I thought Sophie's World wasn't too patronising... It's definitely an approachable book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sophies-World-Novel-History-Philosop...
Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
51–59 of 59 posts
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#52There's so much out there, trouble is deciding what you're likely to be interested in. The Philosophy Bites podcast (http://www.philosophybites.com/) may give you some ideas.
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#53The Metaphysical Club, by Louis Menand, a history of American Pragmatism
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#54You should ask this question on Metafilter as well. However, some people already have:
http://ask.metafilter.com/71101/What-single-book-is-the-best...
http://ask.metafilter.com/52701/Philosophy-readings
http://ask.metafilter.com/26408/crash-course-in-modern-philo...
Overwhelmingly, with my approval, many suggest reading "The Problems of Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell. It's one of the most accessible and thought provoking books on philosophy I've read. This has already been suggested by someone in this thread with a link to the book (http://www.ditext.com/russell/russell.html).
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#55Bertrand Russell - The History of Western Philosophy: http://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Philosophy-Bertrand-Ru...
That's sort of evil to use as an 'Introduction'...it's like reading the Silmarillion before you read LOTR.
Maybe, but it's a nice overview of a lot of stuff, spanning a long period of time, and it is better - IMO - than telling somebody "go read primary sources for all Western philosophy developed since the Greeks." I suppose one could recommend Frederick Copleston's A History of Philosophy, but it's difficult due to all the untranslated quotes from primary sources. (Well, unless you happen to read Latin, German, Greek, and whatever else.) It's also 9 volumes long, which is quite an undertaking.
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#56Bertrand Russell - The History of Western Philosophy: http://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Philosophy-Bertrand-Ru...
The only problem being that it is Bertrand Russell's view of the history of philosophy
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#57Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Notes from Underground http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Underground-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/d... Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude http://www.amazon.com/One-Hundred-Years-Solitude-P-S/dp/0060...
None of this is actual philosophy.
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#58I would highly recommend Stanford Encyclopedia on philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/). Reading original texts of philosophy are hard and require patience. At the same time, it also requires an understanding of previous era philosophers, since most philosophy is built on what was said earlier. Philosophy for the most part, evolves as ideas are built upon gradually by one philosopher after the next, so reading something from the middle and subscribing to it is pretty much baseless and akin to believing in some sort of cult ideology.
The more important part is to understand different arguments, and see which ones really stick out to you; the framework that you choose: metaphysical, analytical, phenomenological etc. should be something that truly inspires your way of thinking.
Re: Ask HN: Can anyone recommend some philosophy reading?
#59I recommend 'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder, a journey into philosophy.