Summary: Blackburn here offers a sharp-edged probe into the heart of lust, blending together insight from some of the world's greatest thinkers on sex, human nature, and our common cultural foibles. Blackburn takes a wide ranging, historical approach, discussing lust as viewed by Aristophanes and Plato, and lust in the light of the Stoic mistrust of emotion and the Christian fear of the flesh. He describes how philosophical pessimists like Schopenhauer contributed to our thinking about lust and explores the false starts represented by Freud and Kinsey. But most important, Blackburn reminds us that lust is also life-affirming, invigorating, fun.