This series was first broadcast in 2002. Inspired by the admiration Canadian philosopher George Grant felt for her, I began reading Simone Weil in the 1980's and have never really stopped since. The first programme of the set gives an account of Weil's short life - she was only 34 when she died in England in 1943 - and the remaining four take up her ideas. Because I wanted listeners to be aware that they were listening to the thoughts of a young woman, I asked my daughter Kate, then 24, to read the selections I had made from Weil's works. I was scolded afterwards for doing this and told that even her superb performance did not mitigate the appearance of nepotism. I responded, in vain, that Felipe Alou who managed his son Moises with the Montreal Expos and the San Francisco Giants played the kid because he was a great outfielder, not because he was his son. I like Kate's reading as much today as when she did it and think this series provides a good introduction to Weil's thought...