About the Book
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 209. Chapters: Adam Smith, Cosmo Gordon Lang, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Liam Fox, John Knox, Cotton Mather, Olive Winchester, James Watt, Vince Cable, David Livingstone, Fred Goodwin, John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Thomas Muir of Huntershill, William Windham, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Francis Hutcheson (philosopher), Charles Kennedy, Wendy Alexander, James McCune Smith, A. J. Cronin, Duncan Lunan, Menzies Campbell, Euan MacKie, William Ogilvie of Pittensear, John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, R. D. Laing, John Lymburn, Emeli Sande, Hal Duncan, Robert Crichton Wyllie, John Logie Baird, Ruth Davidson, John Smith (Labour Party leader), Jocelyn Bell Burnell, James Wilson, Donald Dewar, James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair, John Dunmore Lang, John Toland, James Boswell, Gerard Butler, James Meek, John Grierson, Armando Iannucci, James George Frazer, Alistair MacLean, John Maclean (Scottish socialist), James Gray (British politician), William Cullen, John Anderson (philosopher), Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, William Gaskell, James Herriot. Excerpt: Adam Smith (5 June 1723 OS - 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Adam Smith is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith is cited as the father of modern economics and is still among the most influential thinkers in the field of economics today. In 2009, Smith was named among the "Greatest Scots" of all time, in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College in the University of Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from scholarships set up by his fellow Glaswegian John Snell. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote and published The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. Smith then returned home and spent the next ten years writing The Wealth of Nations, publishing it in 1776. He died in 1790 at the age of 67. Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, fife, Scotland. His father, also named Adam Smith, was a lawyer, civil servant, and widower who married Margaret Douglas in 1720 and died two months after Smith was born. Although the exact date of Smith's birth is unknown, his baptism was recorded on 5 June 1723 at Kirkcaldy. Though few events in Smith's early childhood are known, Scottish journalist and Smith's biographer John Rae recorded that Smith was abducted by gypsies at the age of four a
