The Elliott Bay Book Company

Each month, the Elliott Bay Book Club reads and discusses the best in contemporary fiction with the occasional classic thrown in for good measure. For the final 2011 book selection, we're reading The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon. Keenly intelligent and brilliantly rendered, The Golden Mean is a bold re-imagining of one of history's most intriguing relationships—that between the legendary philosopher Aristotle and his most famous student, Alexander the Great.
Aristotle is initially reluctant to set aside his own ambitions in order to tutor the rebellious son of his boyhood friend, Philip of Macedon. Still, the philosopher soon realizes that teaching this charming, surprising, and sometimes horrifying teenager is a necessity amid the ever more sinister intrigues of Philip's court. But as Alexander grows older and becomes a man who will transform the world for better or for worse, Aristotle, like any teacher; ponders his own culpability. Russell Banks said, "The Golden Mean is more than a brilliant and beautifully told novel: it is also a profound exploration of moral and philosophical issues that have troubled and perplexed us since Aristotle."

The Golden Mean: A Novel of Aristotle and Alexander the Great (Paperback)

By Annabel Lyon

$12.76

ISBN-13: 9780307740687
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 9/2011

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