Brief Guide to Philosophical Classics

by James M. Russell

Big ideas sometimes come from the strangest places.

In this wide ranging introduction, James M Russell takes the fear out of philosophy and selects seventy-six works - from Plato, Descartes and Wittgenstein to Philip K Dick and the Moomins as well as contemporary thinkers such as Peter Singer and John Rawls.

Dividing into accessible sections - history, contemplation, happiness, and -isms, Russell gives us the lives as well as the lessons of the great thinkers, including a digest of their key ideas.

A perfect antidote to the complex life.

The topics and books covered include:

Traditional Philosophy:
The Republic , Plato; The Confessions , St Augustine; The Leviathan , Thomas Hobbes; On Liberty , John Stuart Mill; Philisophical Investigations , Ludwig Wittgenstein; Critique of Pure Reason , Immanuel Kant.

Outsiders:
Fear and Trembling , Soren Kierkegaard; Beyond Good and Evil , Frederick Nietzsche; The Outsider , Albert Camus; Doors of Perception , Aldous Huxley.

Contemplation as Philosophy:
The Prophet , Kahil Gibran; Jonathan Livingston Seagull , Richard Bach; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , Robert Pirsig; The Tao of Pooh , Benjamin Hoff.

The Continental Tradition:
The Prison Notebooks , Antonio Gramsci; The History of Sexuality , Michel Foucault; Symbolic Exchange and Death , Jean Baudrillard.

How to Live Your Life:
The Art of War , Sun Tzu; Maxims, La Rouchefoucauld; Memories, Dreams, Reflections , Carl Jung; On Sexuality , Sigmund Freud; On Becoming a Person , Carl Rogers.

Political and Personal Issues:
Das Kapital , Karl Marx; Being and Nothingness , Jean Paul Sartre; Gaia , James Lovelock.

Modern Philosophy:
A Theory of Justice , John Rawls; Darwin's Dangerous Idea , Daniel Dennett; After the Terror , Ted Honderich.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

James M. Russell has a philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge, a post-graduate qualification in critical theory, and has taught at the Open University in the UK. He currently works as a freelance writer, designer and editor. He is the author of A Brief Guide to Philosophical Classics, A Brief Guide to Spiritual Classics and A Traveller's Guide to Infinity. He lives in north London with his wife, daughter and two cats.

Reviews

[Zina · Rating 5 out of 5]

In A Brief Guide to Philosophical classics, Russell aims at introducing some of philosophy’s most important books to the reader who is just starting to discover this new realm in a simplified way that makes the book accessible to everyone regardless of their background or previous knowledge on the topic. These can vary between first year philosophy students and anyone merely interested in the field of philosophy and wanting to discover and learn more.

It is a worthwhile read because it organizes the different “categories” of different kinds of philosophies at different periods in time in the shapes of books written about them which allows for the beginner reader to have some sort of set timeline or “groups of philosophies” back to in addition to a bibliography of where they can start to learn more about it.

As to the accuracy of the information provided, I cannot judge because I’m not an expert. I happen to be a beginner reader of philosophy myself but I can say that every book is neatly summarized and the gist of it or the general ideas it discusses or explains are generally clear. However, the attempt to squeeze such complicated ideas and ideologies in a two-page summary wasn’t always successful. With some books, it seemed that they were cut so short that even their summary is incomprehensible.

The title is, of course, what grabbed my attention at first because I have read Winnie the Pooh and thought it's an extremely interesting and underrated book to dive into philosophically speaking. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t Winnie, it was actually the Tao of Pooh) Another factor to take note of is the fact that it doesn’t have to be read in order. You can pick any book that grabs your attention from any chapter at any time and you won’t have any difficulty whatsoever understanding what the author is talking about. I read it in order because I wanted an overview of everything and I recommend doing it that way too unless maybe you’re more interested in one area than another.

I totally recommend it to whoever is discovering the world of philosophy for the first time. It serves its purpose wonderfully which is basically: Philosophical classics 101. The writing is pretty simple and straightforward and most of the ideas are easy enough to understand if you’re focused and put in a tiny bit of effort. In addition to the 2 page-ish summaries, you get a small paragraph summary of the summary at the end of every part of every chapter. (You’ll be reading a lot of summaries in this book if you weren’t able to tell already.)

I learned more about, not only what to read or research next, but also about where my previous (humble) knowledge of philosophy lies exactly. It already is a kind of bibliography in and out of itself but I also annotated it in a way that turned it into a customized bibliography which I will be referring back to constantly. I already got myself a copy of the first ever book mentioned in it and I can’t wait to dive in. I would like to check out the other book in the series “A Brief Guide to” by Russell and more authors.

My favorite part of this book was the chapter called “Wild and Crazy guys: Outsiders and Gatecrashers” which discussed the philosophy behind fictional novels. What about you? Have you seen this book around? Read it? Would you like to? Where do you stand philosophy-wise? I’d love to know.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personally, I thought the tagline of this book was interesting. I know that Plato is a philosopher, but Winnie the Pooh? (it was about the Tao of Pooh)

I figured that it couldn’t hurt to learn more about philosophy, so I took the plunge and book this book. To put the cart before the horse, I ended up having a lot of fun reading this and came away with books that I want to read!

A Brief Guide to Philosophical Classics is a fun guide through Western philosophy. The book is broken into six main sections: Traditional Philosophy, Outsiders and Gatecrashers, Philosophically interesting books that are not traditional philosophy books, Understanding our lives and the lives of others, Twentieth Century Issues, a Sampler of Modern Philosophy, and The Continental Tradition.

The book is upfront about the fact that it focuses on Western Philosophical tradition and that the books picked can be subjective, and I appreciated the honesty. Philosophy is a huge discipline and it’s going to be impossible to condense it all into one small book (let alone define what is a “classic”) so I was inclined to trust A Brief Guide to Philosophical Classics as soon as they admitted that it wasn’t going to be a definitive guide. As much as I would have liked to read about Eastern Philosophy as well, I understand that it’s a huge topic worthy of a book by itself (come to think of it, has anyone written a similar book for Eastern philosophers?) and to cram it into this book would not do it justice.

The tone of this book is conversational, making it easy to read and to grasp the ideas mentioned. I can’t say that I understand everything one hundred percent, but I understood a lot more about the discipline of philosophy after reading this than before.

If you’re interested in Western philosophy and its ideas, I think this is a good introductory book. I found myself interested in reading a few of these books in its entirety, and I can see myself returning to this book now and then to get a refresher.

This review was first posted at Eustea Reads

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and easy to read and follow along with. It's nice and bitesized, has varying philosophers and genres covered and seems to be a broad palette of introductions to thinkers and ways of thinking and living.

There were a few parts in the beginning that were a bit hard to comprehend, and a lot of the last chapter I simply didn't understand - that being said, it's not the writer's fault that the philosophers' content is confusing.

I recommend this book highly. And I also recommend you read it like you eat fish: Swallow the good parts and spit out the hard stuff.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ideal toilet book for those who like to contemplate more than their navel while at their easement.

[DAINIS]

66 essays about subjectively selected philosophers and 'thinkers' with story about one work of each.
Yo can read this randomly in small portions (not understanding all anyway).
Among knows philosophers there are writers (as Dostoevsky and Kafka), and many new for me and very strange (was comment: Noam Chomsky described Lacan as '...charlatan').
NO TERMINOLOGY AT ALL. Looks like supposed, that You have studied philosophy.
? NO philosophers in China, India, Arab origin, etc., only Europa and USA.

[Wai Yan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read the entire book but I want to note that this book is a nicely written introductory book to philosophy even if you are not into philosophy. It ranges from Socrates through Jacques Derrida to Sun Tzu including brief accounts of philosophical classics.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. Great choice of topics (not all philosophies discussed are what I, and the authors, considered a traditional approach to the subject) that certainly made me revise my (little) understanding of the subject. I appreciated the update on contemporary philosophy. All chapters and topics are intriguingly brief, as intended, and enough to, for me, warrant further reading or file away as ho-hum.

[Dina Angeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's successful in giving brief explanations or introductions of different texts (philosophical or not) and their philosophies. However, the discussions in the last chapter are lengthy, making the already complicated texts included in this section even harder to understand. Despite this, I still recommend this book for those of us who are interested in philosophy but do not have time to fully study it.

[Brittany LeMoine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book while on a study abroad to Britain in order to help with the philosophy classes that the study abroad was. It really helped me understand some of the philosophers that I had to study and was interesting to read the rest of the little summaries after the trip was over.

[Sparks Serenity · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first philosophy book that I've ever read and I'm absolutely thrilled to have picked it up. The content lives up to its title and the author's picks were perfect for newbies in the philosophical world.

[kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

not enough women on here which is sad. i liked the speed read element, it was funny. so much info in one book which was great. this book is a great starter but aside from info dumping, all conclusions are mostly how « interesting » a book is. helped me find new authors tho!

[Isha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice effort to put various philosophical branches in one book so as a novice we can understand what exactly philosophical leaders ponder about. But to be honest these leaders have bored me with their ego to prove how superior they are than others.

[Derek Ithen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5

[Walter Schutjens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dissapointing tapas

[Marifer Adame · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great essay about history of philosophy.
One of my favorites tbh

[Somdeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is solid and comprehensive introduction to the major works and ideas in Western Philosophical thinking from Plato to Kant and beyond. Although it takes only a few passages from Eastern Philosophy and doesn't go into the rich depths of Indian philosophical thinking evident from the Vedas and Upanishads, it doesn't diminish the value of what is presented.

The book frames each thinker through a key text and invites readers to wonder about the bigger questions without overwhelming beginners. It is a great starting point for curious minds.

[Umair Aslam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and effective read for anyone trying to introduce themselves to some basic philosophy and metaphysical concepts and researches

[Richard Buckley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasted on me

[Juan Meza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice summary of major players. I liked the inclusion of books outside the normal set of philosophy books. The author says in the introduction that the goals were accessibility and a chatty and comprehensible style, which he succeeds in for the most part in the first five sections/chapters. Perhaps we was getting tired in the last 2 chapters where the writing becomes less clear and loses some of its punch.

[Joseph Isaac]

Spared me many hours, but many knowledge points.