Book excerpt: Highly acclaimed as the most reliable, thorough, and accessible introduction to Thomas Aquinas, this first volume in Jean-Pierre Torrell's set of books on the great Dominican theologian has been revised to include a new appendix. The appendix consists of additions to the text, the catalog of Aquinas's works, and the chronology. Each item in the appendix is called out in the original part of the book with an asterisk in the margin. "This is the introduction to Thomas: presenting all the known facts of his life and work, tracing the themes of his writing out of his juvenilia, and following the influence of his thought in the years immediately after his death."--First Things "The most up-to-date biography available."--Choice