Philosophy Books

I was disappointed. While skimming through the book prior to giving it to my 7 year old son, I stumbled on the Chapter on "PI". It was obviously wrong stating that the diameter of a circle would wrap around the circle "3 and a little bit". Now, how can I trust this book knowing that the editors missed such a glaring error? Could be very confusing to a young aspiring mathmetician.

Another reviewer reported being dissapointed because the description of pi in the book was "obviously wrong stating that the diameter of a circle would wrap around the circle '3 and a little bit'" and "how can I trust this book knowing that the editors missed such a glaring error?"

It is this reviewer's comment that is 'very confusing' and misleading, not the content of the book.

The definition of Pi is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle; approximately equal to 3.14159265358979323846... Euclid proved that this ratio (Circumference to diameter aka circumference to twice the radius) is always the same, no matter the size of the circle. What he did was inscribe similar regular polygons in any two circles. Then, he increased the number of sides of the inscribed regular polygons. He reasoned that as the number of sides increased, the perimeter of the inscribed polygon gets closer and closer to the circumference of the circle. He also showed that the perimeters of the similar polygons were proportional to the radii of the circles in which they were inscribed. And so, C is proportional to r, in other words C/r is a constant. By convention, pi=C/2r. (I borrowed these particular words from Jim Loy's website, thanks JL!)

Therefore, the statement the book makes is perfectly, mathematically true (QED!) albeit that it substitutes "a little bit" for 0.14159265358979323846... which I find perfectly acceptable for a children's book, don't you?

p.s. I'm an engineer, too. Cheers!

C=pi*d. That means the diameter has to be **multiplied** by "three and a little bit" in order to be equivalent to, or wrap around, the circumference of the circle. It takes "three and a little bit" diameters to get around the circle one time, not one diameter to get around the circle three and a little bit times. The engineer was right! Other than that, it was still a pretty good book, though. If you're a teacher with an older class, you can see if they can spot the error.

I believe the quote about the circumference and diameter is worded incorrectly. We all know that the size of the diameter and circumference are proportional (hence pi), but the diameter would never wrap around a circumference 3 and a little times! This is obviously false because the circumference is larger than the diameter. The circumference would wrap around the diameter 3 and a little times. Please check your books to determine if the quote is correct in R. Krapf's review - if so, then the book is WRONG!

I am not sure what R. Krapf "Engineer" (below) was thinking when he/she wrote his/her review...

The circumference of a circle (C) is calculated as 2 * pi * r (or pi * 2 * r)

Since r is the radius and 1/2 the diameter (d), that means C = pi * d

Since pi is about 3.14, that means the book is correct. The diameter of a circle would wrap around (the circumference of) the circle "3 and a little bit"

I heard Moreland speak to several hundred pastors at the National Pastor's Convention in San Diego. That was an impressionable experience for me. I now see why Kingdom Triangle is his most important book. (There are some wonderful audio add-ons to Kingdom triangle at the book's website: www.kingdomtriangle.com)

Kingdom Triangle contains the necessary elements for a healthy, fruitful life as a Christian, including what is necessary for a Christianity to robustly engage the culture and its worldviews at large.

Moreland is the best author for this sort of book. He is overflowing with valuable, wise, and insightful experience about life, ideas, and the culture at large. He has delivered the goods; now its our job as readers, leaders, and influencers of all sorts to engage his ideas in the crucible of our own individual and church experiences. Thank God for Kingdom Triangle!

Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey

J.P. Moreland's new book Kingdom Triangle (hereafter KT) offers a clarion call to the 21st century church. For at least the past decade, Christians have been lulled to sleep by a culture of self-help books and privatized beliefs. Far too many of us have been naturalized into believing that God doesn't do anything miraculous or supernatural in our sophisticated age. And a good number of us have not been intentional about cultivating a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ and attending to the important task of Spiritual Formation. Moreland's book offers a passionate, sober, and biblical corrective to this lethargy.

The first section of KT seeks to analyze and assess where we are at as a culture. In a helpful analogy, Moreland discusses the difference between living in a "thin" world and a "thick" world. A "thin" world is one in which nothing ultimately matters (e.g., atheism would be a "thin" world). In this world, chemistry and physics exhaustively explain reality. On the other hand, if we live in a "thick" world, then objective morality exists (along with ultimate meaning, purpose, and value etc.). Christianity offers a "thick" world. In the next few chapters, Moreland highlights the inadequacies of postmodern and naturalistic worldviews. But he does not stop with analysis only. He prescribes a threefold remedy to counteract the prevailing winds of culture that are eroding the potency and vibrancy of Christians today. (1) Recover the Christian Mind (2) Renovate the Soul (3) Restore the Spirit's Power. I will briefly summarize each of these in turn.

First of all, Moreland contends that knowledge is not the sole possession or province of the scientists in the white lab coats. While science yields important knowledge of our world, it is certainly not the only source of knowledge. Christians can and do possess knowledge of God, moral facts, and what a good life is (among other things). These are not private beliefs on the level of personal preference or pragmatism; rather they are bona fide instances of knowledge of reality--the way things really are. Not only is Christianity true, but it can be known to be true.
Next, we are reminded how easy it is to allow our hearts to grow cold and calloused. If we are not intentional about examining the health of our souls, then we can become emotionally detached over time and eventually discover we are devoid of the vitality that God desires us to experience in our relationship with Him. We also tend not to cultivate a healthy community of relationships. This part of the triangle invites us to take our daily journey from brokenness to Christlikeness seriously (i.e., Spiritual Formation).

Finally, Moreland reminds us that the Holy Spirit did not die with the last Apostle. And while we certainly don't want to drift into a mindless and wild-eyed sensationalism, I think many of us have shied away from the supernatural because we are either afraid we will look weird to our culture or we have been so conditioned by naturalism that we don't really (i.e., beyond lip service) believe in anything beyond the five senses. Moreover, stories of God's power and deliverance remind us of the supernatural world in which we live and can embolden our Christian lives.

As I have read and reflected upon KT, I have been both challenged and encouraged. This is an important work which has something to say to all of us--regardless of our tradition or spiritual pedigree. I am grateful that J.P. Moreland took the time to integrate decades of ministry experience and study and then package it in an accessible format for the Christian community. If you have not yet read Kingdom Triangle, I encourage you to pick up a copy and read it carefully. While KT contains much that our "thin" world needs to hear, it just may be the timely catalyst you need for taking the next step in your journey with the Savior.

I found this book to be full of useful and helpful information about what is going on in the church today. A good read for anyone who is keeping up with Kingdom activity.

First of all, let me explain the basics of the triangle Moreland has so keenly presented in this book. The book has 4 basic sections:

1. "The Crisis of Our Age" (Chapters 1-4)
2. "The Recovery of Knowledge" (Chapter 5)
3. "Renovation of the Soul" (Chapter 6)
4. "Restoration of the Kingdom's Miraculous Power" (Chapter 7)

Chapters 1-4 describe in lucid detail the reason we need the Kingdom Triangle right now. Our culture is in a state of crisis, and Moreland explains the what, why, and how of it. With sharp awareness, Moreland has observed and studied our world and its history, recognizing what God intended, and pinpointing how we've gone against those intentions. Having failed as a race to follow God's intended course has resulted in a widespread crisis, namely, our abandonment of classic philosophy and life practice in exchange for modern substitutes. The inevitable outcome has been a pandemic case of human enslavement to "the empty self". We have exchanged the "thick" worldview of Christian monotheism for the "thin" worldviews of scientific naturalism and postmodernism. Moreland explains what is required for today's church to function as God intended, encouraging readers to effectively take action, penetrating the culture around us.

Moreland brings the reader up to date on the relevant facts of the matter and writes informatively about the subject of knowledge. This is the heaviest and deepest part of the book, which Moreland admits. But he also encourages the reader that these things are essential for everyone in the church to understand. He writes as clearly as possible on these complex issues, sharing great wisdom in a way the layperson can understand.

Having set the stage with the appropriate background, Moreland now moves on to explain the "triangle". First, he explains the importance of knowledge and its importance, recovery, and value for the Christian church. Second, he concisely explains the role of spiritual formation and discipleship in the inner life of a Christian, giving a brief overview of some classic spiritual disciplines. Finally, he completes the triangle with a thoughtful discussion of the role of the Holy Spirit's power in the life of the church, manifested in various miraculous signs, wonders, and providential acts. This section will be one of the biggest and most useful wake-up calls to many readers. Moreland sensitively presents well-informed ideas about the supernatural realities absent in so much of the Western church, while they thrive in other parts of the world.

Moreland is one of today's greatest Christian philosophers and thinkers, and his years of experience spill forth in this book. He has gleaned rich knowledge and experience from various mentors and friends and from his own spiritual journey. The range of books he has studied is vast and his careful research is evident throughout.

While reading, the value of this inspired book quickly became apparent to me. By the time I was done, there was no question: Kingdom Triangle has climbed to the top of my personal stack of "the greatest books of all time," sitting right there with my Dallas Willard collection. The book demands that the reader change his or her life for the best - which is my favorite kind of book. The challenges presented are very relevant for the current Western church, and Moreland argues for them masterfully. If I had to pick one part that most affected me, it would be the section where he explains a plan for living a life of self-denial, taking up your metaphorical cross (Mark 8:34-35), and living to love and serve others, after Christ's own example.

I can't recommend the book enough. I think every Christian in our culture should read it, consider its truth, discuss it with friends, and apply its wisdom to a life of spiritual transformation. Pastors, grab a copy and start recommending it to others. This book is an honest and realistic call to participate in the life of greatness God has designed us for in his eternal kingdom.

J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle: Recovering the Christian Mind. Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.

J.P. Moreland is a highly esteemed, well-published, and extremely active Christian philosopher. For years I have profited greatly from his books and articles, and for fifteen years I have used his books as texts for courses at Denver Seminary. Unlike many Christian academics, Moreland maintains a passionate concern for the church, evangelism, and the state of culture at large. To that end, he divides his writing and speaking between the highly academic and the more popular or semi-academic. In so doing, he is able to build a bridge between scholarly pursuits and the questions and concerns of laypeople. Os Guinness refers to this area of endeavor as "intermediate knowledge." While proponents of intermediate knowledge are few, the need for such is great. Few non-philosophers are likely to read Moreland's book on universals, for example, but many thoughtful Christians will be drawn to his other books, such as Love Your God With All Your Mind (NavPress, 1997), which is a stellar apologetic for a robust and spirit-filled engagement of the intellect for the glory of God, the good of the church, and the winning of the world.


Moreland's new work is both profound and controversial. The controversy will largely stem from his endorsement of the charismatic dimension of Christian experience. It is highly unusual to find an analytically trained philosopher with a Th.M. from Dallas seminary who endorses the "third wave" form of the charismatic movement!

Kingdom Triangle is a passionate and knowledgeable summons to the church to engage God, the world, and the self in a deeply biblical and profoundly meaningful manner. To this endeavor, Moreland brings the resources of philosophy to bear fruitfully on the exigencies of the Kingdom of God. This is both rare and wonderful. The book is divided into two sections. The first explains "the crisis of the age" in America and the West in general. The second section gives the answer: a kingdom triangle of intellectual engagement, spiritual formation, and supernatural spiritual power.

In explaining the contemporary crisis, Moreland writes that we have moved from the "thick" world of the biblical worldview to the "thin" worlds of naturalism and postmodernism. A biblical worldview provides the knowledge of God, existential meaning, and authentic drama to all of life. We are creatures of a good and holy God, placed on earth to manifest the virtues of the Kingdom of God. We are immersed in and engaged with a life and death struggle with the forces of evil, yet God is our strength and hope. We are not groping in the dark, but have been given knowable truth in Scripture and elsewhere.

But both scientific naturalism and postmodernism--each in its own way--eviscerate the world of any objective meaning or genuine drama. Naturalism denies the reality of anything outside of what materialistic science can observe. The cosmos is reduced to merely material properties. All must be explained by impersonal change and necessity. There is no soul, no God, no angels or demons, and no afterlife. As Peter Berger put it, it is "a world without windows" because the universe is self-enclosed. Morality is not rooted in the Designer and in human nature, but is merely the result of natural selection. Knowledge is limited to what can be known through scientific methods (scientism).

Postmodernism recoils from the aridity of scientific naturalism and tries to find meaning in the meaning-creation of communities and individuals. Like scientific naturalism, it denies that there is any objective meaning to life, but instead of trying to find meaning in science, it affirms the contingent constructions of human beings, variously situated. Each community--or person--has its own narrative or language game, none of which is superior to any other, but all of which are acceptable. However, there is no objective meaning to be found and no knowledge of objective reality to be had. While scientific naturalism is a form of realism (we can know something of objective reality, which is only material), postmodernism is a form of nonrealism (there is no objective reality, scientific or otherwise, to know). Both deny the knowledge of God.

These two worldviews rob us of objective moral values, the dignity of human beings, and any concrete hope for our existence. As a result, instead of moral agents deeply rooted in objective reality, we find around us--or even within us--"empty selves" that are restless, easily distracted, infantile, and narcissistic. Moreland ardently argues that both worldviews are both empty and false. Christianity not only provides meaning and drama for life, but is true and rational and knowable. The knowledge of God is available to errant humans. While the book does not give a full-fledged apologetic for Christianity or against scientific naturalism and postmodernism, it does powerfully demonstrate the intellectual weaknesses of these two worldviews with respect to epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics.

In the second half of the book, Moreland advocates the kingdom triangle as the proper response to "the crisis of our age." The first leg of the triangle is the recovery of the Christian mind. As a Christian philosopher and apologist, Moreland is in an exemplary position to offer advice. We must reclaim Christianity as a knowledge tradition; that is, we must not be content with leaps of faith or merely true beliefs about God and the Bible. To acquire knowledge we need to justify our beliefs (in various ways). Moreland provides a short but clear run down on various ways to know things and the importance of the mind to the Christian life. (On this, see also his book, Love Your God With all Your Mind, as well as James Sire's Habits of the Mind [InterVarsity, 2000].)

The second leg of the kingdom triangle is the devotional life or spiritual disciplines. Moreland advocates the classical disciplines of retreat (such as solitude) and engagement (such as service) and speaks of ways one can understand the heart or affective side of one's personality. This interior understanding of the affect has become important to Moreland in recent years. From his own experience, he speaks of the need not only to apply the mind to the things of God, but also to bring one's emotions under the Lordship of Christ. Some may find his "heart meditation" a bit strange, since it emphasizes focusing on the heart muscle itself as a place of emotion. However, there is nothing necessarily New Age or otherwise dangerous about such a meditation if it is done prayerfully and thoughtfully. Nevertheless, this practice may not be appropriate or helpful for everyone. If so, one may ignore it, and I am sure Moreland would not mind. My lone criticism of this chapter is that it did not emphasize adequately the neglected discipline of prayer with fasting. If the essence of spirituality is denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus, then there is no better way to deny ourselves in an age of over-indulgence and narcissism than to deny ourselves food in order to give ourselves more fully to the Lord.

"The restoration of the Spirit's power" fills out the last leg of the kingdom triangle. Although Moreland graduated from a seminary that teaches that the supernatural gifts of the spirit (such as healing and prophecy) have ended (cessationism), in the past few years he has experienced some of these gifts himself and has reevaluated what the Bible teaches on these matters. He has come to believe that this dimension of Kingdom living is crucial if we are to respond effectively to the deadness and darkness of our time. I completely agree. While Moreland does not give a detailed exegetical or theological argument for the ongoing manifestation of supernatural gifts, he points out that the old cessationism has been losing its credibility among many, that Christians in the global south are experiencing these gifts in powerful ways, and that he himself has experienced or witnessed the miraculous dimension of the Kingdom of God in the past few years. What Moreland advocates is not classical Pentecostalism or the Charismatic renewal of the 1960s and 1970s, but the "third wave" approach of the Vineyard movement. This is an orientation that does not emphasize a second "baptism of the Holy Spirit" or insists on the speaking of tongues. It rather seeks God's supernatural agency for healing, prophecy, and other signs and wonders.

Although I am also a proponent of signs and wonders as part of the dynamic of the ongoing manifestation of the Kingdom of God, I wish that Moreland had given a few more warnings about potential and actual abuses in these areas. Moreland alludes to the dimension of spiritual warfare, but one wishes he had fleshed out this aspect of Kingdom living in more detail, since the contemporary world is awash in false forms of religion that are inspired by "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4). But to his credit, he provides references to works that tackle this area.

Kingdom Triangle has many strengths and no significant weaknesses. Moreland writes with a confident, compelling, and courageous voice. He does not avoid strong judgments when he deems them necessary. This may be off-putting to tender souls accustomed to terminal tentativeness in Christian writing, but it should not be. Moreland has paid his dues and knows of what he speaks. For example, as a robust proponent of Intelligent Design, he refers to theistic evolution as "intellectual pacifism," since it gives so much ground to Darwinism, a naturalistic understanding of biology that is not warranted by the facts. Likewise, Moreland has no patience with Christians who adopt postmodernist views of truth or knowledge, because such an approach marginalizes Christianity as merely another language game or perspective on reality. Christianity is, rather, a knowledge tradition that can and should be rationally defended according to objective principles of rationality. Moreland is not afraid to offer tough judgments against elements of popular culture--such as celebrity-ism and sports worship--when they reveal the hollowness and shabbiness of lives poorly lived (see Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17).

If read, pondered, preached, taught, and applied, the teachings of Kingdom Triangle could spark revival, reformation, and reform in the church, as well as in the world at large. This is a triangle that Christians must not ignore.

Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections was a dissapointment for me. It seemed very repetitive although it did make some good points.

My goodness this book droned on and on about belonging and longing without any real wisdom coming through. I will never buy a book again because someone else said it was good I lost money on this one.

Not being familiar with this author I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of Celtic Spirituality I encountered. I was captured from the first few paragraphs of the Prolog. Having such a complete list of the contents was extremly helpful.I will be exploring future books by this author in the future.

This is a wonderful book to read along with The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews. O'Donohue brings deep insight into such topics as belonging, alienation, kinship, fear... all the basics. His scholarship and sense of poetry help us create a new language out of the depths of our experiences, so that we see ourselves in new light. The author began his journey with the book Anam Cara, which contains a wonderful friendship blessing I say often. Eternal Echoes is even more on point, if not equally so. Slainte, Mr. O'Donohue.

This book is from the soul, and we all need soul food every now and again. I picked it up in Ireland while chilling out from a broken marriage and it spoke to me like no other book has ever done. With prose like exquisite poetry, John O' Donohue touches the soul with a true taste of spirituality.

Very inspirational, it's wonderful to read a work of art that is so "biblical" in it's ability to motivate. It speaks metaphorically,pragmatically and is grounded in common sense. I'm looking forward to reading it again, and then sometime later, again.

In 1580, Michel de Montaigne dedicated this "honest book" to his family and friends. It may be called an extended autobiography; but it is quite unusual in its scope as well as its candor. Having tasted the life of courtier, parliamentarian, world traveler and mayor of Bordeaux, Montaigne retreated to his castle to explore an intriguing subject close to home: himself.
"Que sçais-je?" (What do I know?) was his motto; he had it engraved on a medal he wore around his neck. Using the ancient philosophers and poets as guideposts, he examines his beliefs and his prejudices, the validity of received wisdom, and the conduct of men in his position at a time of civil unrest and social upheaval.

With disarming honesty, he lists his shortcomings, his physical as well as his mental limitations. We hear about his poor memory (which often betrays him into misquoting his sources), his lack of and disdain for scholarship, his inability to deliver a good speech although he held public office, and his ignorance of even the basic concepts of land management although he inherited his father's estate.

He tells us what he eats and drinks, how he dresses and sleeps, and how he suffers from kidney stones. His insatiable curiosity attacks any subject that comes his way. The religious strife of his time gives rise to probing questions concerning truth, loyalty, fanaticism, and tolerance. A Catholic himself, he had friends and relatives among the Huguenots and deplored the persecution of religious dissenters. (Remarkably, his Essays were placed on the Index during the Counter-Reformation, after they had been in circulation for almost a century).

Sometimes his opinions stray far afield - as when he suggests that the discovery of South America would have been a happier event had Alexander been in charge instead of the Spaniards. Or when he strongly advocates entrusting the care and feeding of infants to wet nurses rather than the biological mothers - despite the fact that all but one of his six daughters died in infancy. Que sçais-je, indeed...

He did not believe that women were capable of friendship, or of sound reasoning, or of handling financial matters. It wasn't until late in life that he met a woman, his adopted daughter Mlle de Gournay, whom he considered his equal.
He wrote his best and wisest essays toward the end of his life. His thoughts on Experience and Judgment are well worth reading today.

Montaigne's essays are one of the most respected books in western literature. I was doing a survey of great books lists and montaigne was one of the most represented. I never heard of him so I was compelled to dive right in.

Of course Montaigne deserves his rep - and you can peek other reviews for many reasons to read this stuff. basically he takes many of those classic philosophical essays from the greeks and romans and adds earthy autobiographical flavor. so theyre both readable relatable and worldly.

THis specific collection lacks many of the more tangential and colorful essays. So it may be worth getting one of those "complete" volumes.

Montaigne gets really repetitious after a whiles - so it might be worth visiting this book slowly over a long period of time, rather than burning through it at once.

If you like Montaigne I would highly recommend senecca (one of montaigne's big influences) - who was nero's tutor and a singular individual (brutal and bizarre). I would also recommend "the anatomy of melancholy" a smartazz book that runs rings around montaigne - making fun of him and kicking his arse about 40 years later.

Michel(Eyquem)de Montaigne
French courtier and author
(born Feb. 28,28,1533,Chateux de Montaingne,France
died-Sept. 23,1592,Chateaux de Montaigne)
He served as a counselor at the Bordeaux Parliament.There he met the lawyer
Etienne de La Boetie,with which he formed an extraordinary friendship.The void left by La Boetie's death in 1563 likely led Montaigne to begin his writing career.He retired to his chateaux in 1571 to work on his 'Essais'
(1580,1588),a series of short prose reflections on subjects that form one of the most captivating and intimate self-portraits ever written.
"'''At once deeply critical of his time and deeply involved in its struggles,he sought understanding through self-examination,which he developed into a description of the human condition and an ethic of authenticity,self-acceptance,and struggles,he sought understanding through
self-examination,which he developed into a description of the human condition,and an ethic of authenticity,self-acceptance;and tolerance..."
(excerpt from the Columbia Encyclopedia on a profile of Montaigne)
It reminds me alot of Dr. Samuel Johnson's writings on self-examination, in his brilliant series of essays called 'THE RAMBLER',and also an amazing text on the diseases of the imagination.Montaigne is a fascination study.The essays are exquisitely written and the subject matter is continuosly changing,which makes it difficult to put down.This collection of essays along with the writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson come highly reccomended.Enjoy.

Montaigne is considered the father the personal essay. And within them, it seems, there is not a topic he didn't cover. After serving in the Bordeaux Parlement, in 1570 "he retired to his chateau...to read, think, and write." This is where his essays are born, late in his life, and soon to be suffering from kidney stones, which would take his life (he discusses his mistrust of doctors in "Of The Resemblance Of Children To Their Fathers")

The tone of essays reveal someone who was highly skeptical and pessimestic. But you quickly gain a sense of how intelligent and honest this man was. Montaigne, in the preface, implies the essays are written to discover and reveal himself and recommends that no one should waste their "leisure about so frivolous and vain a subject." Although, here he is greatly mistaken. Montaigne, to me, was a genius; and there is so much wisdom one can part with after reading only a few of his essays, as can be seen in his influence over brillant minds like Shakespeare and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Any library would seem bare without him.


Some favorite quotes from his essays:
"The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself."

"A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude."

"Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom."

Michel de Montaigne is considered by many to be the inventor of the literary form of the essay, so the collection from which these excerpts come is important in several ways. Montaigne was a humanist and a skeptic in his philosophical approach, and essentially looked at his own experience as the first topic for examination always.

The book of Essays was one he worked on periodically throughout his life, issuing different editions, the first of which appeared in 1580. Montaigne's style of writing is sometimes stream-of-consciousness, sometimes structured in more formal styles.

Montaigne's stated task in his preface to the reader is for self-examination, but it becomes very clear that Montaigne sees himself as an 'everyman' character. He strives for full-disclosure; indeed, he writes that were he another culture 'which are said to live still in the sweet freedom of nature's first laws', then he might have appeared naked.

This is a complete set of the Essays, together with a helpful introduction and notes for reading. As Montaigne added to his essays periodically, they are not necessarily in the order he wrote them, but this collection has preserved their order according to his standards.

Montaigne's essays show a pessimism and skepticism, perhaps based on the kinds of conflicts between Catholics and Protestants going on, in France and elsewhere, as well as the periodic flare of plague. He was a humanist who saw cultures as having value internal to themselves and preferred to not universalise morals, laws and other ideas.

Montaigne was sometimes conventional in thought (seeing marriage as necessary for children, and distrusting the idea of romantic love), but other times he was very much a free thinker (particularly when it came to religious dogma or absolutist kinds of philosophical paradigms). Montaigne had respect for those who followed religious codes and ways of life, but distrusted those who tried to impose such ideas upon others.

Montaigne added to his essays twice in major ways, but did not strive for consistency or systematic ways of thinking - he declined to remove previous essays if they contradicted new writings.

Montaigne is perhaps the most important French philosopher prior to the Enlightenment. His essays remain popular because they have a sense of the modern and the current about them.

This was a good book that gave good examples for each strategy and method used. It gave plenty of work to discuss with fellow classmates wich would be helpful to understand the material better.

Okuns's book provides a strong counseling model that practioners can follow. I found her exercises and examples particularly helpful and seemingly useful. However, her model is based on an affective,western;client-centered model. Many of the techniques suggested would be difficult to apply to clients of diverse populations. If you decide to buy this book, consider purchasing her other book, Understanding Diverse Families:What Practioners Need to Know.

This is a first-rate introduction to complex numbers. Little background is required to start reading, though a decent high-school background will help.

If you ever wondered what complex numbers were for, if you have forgotten why the number i was created, if you want to learn the art of equation solving, if you are curious about Gauss and Euler, this is the book.

I've read several other books by Paul Nahin, and this one is among his finest.

Teaching mathematics is often an uphill battle against the forces of abstraction and dullness. This delightful book is a perfect antidote, weaving as it does the history, applications and actual mathematics surrounding the concept of "imaginary" and "complex" numbers. But don't get the wrong expectation -- it's a real math book, with equations, proofs, etc, varying in level from high-school algebra and geometry to college calculus and physics.

I myself bought it in a search for material to motivate a bright 11-year-old that I am tutoring. I introduced imaginary and complex numbers to him, but all of the actual applications seemed far out of his reach. So now when I mention imaginary numbers he screws up his face and asks for more boolean algebra instead. But with this book, I now have a number of examples and historical anecdotes to motivate and fascinate him, particularly geometric interpretations and applications.

Here, for example, is one extremely elementary application that I did not know about. Prove: the product of two sums of squares is itself the sum of two squares in two different ways. Symbolically, given any integers a, b, c, d, there are integers p, q, r, s with...

(a^2 + b^2)(c^2 + d^2) = p^2 + q^2 = r^2 + s^2

This was demonstrated by mathematicians a long time ago, but not particularly easily. Using complex numbers, it's almost trivial to see, however, certainly within reach of a student of Algebra I. (There's an even simpler version of the proof that Nahin presents, but it's a bit messy to write without properly typeset mathematics.) This also makes the important point that complex numbers are very useful to help understand non-complex mathematical phenomena, a point Nahin makes throughout the book.

This also illustrates that this is a real math book, not simply a popularization piece ~about~ mathematics and mathematicians. It's really too bad that reviewers who expected the latter are downgrading their ratings of the book, because if you understand and accept what it is trying to be, it's a gem!

Much of this material is, of course, available by searching the internet. But it's not easy to find, and of highly variable quality. So Nahin's book is a real service to teachers and students at all levels.

A fantastic resource for anyone who has an inclination to learn math with history of how it really developed. I truly felt sorry that I didn't have this book when I was learning Trignometry in high school -- would have used De Moivre's theorem to derive the interesting identities without having to resort to painful coordinate geometry proofs.

ps: this book is not bedtime reading

A good readable review of i. Begins with a discussion of Cardan(o)'s solution of the cubic equation with its unexpected side effects, and ends with contour integration.

I thought this book would touch on the philosophical implications of the imaginary number. I was quite surprised to see the calculus level equations on pretty much every page of the book. If you are an accomplished math genius and want to know about the history of imaginary numbers, then this might be a great book. However, if you are a mere mortal and looking for an interesting read about math, this one might be a bit much.

I've read a number of books on Zen, which technically can't be written about. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Reps and Senzaki is a good example of the pithy stories and poems that teachers use to "point toward the moon" while helping students not to confuse the finger for the moon.

The selection of material and translation are very good.

I have the Shambhala edition. It is a shame that one of the few good-quality translations in Shambhala's Pocket Classics series is out of print. If you can find one you should buy it, because it really can be read again and again and it really does fit in your pocket.

For a different sort of introduction to Zen I recommend D. T. Suzuki's Introduction to Zen Buddhism (An Introduction to Zen Buddhism).

For a fuller treatment it is hard to beat D.T. Suzuki's Essays (Essays in Zen Buddhism: First Series).

What strikes me as I read many of the reviews here is that most of the reviewers have a truly fond feeling for this book and that many have also read and re-read it over the years. Both of these experiences are true for me too!

"Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" is a collection of Zen tales that touch the heart and mind in the true spirit of Zen.

It was the first book that I ever read about Zen and it is invaluable still. I purchased my first copy in my early college days and over 20 years later I bought this book again, because I had lost my taped up and worn out copy in a move. I simply had to have this book once more, which in a strange way is an Attachment, yet not... which sounds like some half-baked Koan or humorous Zen twist like those that are so wonderful in the stories in this book. ( "What is the sound of one page turning?" )

If I had to choose one book on Zen it would be this one.
There are many, many fine books that delve deeper into the subject of Zen, but "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" has the friendly essence and simplicity that is Zen. If you had no other introduction to Zen, somehow I think what is in this book would suffice.

The title of the book is no lie, it is telling the truth!

Peace

a great starter book. The parables are easy to read and simple to understand. I first read the book in larger size format 10 years ago. Today, I still appreciate every content of it. The best feature of the pocket size format is that you can carry them anywhere or leave it beside your bed when a bit of zen is needed in your life. I don't know why Shambhala Publishing stopped printing them.

This is one of the earliest Zen books available in English. ZEN FLESH, ZEN BONES is not "about" Zen, it "is" Zen. An omnibus of beloved Zen tales ("101 Zen Stories"), the classic ten "Oxherding Pictures," and the "Mumonkan" ("The Gateless Gate") a collection of those ironic, irreverent, and seemingly illogical Zen riddles known as Koans, this book is an excellent, one might say, indispensable, part of any Zen practitioner's library, whether beginner or Dharma Heir.

It's an excellent translation. Zen writings are essentially paradoxical, filled with sense impressions, and sometimes arcane (Koans descended from Chinese law cases of the Confucian period and are still called Cases today). ZEN FLESH, ZEN BONES will not have you tearing your hair out trying to decipher the language of the Zen Masters (given the number of shaven-headed monks, you have to wonder), but it still gives the reader a great sense of the fluidity of thought that marks the material.

There are other books out there that "explain" Zen, or "teach" Zen, but ZEN FLESH, ZEN BONES is the essence of the immediate experience that IS Zen. The recorded version, read by Peter Coyote, is a wonderful listening experience.

Sit with it.

It was over 40 years ago that I acquired this slim little book in an esoteric bookstore. I knew nothing about Buddhism or the Zen tradition at that time, and my own ignorance intrigued me. Little did I suspect that what I was holding in my hands was a peculiar, living virus--and I was about to become it's Host, in a lifelong symbiotic journey. Zen bones are Jellyfish bones. In the artifacts of Japanese culture, it is easy to recognize the influence of Zen, wherever you find it--yet, it may not be as ubiquitous as a Westerner might imagine.

Zen is not the only tradition by which essential memes are transmitted through the use of stories. The Sufis do it, too. The use of stories to impart life lessons and wisdom is as old as language--it's just that, aside from the discipline of Zazen, there are no Zen scriptures, per se, even though there are certainly traditions, and literature, handed down, from one virulent Zen Bastard to another. There simply is no useful analogy, in terms of scriptural literature, with say, the Upanishads, or the Koran, or the Dead Sea Scrolls.

It is difficult to boil Zen down into a succinct set of rules or principles. That is sort of like bringing a delicate sea creature up from great depths. It tends to fall apart. Lost in translation. That is why a collection of little stories is so valuable to the cultivation of intuition. The lessons of the Zen tradition must be transmitted directly, or they must be intuited. This is how the Zen virus become activated.

The thing is, the intuition of Zen realization is a slippery slope of no return. Once the soul is transformed by Zen, there is no way out of it. I call it the Lobster Pot syndrome. You go in, but you can't come back. So what's the problem with that, you ask? I don't know about Zen practice in Japan, but to practice mindfulness in America is to become a Stranger in a Strange Land. Experiential considerations like Suchness and law of interdependent causation, or the poise of dynamic equilibrium, have never really assimilated into modern American culture. So--be prepared to join a frame of reference with a tiny minority. You don't care. So be it.

Sitting Zazen is good--but this whole 8 hrs a day Enlightenment or die approach is something I frankly feel is too extreme. It is not the middle way. It may be good for beginners who are attempting to condition the mind and develop good mental habits--but if Zen is anything it is adaptable. It is pragmatic. Like tea in a cup, when you shatter the cup there is no tea, there is no cup, but there is a big freaking mess to clean up. Learn to steal moments of stillness in the flow of life wherever you can--at stop lights, in the waiting room, in the checkout line. It is best to learn to practice meditation through action. Turn every waking minute into the practice of mindful attendence. Watch your breath. In the book there is a story called Every Minute Zen that addresses this point. If one loses their center, and their sense of self awareness, whether participating in the marketplace, or on the battlefield of life, then one's 'attainment' is very meager. For one's aim to be true, you have to rise above the occasion of drama, wherever, and whenever, it presents itself. Everything is an opportunity, for a quickening of awareness, after all. Zen is Nature's Hammer. Be the Nail. Only don't know. Be.

Gives good food for thought on raising twins. I think it's more for identical twin pairs and how to make them feel like individuals.

In my book, "It's Twins! Parent-to-Parent Advice from Infancy Through Adolescence," I stress the importance of promoting individuality in twin children. People often view twins as a set and fail to identify and distinguish the unique characteristics of each child. Even twins themselves may see themselves as an extension of each other, rather than as their own person. While it's a wonderful thing to have this loving and supportive bond between twins, it can also be detrimental to twins if they fail to achieve their own individual potential, form relationships with others, or develop a healthy self-esteem.

Joan A. Friedman, Ph.D., an identical twin and the mother of twin boys, has written an excellent book on raising two distinct individuals who just happen to be twins. In "Emotionally Healthy Twins: A New Philosophy for Parenting Two Unique Children," Dr. Friedman, a psychotherapist, breaks down her "parenting-of-twins philosophy" into 7 key concepts:

1. Think of your twins as two unique individuals.
2. Expect to have different feelings for each child.
3. Give each child consistent "alone time" with you. They need it in order to adequately bond with you.
4. Don't attempt to provide a "fair and equal" childhood for your twins.
5. Don't compare twins to each other; each is on his or her unique life path.
6. Encourage twins to pursue their own friendships and interests.
7. Don't rely on your twins to be each other's constant companion or surrogate parent.

If you're pregnant with twins, she explains how to mentally prepare for two separate babies. If you're raising twin babies, preschoolers, elementary school kids, preteens and teens, or young adults, separate chapters are devoted to meeting their emotional needs. There's even a chapter for fathers of twins, which will improve both their parenting and partnering skills. "Emotionally Healthy Twins" is an excellent book that addresses the unique challenges faced by parents of twins -- issues that aren't addressed in standard parenting books.

Dr. Joan Friedman's book on relating to Emotionally Healthy Twins is a winner. She lays out her book in an easy to read style and an easy to reference style. The actual case studies that she shares clearly illustrate the points she is making. In addition, her stories of her twinship and her twin sons make her book even more personal and meaningful. I am now a better friend to all my twin friends. Thank you so much, Dr. Friedman.

Joan Friedman's book is very intelligent and insightful. She writes from a perspective that has not yet been explored. I found her book to be of very high quality and the writing is inquisitive and precise.

This book is not only a necessary read for parents of twins, but useful for all parents. The unique philosophy discussed can be used in raising children of all ages.

A must read for all serious parents!

"Raising Emotionally Healthy Twins" fills the space earlier reserved exclusively for Dr. Spock, except that
it defines the understanding necessary to cope with the thrills, worries and trials attached to a 'two fer.'
Dr. Friedman has written what I deem to be the ultimate guide to the healthy development of twins - one that speaks from the heart as well as the mind. This is a book which needs to be read by every twin parent.

Miriam Harris, Ph.D.

The famed British philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead was a tremendous admirer of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato's cosmically comprehensive thought and great literary writing talent. For the past thirty five years I have immersed myself as an amateur Plato scholar.
Plato is not only vastly deep and abstract but also commonplace and concrete. Alfred North Whitehead stated that he believed "Plato's thought was analogous to a prism whereas various lights reflect different views and hues" and that "there is hardly a thought or insight Plato did not have" and that "Plato more than any one else had a supreme sense of the infinite possibilities of the universe". Whitehead felt Plato intuitively had direct insights into the cosmos. Whitehead believed that the enormousness of Plato's breadth of thought made Plato more right than anyone else in history although sometimes Plato was so very wrong. I would qualify this statement's assessment with the observation that the true essence of studying Plato and his student Aristotle is the incredible number of topics and ideas that they scientifically scrutinize. Some evaluators have estimated that Aristotle was fifty percent wrong about all his so-called evidentiary assertions. Perhaps so and perhaps Plato was far more wrong than his zealous worshipper Alfred North Whitehead claimed but the gist of their thought quest is their overwhelmingly awesome amplitude of contemplativeness. Alfred North Whitehead felt that Plato was far more willing than most individuals to assert that any one of his conclusions on any subject could be wrong. This in itself could have established Plato as being a far more right thinker than most other thinkers in historical time. Whitehead asserted that "what is needed is an immense feeling for things". If you read Plato you will meet the content of your mind. I would add that Plato was the equal of the greatest writers of all time. His writings are poetical dialogues that compress a stupendous number of ideas into as few words as possible as to how all of space and time have been constructed. While Plato has his feet planted firmly in realism he incessantly interweaves the search for idealism into his thought.
I am a devotee of the cosmologist and process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead and his student-disciple Charles David Hartshorne. The complete dialogues of Plato epitomize the academic subject of Philosophy as not being obscurely pedantic academia promulgated by a bombastic "Professor Pomposity" but readily accessible and a relevant topic to most human beings. The definition of Philosophy is that it is "the critical evaluation of all of the factors of experience" seeking ideality while entrenched in reality. "Philosophy is the attempt to express the infinity of the universe within the limitations of language". "Philosophy should become the ultimate intellectual endeavor". Alfred North Whitehead stated that Plato's thought was "an unrivalled display of the human mind in action, with its ferment of vague obviousness, of hypothetical formulation, of renewed insight, of discovery of relevant detail, of partial understanding, of final conclusion with its disclosure of deeper problems as yet unsolved" and took into account every unexpected novelty, every unanticipated change of direction of the cosmos and that "Plato tried so very hard never to mean anything exactly" always assuming truth may at its very best be only 99.9 (with the decimal nine proceeding ad infinitum) percent accurate. Plato's all-encompassing dialogues are HISTORY'S GREATEST CONVERSATION that span the equilibrium of the most valuable tallest of "tall talk" and the most significant smallest of "small talk". There has been no greater literary writer throughout the history of the world than Plato.
The ancient Greeks had a saying about Plato's thought: "Everywhere I go in my mind I meet Plato coming back". This is no surprise since Plato discussed a staggering number of topics amidst incredibly dazzling language. I concur with Alfred North Whitehead's assessment that "Plato was the unparalleled genius of the greatest mind ever developed by western civilization". Plato was the student of Socrates: "He was the Word, the Brain... he was that Socratesian Superman... strange being from a mighty mental mount who came to earth with intellectual powers far beyond those of mere mortal men. That Socratesian Superman who could bend the word with his bare conversation and stretch the ideal with mighty rivers of thought by persuading people to think that they ought".
Plato's student was Aristotle who created contemporary science, logic and political science. There have been no greater thinkers throughout the history of the world than Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The ancient Greeks also produced several of the greatest playwrights of all time: Aristophanes, Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. The ancient Greeks begat the physician Hippocrates, the historian Thucydides, the orator Pericles and the poet Homer. The ancient Greeks created the Olympics and western civilization.
The psychoanalytical concept of the UNCONSCIOUS was spoken of in Plato's dialogues over two thousand years before Sigmund Freud. Freud did not become the first person to discover the unconscious. He explored it and refined our knowledge of it.
The concept that the Earth is a globular shaped object with many continents covering it was proven by contemporary satellites but the same idea was propounded in one of Plato's dialogues 2,400 years ago when Socrates stated "I say to you that the earth is like one of those multi-patched leathern balls".
Several hundred years ago the English physician William Harvey was highly acclaimed for allegedly being the discoverer of the circulation of blood in the human body. However Plato was there first two thousand years before William Harvey when in his dialogue entitled "Timaeus" an individual mentions the circulation of the human body's blood.
Do you think the concept of time travel was first created by H.G. Wells or Jules Verne or Einsteinian physics? No, for the concept of time travel was mentioned in Plato's dialogue "Timaeus".
Do you think the "Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy" in physics was first discovered by Albert Einstein or one of his European predecessor scientists who have lived in the last several hundred years? No, for the concept that mass and energy are interchangeable is found in Plato's dialogue "Timaeus". Albert Einstein and some of his recent antecedent theorizers primarily reaffirmed this concept with observational data and mathematical formulae.
Do you think the concept of the relativity of motion was first discovered in Einsteinian physics? No, for this concept is explored in Plato's dialogue "Parmenides". The dialogue in "Parmenides" receives my vote for the most dazzlingly unusual conversation ever written or spoken. It is similar to Abbott & Costello's classical comedy routine "Who's on First?" but "Parmenides" is ever more dazzling and far more sophisticated and deadly serious knowledge. The dialogue "Parmenides" also encapsulates the rudimentary ideas of the fields of "Set Theory" and "Logic" and "Topology" along with the conceptualization of hyper-dimensions in the space-time continuum.
The poetical playwright William Shakespeare's famous quotation "To be or not to be" is in fact strangely reminiscent of Plato's dialogue "Parmenides" where the philosophical concept of "Being" and "Not Being" are discussed.
Do you think that the continent of North America was first discovered by Christopher Columbus, the Vikings, Saint Brendan of Ireland, etc.? Think again, for a dialogue of Plato's refers to the area on earth which we now recognize as North America.
Do you think the concept of an infinite universe in astronomy is a contemporary invention? Think again, for individuals in Plato's "The Republic" and also in the dialogue "Timaeus" postulate the infinite universe theory.
Do you think the biblical legend of Noah surviving the Great Deluge only exists in the Holy Bible? Think again, for Plato's dialogue "Timaeus" describes a survivor of a great deluge. This legend has also been repeated in numerous other countries' tales. The great Christian apologetical and expository commentary writers throughout history borrowed ideas, imagery, etc. from the ancient Greeks. The famous saying attributed to Jesus Christ "Don't cast your pearls before swine" was uttered in the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes's play "Lysistrata" four hundred years pre-dating Christ's advent.
Do you think the concept of a broad liberal education was first formulated during Leonardo da Vinci's "Renaissance" era or during the twentieth century? Think again, for Plato outlined the liberal education thesis in his dialogues.
Do you think the concept of Reincarnation was procreated in recent centuries or in ancient Far East religions? Think again, for the concept of Reincarnation is touched upon in Plato's dialogue "Meno" and a few other dialogues.
Do you think the recreational board game of "draughts" or chess or a child's seesaw and a child's toy spinning top were invented within the last several hundred years? Think again, for "draughts" or chess and a seesaw are mentioned in Plato's "Laws" and a child's toy spinning top is mentioned in Plato's "The Republic".
Do you think the concept of a "model city" or "model utopianary community" was first devised by the city of Columbia, Maryland or B.F. Skinner's "Walden Two"? Think again, for Plato developed this concept
in his book "The Republic" and also in his dialogue "Laws".
Do you think the witty sayings "Handsome is as handsome does" and "Higgledy Piggledy" were coined by literary writers in the last several hundred years? Think again, for Plato incorporated these phrases in his writings.
From the above you can see that in a sense there is truly "nothing new under the sun" for Plato in his own way arrived there first!

Plato and Socrates Dialogues stand on their own and in a short review attempt to say that they are "good or not worth it" seems a little shallow.

The chapter Gorgias it reaches out and offers some direction. It says "This is the truth of the matter, as you will acknowledge if you abandon philosophy and move on to more important things is perhaps that philosophy is no doubt a delightful thing, Socrates, as long as one is exposed to it in moderation at the appropriate time in life. But if one spends more time with it than he should, it's his undoing.

So maybe it is just a delightful book if you like Plato and Socrates. It is nice to have this all in one book. I recommend it.

Reading all of the dialogues develops thoughts on specific themes best. It helps to have them in this format. I especially like the to follow the question of whether knowledge is discovered or remembered, whether justice is absolute or relative, whether virtue can be taught, and of course a great deal more in these chapters.

It brings together enough to find out what Plato's epistemology is and how his ethics relates to his metaphysical theory. Lots more.

I found the chapter overviews useful. It pointed the way that the chapters would take and suggested some core issues but didn't pretend to have been answers than the chapters themselves did.

A book like this is a better way to own and read "The Collected Dialogues"

As if after reading Plotinus, Augustine and all those Arabian philosophers with those names one can never recall, we needed another commentary on the works of Plato. Cela va de soi (it goes without saying), Plato has been remembered for a reason. Although, there are some philosophers who would consider Plato a mistake (Quine for example, if I remember rightly, refused to teach a class on Plato), I think it would be absurd not to consider Plato at all. There are some dialogues in this book (such as the Timaeus) that will make you yawn, others, like Gorgias, the Symposium and the Laws will make you wide-awake in wonder. But most importantly, these dialogues will introduce you to Socrates. Although, there is no way to ascertain whether it was Plato or Socrates speaking in these dialogues, most assume that in The Apology, The Crito and a few of Plato's other early dialouges, one gets a glimpse of the real Socrates. Socrates, in Plato's (and also Xenophanes) dialouges is a good man, one who will inspire you. He'll teach you the advantages of being open-minded, of realizing human ignorance, and above all, self-knowledge ('know thyself', 'the unexamined life is a life not worth living'). Which, in my opinion, makes Plato worth reading. I would encourage you to read these dialogues and take what you can, and then go on to Aristotle.

Also recommended: Toilet: The Novel, by Michael Szymczyk. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. The Complete Works of Aristotle. Early Greek Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes. Lives of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius.

You could do worse than to buy this collection -- after all, there are translations of the complete works of Plato into English that date to the 18th century. But you could sure do a whole lot better.

By and large -- and with the exception, perhaps, of what is now the standard translation of Laws -- modern translations of Plato are more evenhanded, better researched, and more frank than old ones. And this edition, unfortunately, has some very old ones indeed, like those of Jowett. Moreover, it includes -- according to no particular logic -- a few works many consider spurious, while omitting others whose status is in debate, and it places the dialogues in an order that is not easy to justify.

The edition to buy, if you want a complete Plato without the benefit of the Greek text (if you want the Greek, buy the Loeb, and know that the facing-pages English translations aren't much worse than the ones offered here!), is the one edited by Cooper and published by Hackett. This one will suffice -- but that one is excellent. Few instructors will insist that you buy some edition in particular, and fewer still will insist that you buy this edition -- so don't, buy that one.

Yes, I think Plato's philosophy is one of the most despicable things unleashed on this Earth. His idea that this world we live in is only semi-real has lead to most of the bad philosphy in recorded history. Only a few philosphers have escaped from under his glare. It's most ironic that one of those is his most famous student: Aristotle.
However, as a lover of knowledge and a student of philosophy, I realize the tremendous debt owed to Plato. First, he understood how important it was to record his ideas. Socrates did not and for this the world is almost assuredly the worst for it. Secondly, he was an absolutely amazing writer. His ability to put his ideas forth in a lucid manner that anyone can uderstand is amazing. Thirdly, he was the first philosopher who devised a full system of knowledge. He wrote on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics and aesthetics.
It is further unfortunate that this text has become the standard by which philosphy students must study Plato. The text is rigid, and as an earlier reviewer noted, Hamilton's intros suck. It is ridiculous to think of her as a serious Platonic scholar. But the Cooper text is much harder to come by, and the Hamilton is required in most courses on Plato. If you have the means, secure yourself a copy of both.