Strathern was born in London, and studied philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin,[1] after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years.
He is the author of two series of short introductory books: Philosophers in 90 Minutes and The Big Idea: Scientists Who Changed the World.
His book on the history of chemistry entitled Mendeleyev's Dream (2000) was short-listed for the Aventis Prize, and his works have been translated into over two dozen languages.
He is the author of The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance, Napoleon in Egypt, and The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warrior: Leonardo, Machiavelli and Borgia - a fateful collusion (2009) and The Spirit of Venice: from Marco Polo to Casanova (2012).
His recent works include The Periodic Table (2015), Quacks, Rogues and Charlatans (2015) and The Borgias (2019) Rise and Fall: A History of the World in Ten Empires (2019).