I've read my fair share of philosophy introduction books, but they retain a certain appeal that never seems to fade. I'm a huge fan of Thomson, having followed his Instagram page since I joined the book community.
I was surprised by the book's layout. Initially, that put me off a bit, but I learned to like it. It gives a vibe of a coffee table book, but without being huge or expensive. It gives it a casual feel which it's very fitting for the purpose.
The book is structured exactly as his Instagram posts. A philosophy or idea being described in 6 short paragraphs or so. It strikes a good balance between being too superficial and being off-putting for novices.
What immediately struck me as a positive aspect was how it was organized. Typically philosophy introductions follow a chronological order. I've always been against this and I've mentioned it in probably every philosophy book introduction I've reviewed.
Thomson's approach, which makes the most sense to me, is by grouping it by topic. This is important because philosophy is rather vast. And thus someone might love ethics and yet hate metaphysics. It's better if they are separate so that sections that aren't as appealing can easily be skipped. Another benefit is seeing how many thinkers revolve around the same ideas. With a chronological approach, it keeps jumping from topic to topic, sometimes with no connection at all.
He organized the book into:
- Ethics
- Existentialism
- Art
- Society/Relationships
- Religion/Metaphysics
- Literature and Language
- Science and Psychology
- Everday philosophy
- Politics and economics
It was a good division and they were all enjoyable. Because each thinker/idea is short, it allows great variety, covering well over 100 topics.
I particularly liked that Thomson wasn't afraid to deviate from standard philosophy. First, in the sense of talking about thinkers that typically aren't included in such introductions, like Derrida or Heidegger, because they are too hard. Second, by covering less known philosophers. Having read a fair bit of philosophy, there were many thinkers that I knew little about, such as Adorno. And some I never even heard before, like Harari or Lovelock. Third, some weren't philosophy in the formal sense at all, like Goethe, Asimov's Law of Robotics, Gestalt Therapy or Buddhist kōans.
It's a fantastic book for anyone interested in learning about philosophy but without getting intimidating. Everything is bite-sized and fairly simple. Each idea always covers 2 pages, and it can easily be read in a couple of minutes or less. It's perfect for a daily habit of reading one per day, although of course, you will be tempted to read the next one. The only thing I disliked about the book was not having dates for ideas/authors. For those which I wasn't unfamiliar with, I felt lost on how they fits in the history of ideas. That aside, it's as close to perfect as you can get for what it aims for.