Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?

I recommend The Apology of Socrates and The Republic, both written by Plato.

The former because it's an excellent introduction to one of the west's most influential figures (Socrates). As a testament to that influence, any philosopher before him is called 'pre-Socratic'. Not to mention Socrates' tale of traveling around Athens questioning the populace after visiting the Oracle is a great story. It wouldn't hurt to follow up with the dialogue Phaedo next, which details the end of Socrates.

The latter for many reasons. The Republic is the most complete statements of Plato's philosophy, in addition to being beautifully written (Plato's writing seems to shine through in just about any translation that I've seen, but the Allan Bloom translation is particularly enjoyable).

Plato, and this book in particular, have been extremely influential in western thought. Indeed, one philosopher wrote that "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." And here in America, the founding fathers often quoted Plato in their pamphlets prior to seceding.

Following the dialogues in the book will take you from discussions on the nature of justice and reality, to the best mode of governance. It serves as a wonderful introduction to what it means to do philosophy and hopefully you find it as enjoyable as I have.

Foucault and Deleuze are definitely not for beginners. Don't start there.

It really depends what you are interested in. You might check out the Philosophy Bites podcast: http://philosophybites.com/ (now a book too) which has good, short discussions of current issues, and might help you figure out which philosophical questions you are interested in.

If you really want to tackle continental philosophy and have a computer background, I suggest starting with Phil Agre's work, like here: http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/critical.html

I've found Alain de Botton interesting if somewhat...um depressing isn't the right word, but somewhere south of exuberant. He is fairly easy to read though, unlike some of the more "academic" philosophy that I've dipped into.

Not sure it counts as philosophy per se, but I also enjoyed Thich Nhat Hanh's Peace in Every Step.

There was a good thread on thsis a year or so ago:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1503137

If you want to get a good sense of what modern philosophy (mainly English speaking) philosophy is all about, then you should work through Scruton's "Modern philosophy". For the most part it's a superb introduction - Scruton is profoundly conservative, but his book is extremely useful as a primer. The strength of this book is that it's organized thematically rather than in terms of the "great thinkers" (although Descartes, Kant, and especially Frege - if I recall correctly - come out as the great heroes)

If you're interested in taking a historical perspective, Anthony Kenny's new history of philosophy books (in 4 parts) are fantastic, and a much better overview than you'll get from Russell - for all it's idiosyncratic worth.

From there you'll be in a position to appreciate both the original texts and other introductions (much of philosophy is getting back to basics, so you'll never be rid of introductions ...)