Product Description: Distilled from Donald Palmer's more than 30 years of teaching experiences, this approachable text, historically organized text exemplifies Dr. Palmer's very successful light-hearted approach to teaching introduction to philosophy. Through the use of humor, drawings, charts, and diagrams, serious philosophical topics come alive for the readers--without compromising the seriousness of the subject matter. The text can be used as a core text or as a supplement to any reader..
Ok, but doesn't do history of philosophy justice I love reading philosophy and I prefer the method of looking at the origins of a philosophical topic and see its development. The problem of this book is that it tries to cover 4000 years of philosophical history in a thin book, plus the pages are littered with pictures and drawings (something Plato would not appreciate) which cut out space even more.
Having so much history of philosophy crammed into a small book with pictures hardly does the history, nor the philosophy, justice. With all that is in Plato the book reduces his philosophy to a brief discussion over one kind of Form theory. He's also mistaken in his beliefs that Revelation and the Gospel of John are two different authors (Apostle John and John of Patmos). Also, I felt his work on Kant was very shallow since there's far more in Kant than what a few pages can give. Now I'm not saying he should give all the information on them that there is to give, nor to give us a thesis for each philosopher, but it would be nice to show that these people have far more to say than what the book gives. Perhaps a sneak peek, or a short list of other topics and theories covered?
I gave it two stars because I'm open to the idea that someone might find this to be a good place to start, or valuable to the student who's only taking philosophy as a requirement rather than because of personal interest. However, there are far better intro books and history of books out there. The pictures were simply too much for me.
Lastly, for a book that costs over forty dollars there are better book. It's too much money for such little information on each philosopher.
not bad! I'm not a very avid reader, but this one is pretty fun to read, and it's pretty basic(definitely not difficult reading!).
I would recommend it! It's pretty nice to get a foundation on some fairly important history. It's relative to other important facts in history or in life.
Philosophy Overview 'Looking At Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter' by Donald Palmer lives up to the promise in its title; It is a very brief overview on the history of philosophy, covering most major philosophers through history, starting with the Greek philosophers, and ending with the modern philosophies.
It is an extremely light read. I found myself reading far ahead of the assigned chapters, simply because I was enjoying myself. The illustrations are humorous, though sometimes silly, especially for a text book.
The light reading can also be problematic. I found myself referring to other resources for a full understanding, because the author did not cover (I felt) enough ground on most subjects, leaving me without only a surface understanding of the concepts.
This book would be better suited to a high school class, rather than a serious, college course.
Overall, the text was refreshingly enjoyable, though oftentimes fell short.
Philosophy made easy... I bought this book for my Philosophy 101 class. I tried to sell it back but the bookstore wouldn't let me. Although I hated the idea that I wouldn't be getting my 30 bucks back, little did I know that this book would serve as an important tool for my Literary/Criticism class (which I am currently taking). It definitely clarifies complicated theories with a touch of humor added to the descriptions. There are also sketches in the book that are also humorous, yet provide the reader with a mental image on the topic at hand.
Great for the beginner I have the 1988 edition so I can't vouch for this edition. But I have to say if it is anything like this one then by all means grab it. A very readable style with plenty of humours illustrations that make this an unputdownable book. Don't let the cartoons fool you though, you will learn alot.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
