Chomsky, Dawkins, Germaine Greer, Christopher Hitckens with their regular TV appearances, newspaper columns and soudbites in times of crisis, intellectuals are essential characters in the drama of modern life. But what makes them tick? This book dissects what it means to be an intellectual. What distinguishes them from philosophers, scientists, politicians or entrepreneurs? Why are they happy to be insulted as long as they are not ignored? Why do they thrive on conflict? And why is Batman the intellectual's favourite superhero? As well as a history of the intellectual from Ancient Greece to post-9/11, the author also provides an essential guide to the species. Think you would recognise an intellectual when you saw one? Entertain hopes of intellectualism yourself? Meet exemplars from the past - Voltaire, Sartre, Norman Mailer or Bertrand Russell - alongside many living examples in this road-map to the intellectual life.