'Readable and expert - a brilliant guide to the life and thought of 17th century Europe's supreme polymath'
Tom Holland

'A richly detailed account of Pascal's life and times, which displays an energetic sympathy for Pascal's startling combination of intellectual precocity and humble faith.'
Rory Stewart

'A beautiful, accessible account of one of the era's most remarkable lives'
Katherine Rundell

He lived for just 39 years, yet Blaise Pascal was one of the most remarkable and creative figures of the seventeenth century.

He is known for his famous (though often misunderstood) argument 'the Wager', but there's so much more to him than that. Pascal can lay claim to have built an early version of the modern computer, done ground-breaking work in mathematics and geometry, invented urban bus transport and virtually invented probability theory. He also produced one of the most haunting and effective works of Christian apologetics ever written. He is a major intellectual figure at the beginning of the modern age who blends together in his own person and thinking issues that are critical to our age. Blaise Pascal is therefore a crucial figure: not just in the history of European thought, but for how he can shed light on our many contemporary debates.


From science to scepticism; mystical experience to distraction; religion to politics, self-love and death, Pascal's thinking was far-reaching. In this captivating biography, Graham Tomlin explores Pascal's short but extraordinary life, and the sweeping impact and relevance of his ideas to the modern world.