Philosophy

by Kevin Perry

Philosophy is to question everything. More than a lifestyle, larger than any single idea, broader than a conviction, philosophy is the love of exploration, of knowledge, of uncertainty, and of that cornerstone of free thinking: doubt. Kevin Perry's "Philosophy" takes the reader on a grand tour of life's biggest questions, examining all that the world's greatest philosophers have said about life and death, love and loss, language, art and God, to name a few.
Philosophy is a great companion and a roadmap to navigate life's major milestones, including: How to make sense of death What loving someone or something means The effect of art on our lives What role language plays in understanding the world How do our ideas affect our actions

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Ebooks, History, Spirituality

234 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 2015

Reviews

[Josh]

Some people need to learn how to write reviews.

Perry did a great job of summing up, very accessible. Some of the ideas in here are pretty terrible, some of them have changed the way I view my daily life, but the book itself is executed pretty well.

Five stars for Perry's summaries, 4 stars for the amalgam of both great ideas and terrible ideas throughout the book.

[Wayne Coltrane]

Contemplation

This was a very good introduction to philosophy. By dividing the book into sections of topics such as love and free will the reader learned in a summary format about different philosophers for future study.

[Nathan Hoyt]

While reading this I tried to go upstairs to be higher, but still much of this goes over my head. Each philosophy book I read I get "it" a bit more. I was hoping for a bit more on the explanation and less about the history and background of philosophers. So I think I could say as good as this book was, it wasn't what I need right now and I need to probably read more of a few "philosophy for dummies" books first.

[Amy]

An awesome introduction book for a wide range of philosophers and philosophical ideas. It included sections on things such as death, love, god, free will, tune, art, knowledge, and life. I made lots of highlights throughout the book, and it introduced me to philosophers I will research in future :)

[Richard Shank]

Fun introduction to many different ideas throughout human history with helpful lists to take a deeper dive into interested topics. Easy to read and quick. If already familiar with philosophy and history, it serves as a breezy refresh. Might inspire an interest in philosophy.

[John Carmichael]

Overview which is what I was seeking

[Zachary Littrell]

A pretty nice categorized overview of philosophy and its landmark thinkers. Definitely a whole bunch of philosophers I never heard of before. The only real flaw is Perry wobbles a little with language that oscillates between oversimplified to highfalutin; a few times his roundabout attempts to make key thought experiments easier to parse for laymen comes off even more confusing.

Otherwise, this scratched exactly the itch I had to learn a little more about philosophy. Do I agree with all the thoughts in it? No. And philosophy is still a little heady for my taste, but Perry does a good job getting to the nugget of what history's great thinkers and navel-gazers were making a fuss about.

[Ross]

This is a general overview 0f philosophy from the ancient Greeks to the present day.
It covers the thinking of some 80 different philosophers on 10 different topics such as life, death, human nature, love, time , god, etc..
I was extremely unimpressed. I was trained and worked as a scientist and to me these people were just expressing their opinions with no factual observations or experiments.
To my way of thinking a statement of "here's what I think" plus $2 will get you a cup of coffee and nothing more.
For example, the proofs some of these people offered for the existence of god, or gods, was simply pure nonsense.
So the 2 star rating applies to the topic of philosophy and not really to this book since the author is just giving us what these people thought and wrote.

[Leslie Smith]

I fun, lightweight reminder of some of the work done by some of the worlds greatest thinkers. A book of Philosopher's log lines.

[Nick Yee]

Broad overview of topics from renown philosophers

[Ron]

Very brief view of philosophical ideas, and but leaves you wanting more.