"In his contemplative works on nature, Aristotle twice appeals to the general principle that being is better than not being. Taking his cue from this claim, Christopher V. Mirus offers an extended, systematic account of how Aristotle understands being itself to be good. The author begins with two chapters on the human, examining Aristotle's well-known claim that the end of a human life is the good of the human substance as such-which turns out to be the good of the human capacity for thought. Human thought as contemplative is then oriented to the three branches of contemplative thought-mathematics, natural science, and theology-which are covered in the remaining three chapters. The book also features three appendices on aspects of Aristotle's thought, as well as a bibliography and three indices"--