Is it possible for a thinker who lived 2,400 years ago to know almost everything we know today about Philosophy? Is it an outdated science? If so, how does the ancient figure of Plato determine our ideas today about politics, ethics, science, religion, and our social (worth living) life? Why are Plato's philosophical questions and answers as influential as ever in the age of social media, unethical political transactions, and fake news?

"Philosophy governs our world," declares Rebecca Goldstein unequivocally, and to prove it, she invites us to accept the imaginative hypothesis of her book that Plato appears in 21st century America as an author touring to promote his bestselling book, "The Republic."

Here he is, then, at Google headquarters (Googleplex), discussing with a software engineer how crowdsourcing answers ethical questions. The next day, in Manhattan, he discusses with a psychoanalyst and a "tiger mom" how to raise a child to excel in the future. In another scene, he helps a relationship advice columnist how to answer difficult questions about love and sex. We also see him on television discussing with an aggressive journalist the role of logic in the dialogue of our political life. Finally, we meet him in a cognitive neuroscience laboratory, where he comes to have his brain scanned, and he engages in a conversation with two scientists about whether the problem of free will and personal identity is solved through brain imaging.

A book that makes our intellectual gears turn! "Is Philosophy dead? Ha! It is more alive than ever.