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Jonathan Barnes: The Presocratic Philosophers (Routledge, London and New York, 1979) Jolly good read. There are mistakes, however, some of which I will note in the relevant loci. One personal hobby horse, and an error I hadn't expected to find in an academically trained philosopher, is the misuse of the word "transcendental". The technical philosophical meaning of "transcendental" since Kant is "having to do with the conditions for the possibility of knowledge or experience." Non philosophical writers often use "transcendental" when they really mean "transcendent," i.e. beyond the scope of experience. That our experience must be structured by space and time is a transcendental proposition. God is a transcendent entity. It is surprising that Barnes (e.g. p, 25) also misuses the term.