A wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy and religion to better understand the mercurial genius William Blake in the twenty-first century

'Fascinating' The Times
'Blakeian in its singularity' New Statesman
'A wonderful adventure' Irish Times
'Rich, complex and original' Tom Holland
'A crisp, ambitious and thoroughly contemporary introduction' Times Literary Supplement

Poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem 'Jerusalem', William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. In this radical new biography, we return to a world of riots, revolutions and radicals, discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics and comparative religion to look afresh at Blake's life and work - and, crucially, his mind. Taking the reader on wild detours into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into context and shows us how Blake can help us better understand ourselves.

[Higgs's] is a systematising imagination, able to harness disparate elements and find the patterns that animate them