Newly retired from teaching classics at prestigious English and Welsh academies, Shirley began translating the works of philosopher Benedictus de Spinoza (1632-77) from Dutch and Latin into English in 1972, and kept on with it until he ran out of texts. Morgan (philosophy, Indiana U.-Bloomington) provides a general introduction placing him in the tradition of western philosophy, and introductions to each work placing it within his career. He includes a chronology. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)