I read Arrow in the Blue with mounting excitement. Halfway through The Invisible Writing, I feel that he has anticipated my most nagging ideas and made sense of them. We’re of an ilk – same temperament, same values*, same outlook. Which is worrying, because I’m all over the place myself, and he’s not very highly regarded in the area of philosophy. But I should dismiss as fancy the feeling that if I read all his books plus his biogs I’ll see my own future.

(*A big exception – on all levels he betrays women. I think his biographer David Cesarani records that he hit and/or raped his wives. He’s not my hero.)