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Writers & Readers Documentary Comic Book #34
Platon para principiantes / Platon for Beginners
Traces the life and ideas of the philosopher and introduces some of the individuals who influenced his thought.
160 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 8, 2022
A great introduction to a most famous philosopher!
September 2, 2023
….Ah! The audacity of summarizing Plato's philosophy in few graphical pages!
Good attempt, though!
Good attempt, though!
July 10, 2024
A fun, comprehensive “documentary comic book” on Plato and a good launching point for Western Philosophy.
November 28, 2009
Having made it about 400 pages into the 1800 page tome of Plato: Complete Works edited by John M. Cooper, I realized I didn't have a clue what the last 100 pages had said. So I turned to this Cliff-note worthy comic.
Yeah, judge me if you like. But I didn't have to tell you.
It's a quick summary of the life and times of Plato. There is a good summary of Forms as well as brief overviews of some of the more well known works such as The Republic, The Symposium, and Laws.
The summaries are just that: summaries. These are not critical analyses of the dialogues. However, the book does help to clearly state some of the presuppositions relied on for Plato's dialectic.
Plus, it was a nice break. Read the original Parmenides and you'll agree.
Yeah, judge me if you like. But I didn't have to tell you.
It's a quick summary of the life and times of Plato. There is a good summary of Forms as well as brief overviews of some of the more well known works such as The Republic, The Symposium, and Laws.
The summaries are just that: summaries. These are not critical analyses of the dialogues. However, the book does help to clearly state some of the presuppositions relied on for Plato's dialectic.
Plus, it was a nice break. Read the original Parmenides and you'll agree.
March 9, 2023
LITERATURE in PUNK ROCK - Books #9-10
BOOKS:
- Plato for Beginners (Cavalier)
- Introducing Plato: Graphic Guide (Robinson, Groves)
SONG: Shield Your Eyes by Jawbreaker
https://youtu.be/N4kO3jgP-6M
An early (demo) recording of "Shield Your Eyes" is Jawbreaker's first official release, appearing on Shredder Record's compilation - The World's In Shreds Volume Two 7" (1989). The song was re-recorded and released as the first track on their second LP: Bivouac (1991). The initial recording was later re-released as the first track on Etc., (2002): a self-released collection of b-sides, rarities and unreleased songs.
The song centers lyrical allusion heavily on Plato's Allegory of the Cave: this unconventional scholarly focus (for the genre) foreshadows the songwriter's later decades-long professorship in the Department of English at Hunter College (NYC).
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There are two companies in the graphic nonfiction series of documentary comic books: For Beginners and Introducing...
Both arose from the same 1970s activist-based writer-publisher cooperative. The collective's translation of "Marx for Beginners" by Mexican political cartoonist Ruis became a critical success that launched numerous titles in the "For Beginners" series of illustrated documentary books.
In the 1980s internal disagreements soon arose causing the cooperative to disband with some members leaving to publish a separate US imprint. The "For Beginners" series then continued under two separate publishers, with notable cases of commissioned alternative copies of the others' works, leading to different copies being published under the same title. Decades later, the situation resolved and the London-based series rebranded as the "Introducing..." book series. Both continue to operate today.
BOOKS:
- Plato for Beginners (Cavalier)
- Introducing Plato: Graphic Guide (Robinson, Groves)
SONG: Shield Your Eyes by Jawbreaker
https://youtu.be/N4kO3jgP-6M
An early (demo) recording of "Shield Your Eyes" is Jawbreaker's first official release, appearing on Shredder Record's compilation - The World's In Shreds Volume Two 7" (1989). The song was re-recorded and released as the first track on their second LP: Bivouac (1991). The initial recording was later re-released as the first track on Etc., (2002): a self-released collection of b-sides, rarities and unreleased songs.
The song centers lyrical allusion heavily on Plato's Allegory of the Cave: this unconventional scholarly focus (for the genre) foreshadows the songwriter's later decades-long professorship in the Department of English at Hunter College (NYC).
---------------------------
There are two companies in the graphic nonfiction series of documentary comic books: For Beginners and Introducing...
Both arose from the same 1970s activist-based writer-publisher cooperative. The collective's translation of "Marx for Beginners" by Mexican political cartoonist Ruis became a critical success that launched numerous titles in the "For Beginners" series of illustrated documentary books.
In the 1980s internal disagreements soon arose causing the cooperative to disband with some members leaving to publish a separate US imprint. The "For Beginners" series then continued under two separate publishers, with notable cases of commissioned alternative copies of the others' works, leading to different copies being published under the same title. Decades later, the situation resolved and the London-based series rebranded as the "Introducing..." book series. Both continue to operate today.
May 21, 2025
The book design is really novel and enjoyable to read through in my opinion. It felt like a Pinterest board or collage of a bunch of aesthetic Greek iconography. Can be read in one sitting, very simplistic. I wish the author dove into Dialogues more (ex. lysis), and just detailed his works further. For how influential texts like the republic or the laws are I wanted to learn more about them once I begin to tackle those. It is an extremely brief background mostly on his relationship with socrates and the historical context around him. Enjoyable overall- good for someone who knows nothing about Plato and maybe for someone new to reading who would enjoy the mixture of pictures and breaks in text.
October 14, 2017
Bueno, al tratar de simplificar uno se enreda más de la cuenta. Interesante me pareció el tratamiento de la república y tramos sobre la historia de Grecia. Estos libros cumplen con su función de abrir el apetito para devorar nuevos libros ;)
July 14, 2021
Es un buen libro para tener una mirada general de Platón, tanto de su obra como biografía y es muy fácil de leer. En resumen, cumple su función de introductorio a este filosofo y da unos conocimientos básicos para pasar a textos un poco más avanzados.
May 18, 2024
By no means comprehensive, but it does a good job at summarizing some of the key issues surroundings Plato's work (particularly the Theory of Forms) and connecting it to the ongoing conversation of modern philosophy.
October 16, 2025
A very quick read. Pretty based takes with theory of form. Learned a lot about Socrates too. Not a fan of his perfect city state lol. But interesting stuff, definitely need to dedicate more time to Greek history and philosophy.
September 22, 2018
If Cliff’s notes were in comic form you would get this book. It’s a brief, easy biography of Plato’s life with a little history for context. The comic book elements help it be engaging to read.
November 11, 2019
Pretty good overview was able to (manically) read the entire thing in a single day.
It would've been interesting to see a bit of criticism of Plato but that could fill a book alone.
It would've been interesting to see a bit of criticism of Plato but that could fill a book alone.
May 21, 2020
Too
Many
Exclamation
Marks
Many
Exclamation
Marks
August 10, 2020
Don't expect a deep dive into Plato's essays. Just a brief highlights of the man's life and nice skim on some of his teachings
March 15, 2021
As these kind of graphic introductory books go, this is a pretty good one! It gave me a good overview before reading The Republic.
August 28, 2023
Konsept ve resimler çok güzel. Yine de konu çok atlıyor. Ben beginner seviyesini biraz karışık buldum.
Read
August 29, 2021El libro hace un repaso de la historia de Grecia, la vida de Platón con sus viajes y de alguno de sus libros. Está muy bien explicada la teoría de las formas, que es su más importante aporte a la filosofía, su pensamiento político con la descripción que hace de su ciudad-estado ideal y la alegoría de la caverna. Al ser una introducción, no se analizan todos sus libros pero hay interesantes aportes de diálogos como el Timeo, República, Leyes, Banquete, Fedro y la apología.
June 11, 2010
Plato for Beginners is a coffee-table skimming book that aims to introduce the basic history of Philosophy in the context of Greek philosopher Plato and his teacher Socrates.
The title features plenty of illustrations and very little text in the effort to make the book easily palatable at all levels of readership. In fact it feels like skimming through a comic book – a refreshing approach indeed to a traditionally dry topic. Concepts of Platonic love, wisdom and beauty are explained in what is considered abstract philosophy in entertaining visuals and cartoon forms. On top of that, readers will also be able to take a peek at the ancient Greek ideals of a perfect society and the pillars that good governance is supposed to be built upon.
Entertaining skim but it’s a little too shallow for my liking.
The title features plenty of illustrations and very little text in the effort to make the book easily palatable at all levels of readership. In fact it feels like skimming through a comic book – a refreshing approach indeed to a traditionally dry topic. Concepts of Platonic love, wisdom and beauty are explained in what is considered abstract philosophy in entertaining visuals and cartoon forms. On top of that, readers will also be able to take a peek at the ancient Greek ideals of a perfect society and the pillars that good governance is supposed to be built upon.
Entertaining skim but it’s a little too shallow for my liking.
August 27, 2009
I actually read this after studying Plato in college for my philosophy degree. It was shallow and left out a lot! I don't think it was written for someone who has a degree in philosophy. I think it was written for someone who was just a little curious then done. I'm the wrong person to do a review on this one.
August 30, 2021
I love studying the philosophers, no surprise for those of you who know me. And I would love for others to be familiar with them as well. This is a great place to start. I especially love Mr. Cavalier's treatment of Socrates. I ADORE Socrates!! And the cartoons are fun and help to make concepts clear and lighten everything up. A nice beginning...
November 16, 2010
this is a good introduction. I understood Plato's republic because of this book.
March 1, 2012
Somewhat irreverant, but entertaining and succinct background for understanding Socrates and Plato. Love the graphic novel-style nonfiction books that can be found these days.
October 24, 2012
Helpful if you just want an outline of the philosophy
Want to read
October 5, 2013it is interesting!
January 29, 2016
a real good introduction for plato-interested persons
April 18, 2017
It's a good start to the vast philosophy that Plato preached. It's a very light, almost comic-category brief on Socrates, Plato and their dialogues. Not meant for the serious readers of philosophy, but it's pretty Ok for someone just interested in the subject.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews