Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
Look, I admit I am not the audience for this book, I am not interested in philosophy. I read it for book club and found it largely tedious and hard to follow. I was much more interested in the personal lives than the philosophy. However the narrator does have a good voice.
I devoured this book, I would do anything to read this for the first time again
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
I had been eyeing this book for a long time in my local bookstore, but was somewhat frightened by the price (generally if a book costs more than $20 I'm less inclined to purchase it). However, one afternoon I decided to buckle down and make the choice to spend the money. And I'm glad I did.
This is an odd combination of biography and memoir. Bakewell inserts herself, her life, and her thoughts just barely to make them visible on the horizon of the book's arc over existentialist history, but her main focus is on the large players she mentions in her title (as seen above). She devotes certain chapters to certain ideas, and some chapters to specific people, and in the end it feels as though I've gotten to know these philosophers more intimately than possible.
This is also rather dense as it, boldly, sums up the history of existentialist philosophy(ers) and phenomenology(ists) - a near eight decade timespan - in a matter of a few hundred pages. There's a lot of thoughts and ideas to break down, and while I think Bakewell herself would implore those interested by her book to read the actual sources she cites, I also think she should be proud of the incredible task she undertook and completed.
Ultimately, your enjoyment of this book will depend heavily on your enjoyment of philosophy. However, I found it to be an engaging look at existentialism's history and the thinkers who brought it to popularity.
This is an odd combination of biography and memoir. Bakewell inserts herself, her life, and her thoughts just barely to make them visible on the horizon of the book's arc over existentialist history, but her main focus is on the large players she mentions in her title (as seen above). She devotes certain chapters to certain ideas, and some chapters to specific people, and in the end it feels as though I've gotten to know these philosophers more intimately than possible.
This is also rather dense as it, boldly, sums up the history of existentialist philosophy(ers) and phenomenology(ists) - a near eight decade timespan - in a matter of a few hundred pages. There's a lot of thoughts and ideas to break down, and while I think Bakewell herself would implore those interested by her book to read the actual sources she cites, I also think she should be proud of the incredible task she undertook and completed.
Ultimately, your enjoyment of this book will depend heavily on your enjoyment of philosophy. However, I found it to be an engaging look at existentialism's history and the thinkers who brought it to popularity.
A swim in a lake I've had occasion to visit many times, but this was a refreshing dip. It is an amiable social and philosophic history of the existentialist era of the 20th Century, which, the author makes clear is not really with us in force anymore, though its effects will live on. This is not a drudgery, it contains just as much personal history of these thinker-educator-playwrights as you'd like, yet brings up the essential insights into their various philosophies. Bakewell doesn't take sides in her portraits, but at the end gives in to her affections. The photo placed on the last page, just after the end of the text, will give you a clue to her overall admiration for and happiness with her subjects.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Voor mij op een niet prettige manier geschreven. Ik kwam niet verder dan hoofdstuk 1
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
The intriguing title entices the reader to find out a little more, but this is not a gimmicky book. The tone is light-hearted but the subject matter, the lives and thoughts of major phenomenologists and existentialists, is serious. Bakewell provides a fascinating introduction to the subject, linking the philosophy to the period and conveying the excitement of the new approaches. While Sartre and de Beauvoir figure prominently, one is also introduced to less well known thinkers like Merleau-Ponty, as well as the major phenomenologists, Husserl and Heidegger. There is also a strong cast of minor characters like Iris Murdoch and Arthur Koestler.
The links between them go far beyond shared cocktails and café society and Bakewell skillfully brings out the personal stories and their relevance to the work. The book also provides some fascinating background history of the times, some of it, such as the smuggling of Husserl’s archives, redolent of daring and intrigue. The philosophers and writers are brought to life not only through their friendships but also through their struggles and rivalries as in the evolution of the rift between Sartre/de Beauvoir and Camus.
Bakewell’s own entanglement with these philosophers from her discovery of Sartre through Nausea, at the age of sixteen, to her finally bringing herself to read Murdoch’s last work, Jackson’s Dilemma, provides an intimacy to the story and helps to highlight the continuing relevancy of these philosophers’ works. The ample notes, select bibliography and index give the lie to the substantial research undertaken for what is a very good read.
The links between them go far beyond shared cocktails and café society and Bakewell skillfully brings out the personal stories and their relevance to the work. The book also provides some fascinating background history of the times, some of it, such as the smuggling of Husserl’s archives, redolent of daring and intrigue. The philosophers and writers are brought to life not only through their friendships but also through their struggles and rivalries as in the evolution of the rift between Sartre/de Beauvoir and Camus.
Bakewell’s own entanglement with these philosophers from her discovery of Sartre through Nausea, at the age of sixteen, to her finally bringing herself to read Murdoch’s last work, Jackson’s Dilemma, provides an intimacy to the story and helps to highlight the continuing relevancy of these philosophers’ works. The ample notes, select bibliography and index give the lie to the substantial research undertaken for what is a very good read.