Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Heidegger for Beginners by Eric C. Lemay, Jennifer A. Pitts, Paul Gordon ISBN: 0-86316-172-3 Publisher: Writers & Readers Pub. Date: June, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Great, Quick Survey for Difficult Ideas
Comment: Don't kid yourself and pretend you're too good to read these '... For Beginner' books. They're an ideal way to gather together and encapsulate the key ideas of the primary texts to which they refer. They read quickly, have a sense of humor, and are great little summaries of key concepts.
It goes without saying that they're no substitute for the real thing. That's a given. But Heidegger is difficult. (Are as most of the philosophers that these books deal with. Anybody who says otherwise is lying -- or has read so much Heidegger that he/she has started to get brain-blur.)
The great thing about this Heidegger book (and all the books in the series) is that they present the key ideas in simple terms. And bear in mind that there's nothing wrong with simplicity. Good 'simplicity' is a lot more difficult than one might think. Writing simply and thinking critically is what these books are all about -- and for these reasons, I can't recommend them enough.
I'm a few years out of graduate school, so I feel myself 'out of the loop.' These books are a great way to refresh key concepts, get a good solid fix on Heidegger's so-called project, and give you space enough to dive in (or at least poke about) in 'Being and Time'.
Plus, they make Heidegger's difficult ideas ('Being' 'Dasein') accessible -- and, quite frankly, that's what learning (and reading) is all about. Yeah, they're no substitute for the real thing -- and anyone who thinks otherwise is sorely mistaken -- but they're great contextualizers -- and for that reason, they're quite valuable.
Besides, everybody has hang-ups about the 'difficulty' of modern philosophy. What these books do is to say: Look, the ideas *are* difficult -- don't kid yourself -- but just because they're difficult doesn't mean they should be *inaccessible*.
And that's what you want a good teacher to say, right? You want someone to clomp you on the back, tell you not to worry, and assure that if you just keep at it -- keep reading, keep grappling -- you'll do fine. That's what these books do. They're the teacher clomping you on the back, telling you not to worry.
Rating: 2
Summary: Disappointment
Comment: I picked this up after reading Sartre For Beginners -- an entertaining, smart, and humorous intro to Sartre. This book, however, was a big disappointment. It runs about half the length of Sartre for Beginners with hardly any text, the humor is stale, and Heidegger's work is glossed over so poorly and with such brevity that its more apt to confuse a reader of Heidegger than help them.
This book does not explain Heidegger's use of phenomenology and how it differs from Husserl's, how Heidegger relates Being with temporality (!), or even, in any depth, how Heidegger escapes the subject/object problem. Aside from these key points, the author doesn't seem to touch on almost ANY of Heidegger's work -- which might be understandable, considering Heidegger's enormous output, but this book is woefully short in pages and on text.
Lastly, there is a page in this book that has Heidegger set on a backdrop of a concentration camp. It condemns Heidegger for being a dedicated Party member who unapologetically followed the ideology of the Nazis. It ends by calling Heidegger a "Gernman Redneck."
While Heidegger's participation in the Nazi party was contemptible, to say the least, it does not warrant such treatment. He was never an Anti-Semite, and openly condemned racism as "biological liberalism" as early as 1935. He also came to understand the Nazi movement, in these same lectures, as a mobilization enterprise, the likes of which he condemned as a technological worldview. What he did do as a Nazi, his rectorship at Freidburg, is worthy of full condemnation, but the author doesn't even mention it.
In all, a disappointment.
Rating: 4
Summary: a painless introduction to Heidegger, but only an intro
Comment: I wish I had found this book before starting on Heidegger in a class. It is a simple (simplified) overview of the complex and integrated thought of Heidegger. But I believe it will give beginners an overview of what to expect as they dig deeper. Then the digging will be less painful and more profitable.
In our class, it became known as the "Heidegger Coloring Book", but others were eager to borrow my copy.
A good starting point, no matter how serious you are or are not.
 |
Title: Sartre for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book,) by Donald Palmer ISBN: 0863161774 Publisher: Writers & Readers Pub. Date: July, 1995 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
 |
Title: I Had It All the Time: When Self-Improvement Gives Way to Ecstasy by Alan Cohen ISBN: 0910367531 Publisher: Alan Cohen Pubns Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: Anatomy of the Spirit : The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss ISBN: 0609800140 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 26 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Nietzsche for Beginners by Marc Sautet, Patrick Boussignac ISBN: 0863161189 Publisher: Writers & Readers Pub. Date: July, 1990 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
 |
Title: The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players by Pat Riley ISBN: 0425141756 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
