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Ask HN: What are the best books to (re)discover philosophy?

16 points by simonebrunozzi ↗ HN
I loved philosophy when I was in high school (Italy, 20+ years ago). I'd love to rediscover it, but in a hopefully exciting way. In other words, I am not looking for a long, boring, heavy book on philosopher X, but rather something fresh and interesting... Ideally, a SINGLE book that covers philosophy in its entirety. Any good suggestions or ideas?

10 comments

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Top19
Look no further! I would bet a year’s worth of pay this is the book you’re looking for:

The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671739166/

It’s by Will Durant, who wrote some of the most exceptional works of the 20th century regarding history, philosophy, and the meaning of human civilization.

Schiphol
Most academic philosophers (disclaimer: I am one of them) don't think of their field in terms of important figures of the past, but in terms of unsolved philosophical problems right here right now. [Tim Williamson's Tetralogue](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/tetralogue-978019872...) is a good intro to philosophy from this perspective.
jason_wirth
Mortimer Adler's "How To Think About The Great Ideas"

I got a degree in philosophy and its the single best general book I've ever read.

The book is actually a transcription of a TV show he did and its in dialogue form.

The structure is broken up into a bunch of mini chapters that are "how to think about _______". Like how to think about love, how to think about government, etc.

muzani
I second this.

I'm a big fan of Mortimer Adler. His specialty seems to be piecing together all the other works of philosophy and making it easily accessible to the commoner.

[dead] corporateguy5
Lately I picked up a book called the mask of enlightenment. It's about Nietzsches Zarathustra. It's been very good so far.

Nausea by Sartre is pretty good

brudgers
Philosophical Investigations
guilhas
"Cracking Philosophy" 400 pages, 2/3 pages for each philosopher or philosophical idea, with illustrations.