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dodicin's review against another edition
4.0
Great introduction to many of the most prominent branches and themes of philosophy.
pascalibrary's review against another edition
4.0
3.75/5 - A high level anthology of philosophical topics. Think mostly succeeds in introducing ideas and inspiring drive to learn more.
I really enjoyed this monster of a book. At 300 or so pages, you wouldn't think its a tough read, but that would be false. Each page is dense and full of hard to understand philosophical arguments/debates. I've seen other reviews saying that this is a bad thing, and I truly don't understand this point.
Think is an introduction to philosophy, not a textbook. Its supposed to lay the groundwork for future inquiry, not to teach you a bunch of facts. The author echoes this idea in the introduction chapter.
Simon Blackburn goes over knowledge, mind, free will, the self, God, reasoning, the world, and what to do. None of these chapters are any easier than the others, though some are certainly more interesting and well done. The last three chapters in particular couldn't compare to the high mark set by their predecessors. They were too abstract, weak in summaries, and the snippets from actual treatises were too short and thus lacked context.
That said, they were still interesting, enlightening, and I don't regret reading them at all. I want to read more on those topics more than I did before I opened those chapters. Some nerd once said the mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. What this book really did was kindle my fire. Ignited it, really. Obviously I know more than I did before and I'm grateful for that, but now I have a greater passion for the subject than I did before and I think thats what the author intended with this book.
If you are even minutely interested in philosophy, and aren't afraid of seemingly pointless logical ventures, then I highly urge you to read this book. If you just want to flex on people at parties, or memorize numerous facts, this is not the book for you.
I really enjoyed this monster of a book. At 300 or so pages, you wouldn't think its a tough read, but that would be false. Each page is dense and full of hard to understand philosophical arguments/debates. I've seen other reviews saying that this is a bad thing, and I truly don't understand this point.
Think is an introduction to philosophy, not a textbook. Its supposed to lay the groundwork for future inquiry, not to teach you a bunch of facts. The author echoes this idea in the introduction chapter.
Simon Blackburn goes over knowledge, mind, free will, the self, God, reasoning, the world, and what to do. None of these chapters are any easier than the others, though some are certainly more interesting and well done. The last three chapters in particular couldn't compare to the high mark set by their predecessors. They were too abstract, weak in summaries, and the snippets from actual treatises were too short and thus lacked context.
That said, they were still interesting, enlightening, and I don't regret reading them at all. I want to read more on those topics more than I did before I opened those chapters. Some nerd once said the mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. What this book really did was kindle my fire. Ignited it, really. Obviously I know more than I did before and I'm grateful for that, but now I have a greater passion for the subject than I did before and I think thats what the author intended with this book.
If you are even minutely interested in philosophy, and aren't afraid of seemingly pointless logical ventures, then I highly urge you to read this book. If you just want to flex on people at parties, or memorize numerous facts, this is not the book for you.
greg_m's review against another edition
5.0
The major topics covered are: knowledge, the mind, free will, the self, God, reason, how we experience the world around us, and, finally, ethics. None of these are exhaustive, but they each give a pleasant taste of what each brand of thinking entails.
Blackburn has a fantastic ability to relay complicated concepts using wit and more comprehensible analogies. From the very beginning, he stresses that the point of the bok is not to instill in the reader "what" to think, bot "how" to think.
Blackburn has a fantastic ability to relay complicated concepts using wit and more comprehensible analogies. From the very beginning, he stresses that the point of the bok is not to instill in the reader "what" to think, bot "how" to think.
andy_acid's review against another edition
4.0
This feels like a book you have to come back to every year lol. It's a perfect introduction imho, although it may feel a little daunting at times.
michaeldonald's review against another edition
3.0
This book is so dense I zoned out without realising it and missed many pages. Still, it had some very interesting thoughts and has probably changed my life somewhat (by introducing me to philosophy in a semi-accessible manner).
wander_er's review against another edition
3.0
Good book. Made me think. I understood probably about 85% of it, which is perfect. If reading a book like this is easy, then you're not doing it right. Unless you're a philosophy wizard.