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jnjmitch's review against another edition
2.0
Too esoteric for me- presumes a fair amount of understanding of the basic tenets of each of these philosophers. The straight biographical information is interesting enough, but it doesn't do a lot of good without a basic overview of their philosophies.
caitlin_89's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe I didn't love it because it was required reading? Good, but not intriguing. Excellent overview of important philosophers, though. Really accomplishes its goal.
beatsbybeard's review against another edition
1.0
As Tommy Wiseau eloquently puts in his film The Room: "Get out, get out, get out of my life!" This attempt to distill philosophy through the biographies of its practitioners quickly devolved into homework, slate-gray and uninteresting. I hoped it would be an introduction to these men's (all of them male, of course) ideas, but I was sadly disappointed. Bleh. On to the next.
geese82's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best reads I've had since last year.
The entire book is like a historical biography of famous Philosophers from the so called father of Philosophy Socrates to Nietzche. I am familiar with most of them regarding the historical impact each philosophers had given us. Some I am not familiar with, it is my first time to be exposed to Emerson, Montaigne, Rousseau, and Kant. James Miller did an incredible job in telling the readers each philosopher's take on the "examined life".
The entire book itself is pretty too, the cut of each pages, the style and size of the fonts and the size of the book. I really like these kinds of books, non-fiction with outstanding quality of the make of the book itself.
This praise for the book sums up my experience and thoughts about it:
"Miller casts a welcome light on the flawed, all-too-human aspects of famed moralists... His compelling books elegantly lays bare the distance between the abstract formulation of right action and its achievement in the real world, indicating that the lives of the great philosophers can be exemplary, but not always in the ways we might have hoped" - Publishers Weekly
The entire book is like a historical biography of famous Philosophers from the so called father of Philosophy Socrates to Nietzche. I am familiar with most of them regarding the historical impact each philosophers had given us. Some I am not familiar with, it is my first time to be exposed to Emerson, Montaigne, Rousseau, and Kant. James Miller did an incredible job in telling the readers each philosopher's take on the "examined life".
The entire book itself is pretty too, the cut of each pages, the style and size of the fonts and the size of the book. I really like these kinds of books, non-fiction with outstanding quality of the make of the book itself.
This praise for the book sums up my experience and thoughts about it:
"Miller casts a welcome light on the flawed, all-too-human aspects of famed moralists... His compelling books elegantly lays bare the distance between the abstract formulation of right action and its achievement in the real world, indicating that the lives of the great philosophers can be exemplary, but not always in the ways we might have hoped" - Publishers Weekly
enemieslist's review
4.0
A highly readable introduction to the lives of several philosophers, and not a bad intro to their individual philosophies, either.
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