In this, the first systematic treatment of Aristotle's theory of nutrition, Richard King starts by presenting the central concepts of a life-cycle and of nutrition, and then goes on to trace their roles in Aristotle's notion of nature. In the central two chapters he shows how the investigation into living things begun in On the soul is completed in the so-called Parva Naturalia, by offering a detailed interpretation of On the length and shortness of life and On youth, old age, life and death. The culmination of the investigation into living things is provided by definitions of the stages in the life-cycle, including death, which are discussed in the final chapter and related to Aristotle's famous definition of the soul.

Aristotle on Life and Death will be of interest to all scholars and students of ancient philosophy and science, and, more widely, to those interested in defining life and death. All Greek is transliterated and (in all the main text and most endnotes) translated or explained.