Brian Hodgkinson was born in London in 1938. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, he became interested in literature and philosophy and won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Subsequently he has taught philosophy and other subjects at both university and school levels. His publications include a history of the Ancient World and a verse translation of the Bhagavad Gita which stemmed from an interest in Sanskrit. Since studying a wide range of philosophy from the pre-Socratics to modern linguistic analysis, he has focussed on Sankara, the master of Advaita Vedanta and the recent growth of Western investigations into Vedanta. His other interests include writing poetry, travel, meditation and living in the beautiful city of Oxford. He is married to a business journalist and has a son who teaches classics.