Scientist and The New York Times. By day Fuller is also Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick.