A brief and superficial overview of the main ideas (and lives) of 50 philosophers (some of them not really even philosophers), with mainly one major work of each in focus, and serving a surface understanding only. The book makes no attempt whatsoever at really delving deep into their thought. However, it is expected of a work of 300 pages trying to present the works of the likes of Plato, Heidegger, Hegel, Kant, such towering figures in philosophy, in roughly 5 to 6 pages per philosopher, wherea...

I throughly enjoyed this book. The attempt to make philosophy accessible is refreshing and has opened up a renewed interest in it for me personally

It really keeps its promise of "insights" and "thinking". Very thought provoking, and good motivation for further reading. I think I'll get back to this book every some time.

Excellent selection of philosophers and a neutral presentation of various issues tackled by the selected 50. I really appreciated the modern philosopher's analysis, because the classics are already known to me. Another good point is the inclusion of various philosophers with opposable opinions on various issues. A worthy read for sure, even though often people do not like books that have in the title 100 or 50 of the best minds and so on... My favourite parts that left a deep impact are as follo...

"Perhaps the greatest divide in philosophy is between those who believe that all our information must come from the senses (the empirical, materialist view) and those who believe that truth can be arrived at through abstract reasoning (the rationalists and idealists). The first camp has a long lineage, from the second-century skeptic Sextus Empiricus to the Englishman Francis Bacon and Scottish Enlightenment thinker David Hume, and to the twentieth-century “logical positivists,” including A.J. A...

Theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas wrote in On the Heavens: “the study of philosophy has as its purpose to know not what people have thought, but rather the truth about the way things are.”I saw the series of 50 books of author Tom Butler at airport. The attractive point of the 50 series is that it is act like capsule containing 50 globules of knowledge and on swallowing one more access of knowledge will open. As the name suggests, this book summarizes thoughts of fifty major western and

I finished the audiobook today and overall liked it. I didn't like the fact that the philosophers were presented in the order of their last name. I think it would be very appropriate to order them in terms of their birth or death time to have a sequence how various ideas in philosophy developed over time. Another thing I am not clear is what was the criteria to pick the below 50 philosophers. For example, how come Averroes (Ibn Rush) and his theory of the unit of the intellect did not get a plac...

Summarises these 50 vital philosophical texts efficiently and with very accessible language, making complex ideas relatively easy to understand. I found it to be a great introduction to the field, and the succinct biographies a nice touch.

*Goodreads First Reads advanced copy*The author did a wonderful job bringing these 50 philosophies to a level of explanation where everyone can understand them. He did so in a non-judgemental/non-favoritist way, allowing the reader to decide which makes sense to them and which sounds completely foolish. The way the author presented each philosophy, with a section listing other similar philosophies adds to the readers understanding. I definitely have a desire to check out some of these classics f...

A average of 6 pages dedicated to each Philosopher makes for easy reading, especially if you are not familiar with them.The first theme of "Discover life's meaning" was enough to draw me to this book. I was not disappointed either.I like the format of 50 different stories, where I can read a chapter, put the book down and return to it some weeks later, and start another story. Liken it to a short story book.

Great synthesis of the most famous philosophers, presenting some of their cardinal ideas. The only aspect that I did not enjoy about this book is the inclusion of too many contemporary personalities, who in my opinion are not nearly as valuable for the field of philosophy as their predecessors, whose contributions shaped society as we know it. Maybe some of those philosophers of our time will become "classic" in the future, but I felt that they have been included in this book to early, their ide...

This is a great overview of some of the major western philosophers from the past 2500 years. I wasn't familiar with all the names but every chapter held my interest. It also struck me for the first time while going through this list how few female philosophers there have been throughout history.

I am starting to take baby steps into the world of philosophy, but a look at the philosophy shelves in my local bookshop bamboozle me. There is so many different strands, and they all seem to disagree with each other. I found this book in my local library and it saved me. The author has chosen 50 wide ranging books of philosophical works and explains in very accessible language what the books and authors are about. Each chapter begins with some quotes, there is an 'In a nutshell' sentences and a...

Purchase 50 Philosophy Classics here for just $12! This is a fantastic book for anyone who is interested in learning some philosophy but is not quite sure where to start. With his concise summaries of both classical and modern philosophical texts, Tom Butler-Bowdon has taken content that is normally quite difficult to wrap your head around and unpacked it in a way that is accessible and easy to follow. Leea - The Book Grocer

As a young amateur entering the world of philosophy, I can't stress enough how much this book have helped me wrap my head around, some of the most complex ideas and put it in four pages so eloquently. The world of philosophy can be overwhelming as one is bombarded with many philosophers: where do i even begin? what is my philosophy? who should I know? Although Bowdon tried to summarize each philosopher's idea in a "nutshell" there are times when i wish it could be further elaborated due to its c...

I enjoyed this book so much. Concise and to the point concepts from some of the brightest minds in the field. The only thing I wished for was diversity- too much western, not enough world philosophy. For example, no Russian or African thought, very little Eastern and Middle Eastern thought. Nonetheless lovely and efficiently structured read.

I've read quite a few books of this kind that try to convey the ideas of philosophers in a nutshell, and I have to say that this book does it perfectly. The author balances the amount of information on any given philosopher very well: not too little, not too much. Also, the author has the ability to explain complex ideas extremely well.A lot of times books like this are very frustrating, mostly because they try to morally judge the philosophers they are talking about. Also, most of them are just...

A really good way to pick up on all the philosophy classes your education system failed to provide. A good variety of thought, some wacky ideas, a few that really hit the nail on the head. Obviously depending on the reader. A couple of that was so deep you had to just stare at the page whilst you tried to navigate through space and time to come to some remote understanding of what they were on about. All in all a great exploration of thought throughout the history of humankind, just enough to sc...

Contains key points of 50 works of philosophy, organized by the author's last name.

Solid 5* for the content. The book is a wonderful introduction to the major philosophical works and certainly got me more interested in reading more, especially as far as modern philosophers are concerned.However, I was not convinced by the alphabetic order right from the start and only got progressively more annoyed it as I was reading. I decided to read the chapters in chronological order so first I had to come up with it (I'm attaching a list at the bottom of this review for those of you who