My first exposure to Will Durant took place in Guadalajara, Mexico in December 1984. I was 23 years old. I had just graduated from college. I was in Mexico learning Spanish.
I met a writer named Larry Hamilton. He had a house in Guadalajara. He wanted to return to the States for a month over the holidays and asked if I would watch his house.
On my first day there, I scanned the titles in his library. “The Story of Philosophy” jumped out at me. I pulled it off the shelf. I asked Larry about it. He explained that Will Durant was an American philosopher/historian who had written a wonderful series called the Story of Civilization. He highly recommended the book I held in my hand.
Over the next week, I read “The Story of Philosophy.” It was a watershed event in my life. For the first time, I read an author who expressed a love for ideas, for objective enquiry, and for the pursuit of truth that I had always felt in my body, but could not express.
Will Durant became my intellectual mentor. I will never forget my first exposure to him, and to his wonderful book, "The Story of Philosophy."
