Raymond Tallis trained as a doctor before going on to become Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester. He was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his research in clinical neuroscience. He retired from medicine in 2006 to become a full-time writer and has written over a dozen books including, most recently, The Kingdom of Infinite Space, Michelangelo's Finger, Aping Mankind and In Defence of Wonder. In 2009, The Economist's Intelligent Life magazine named him as one of the top living polymaths in the world.