Contemporary philosopher Simon Critchley describes how 190 of history's most famous philosophers died. Here are some of the most fascinating details:

• Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, died by holding his breath.
• Leibniz, discredited as an atheist, died alone and was buried at night with only one friend in attendance.
• Thomas Hobbes, who wrote that "life is nasty, brutish, and short," died peacefully in bed at 91.
• Berkley died while his wife read him a sermon.
• The atheist La Mettrie died of indigestion caused by eating a huge amount of truffle pate.
• Diderot ate an apricot, choked, and died.
• Rousseau died of cerebral bleeding, probably caused by a collision with a Great Dane.
• Hegel died in a cholera epidemic. His last words were: "Only one man understood me … and he didn't understand me" (presumably referring to himself).
• Roland Barthes was hit by a dry cleaning van.
• Jean-Paul Sartre seemed to have a change of heart: prior to his death, this long-time atheist said, "I do not feel that I am the product of chance …. [but] a being whom only a Creator could put here." He died in 1980 after years of alcohol and drug abuse.
• Albert Camus once said that he couldn't imagine a death more meaningless than dying in a car accident. In 1960, at the age of 47, Camus died in a car accident.
• A. J. Ayer, a resolute atheist, choked on a piece of salmon, and technically died. Later he said that this near-death experience provided "strong evidence that death does not end consciousness." His wife reported, "Freddie has got so much nicer since he died." Ayer died for good a year later.

Despite the variety of ways to die, Critchley uses a quote from Epicurus to highlight the certainty of death: "Against all other things it is possible to obtain security, but when it comes to death we human beings live in an unwalled city."