Raymond Tallis trained in medicine at Oxford University and at St Thomas' Hospital London before becoming Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his research in clinical neuroscience and he has played a key role in developing guidelines for the care of stroke patients in the UK. From 2011-14 he was Chair of Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying.

He retired from medicine in 2006 to become a full-time writer. His books have ranged across many subjects - from philosophical anthropology to literary and cultural criticism - but all are characterised by a fascination for the infinite complexity of human lives and the human condition. The Economist's Intelligent Life magazine lists him as one of the world's leading polymaths.