That this view was unduly pessimistic is proved by the impressive work of John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson who have succeeded in clothing Heidegger's thought in English without sacrificing the richness and poetic subtlety of the original.

The masterpiece of the greatest philosopher of the 20th Century. He transforms our sense of the world from that of a burdensome given to a miracle. (The Week, November 2008)

Born in southern Germany, Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) taught philosophy at the University of Freiburg and the University of Marburg. His published works include: Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics (1929); An Introduction to Metaphysics (1935); Discourse on Thinking (1959); On the Way to Language (1959); Poetry, Language, Thought (1971). His best-known work is Being and Time (1927).