Sassower's Solo  left me breathless: a philosopher's cruelly honest report on encounters between cognitive formulations and recesses of the self, intimate world and outer reality, solitude of the individual and partnership of humanity. Sassower is at his best confronting human suffering and exploitation, addressing current politics and the economy of nations, and intimate relations. Solo makes a seemingly light reading, captivating and inviting the reader to celebrate with its author an exceptionally rare and extreme occasion. It is a dual excursion, touring both space and time, public spheres and private domains. Peregrinations through continents blend with wandering along cutting-edge philosophical shores, acute socio-cultural diagnoses intertwine with courageous personal insights. Sassower is a prolific philosopher; in Solo he is coming of age--a towering thinker.