Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is remembered — and often mocked — for saying we live in “the best of all possible worlds.” But behind the caricature was one of the boldest minds of the Enlightenment: a philosopher who tried to explain everything, from the structure of reality to the problem of evil, with dazzling rational clarity. This book unpacks Leibniz’s core ideas in plain English, guiding you through: Monads — the mysterious, indivisible “building blocks” of reality. Pre-established Harmony — his elegant solution to the problem of mind and body. The Principle of Sufficient Reason — the claim that nothing exists without an explanation. Optimism and Theodicy — why even evil, suffering, and disaster fit into a rational universe. Along the way, you’ll also glimpse Leibniz the mathematician (co-inventor of calculus), the pioneer of binary code, and the restless polymath who sketched plans for world peace and a universal language. But at its heart, this is the story of a philosopher who believed reason could uncover the hidden harmony of creation. Whether you’re new to philosophy or curious about the thinker Voltaire loved to hate, Leibniz in Plain English offers an accessible, witty, and clear-eyed guide to one of history’s most ambitious systems of thought. Leibniz: the last great rationalist, the eternal optimist, and the philosopher who tried to explain it all.
