Westerns Books

Whether as a collection of various primary texts, or as a textbook for an intro to philosophy class, making students shell out fifty-four bucks for this is a mistake. Like two other reviewers said, this text offers nothing useful but the primary texts. Since that is the case, the only question that would remain is whether it is worth fifty-four bucks for these primary texts. It is not, in the slightest. One can buy all the direct reading an "intro" student should ever do, via a handful or approx. ten dollar books, and come up with better readings, better introductions, more to read, and twenty bucks left over.

This is obviously an overpriced textbook meant to cash in on the carelessness of professors and the victimization of students. "Intro" students probably need a lot more than a lump of primary texts--and even if you don't think so, buy 2-3 smaller collections, for much less than the price of this thing--and they will have better editor/translator introductions, and probably better translations, too.

For instance, take a look at some of the cheaper books with Plato, the Presocratics, and then anything else one might throw into an "intro" class after that (maybe Hume, Nietzsche). Is the point of an "intro" class to get you to misunderstand as many philosophers as possible in a misunderstood context?

This is a massive and invaluable book for the student of philosophy. It has over twenty complete works of classical philosophy. Including many of the great works by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kierkegaard, Hume, Mill and many, many more. And it also includes fragments from the presocratics and careful abridgments of over forty more works from a full spectrum of philosophers, ancient to modern. All of this comes in one large yet manageable volume. So it is ideal for a student or someone who wants a single volume philosophy reference. I highly recommend it.

this is an incredible anthology of philosophical works. it unfortunately lacks the textbook approach needed in a classroom. the anthology includes an incredible number or work by every philosopher from Plato to Russell, including some obscure philosophers.if you want an anthology of works, a source of documents, this is not a bad bet.

however, an intro to philosophy requires understanding and interpretation beyond the philosophical texts, which this book unfortunately does not offer. its summaries are a joke. its partial works sometimes barely suffice in class. and its organization does not even deserve the name.

overall, i would not buy this work if you have the choice. i only give it three stars because it offers an incredible variety of philosophical texts, crammed up into one book.

I use this work as the sole text for my Survey of Philosophy course. Both the breadth and depth of the readings are impressive, and the book lends itself to any number of combinations of readings, which makes this work uniquely versatile in my experience as a philosophy professor.

I also believe that the earlier reviewer was overly harsh in his disparagement of the introductions and summaries to each philosopher's work. While some of the introductions and summaries are indeed rather weak (although even these are generally adequate), others are quite good, and it is in any case the part of the instructor to guide students through these works. A novice instructor with insufficient background in the history of philosophy would indeed find this text difficult to use.

The text is poorly edited in parts, with any number of rather glaring errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but these are minor when compared to the overall usefulness and versatility of this text.

This book is brand new and never been used! It is a great buy and is at a great price.

Let's put it this way, I really don't enjoy accounting anyway, but this book took my dislike to a whole new level. Poorly written with examples that aren't really useful mingle with problems that throw in unexpected variables with no explanation on how to solve the problem. Irritating, ponderous, and unwieldy I can assure you that once you use this, you will be completely confused.

This book is all wisdom, from a mentor to a student/friend. It is written in such an eloquent style that it is almost poetic. It is a classic book inwhich I come back to over and over again. Get lost in the wisdom.

This is an enjoyable read. Ancient self-help for every man, not a dense philosophical treatise. Also, many opportunities to take a glimpse into the daily life of an ancient Roman; not so different from us, eh?

Stoicism has been much misunderstood, and the adjective "stoic," which loosely can be taken to mean bearing up under duress, is partly correct but does not do justice to one of the world's great philosophies. This Penguin volume presents a great selection from the letters of Seneca, which hits all the high points of the philosophy and captures Seneca's remarkable personality, which has made him a hit with the cognoscenti for 2,000 years. Few perhaps realize that the Stoics postulated a great commonwealth governed by law, or that they idealized democracy. Seneca mentions Solon the lawgiver as the creator of democracy and refers numerous times to the Roman Stoic saint, Cato, who strove mightily (and unsuccessfully) to preserve the Roman Republic.

Seneca, like other Stoics, has a doctrine of nature that is remarkably close to that of Emerson or modern American environmentalists. The wise man (sapiens) will never be bored when contemplating the simple things of nature. The natural beauty of the countryside and the healthful action of the waves can have a calming effect (although there's a memorable passage in which a storm causes terrible sea sickness). He also believed in the simple and strenuous life and the avoidance of luxury and decadence, and there are numerous passages in these letters to his disciple, Lucilius, which decry the ostentatious, self indulgent practices of his contemporaries. These are sentiments and ideas adopted by many in the modern world, including President Theodore Roosevelt. Seneca has no patience for philosophy as a word game or a practice of engaging in hair-splitting arguments for their own sake. He rather sees it as a practice or way of life that all those who seek the good should investigate and adopt. While the Stoics believed in democracy and republicanism, their doctrine of freedom is different from the modern idea of Liberty. Freedom was the ability to endure and pursue the good even under tyranny. While that may be admirable, modern commentators on liberty (such as Isaiah Berlin) have pointed out that defining down the range of one's actions is not a satisfactory solution to the problem of the absence of liberty in society or the world.

No stranger to power himself, Seneca virtually ruled Rome as tutor of the boy Nero--and yet he adopts a quite believable stance of simplicity and humility. It's a good bet these letters will still be found absorbing by readers for another 2,000 years.

Seneca was probably not the most original thinker of the Stoic school. His writing style was also not the most agreeable to many. However, Seneca has had a profound influence on many, many later writers. Pliny the Younger, St. Augustine, and Ralph Waldo Emerson all quote, and borrow from Seneca. With Marcus Aurelius, Seneca is one of the most accessible of the Stoics. He is also an invaluable source of information about Stoicism's rivals, Epicurus and his followers. This particular volume is also filled with very helpful notes, and it is a good place to start a journey with the stoics.

The letters in this book are full of nuggets of wisdom and quotable passages. Seneca isn't my favorite Stoic philosopher but this book is one of the easiest to read translations of an ancient text I have ever come across. It was worth adding to me library.

I highly recommend this book. This author provides great history along with useful information in enjoying the park. There is a logical division of areas within the park and she references you to the next map(location) at the end of each discussion. It is an easy to use reference. She gives information about the surrounding towns and immediate areas outside of each park entrance which decreases the need for additional guide books. I highly recommend this book.

I brought this book for my family RV trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton last month. It helped us plan our routes, learn bits of history and science, and pick camp sites. The mile markers and corresponding information bits were very useful as we stayed mostly on the grand loop. I highly recommend this book, particularly to first-time visitors.

At first my man thought it was stupid of me to purchase this book. I say at first because after he started to read it he said, "Hey that book you bought is really good!" Anyway we used it quite a bit while we were at Yellowstone and also Grand Teton National park as well. A great purchase and an item we will be sure to use many times in the future.

We purchased this book for an upcoming trip to Yellowstone and it is exactly the kind of book for which we had hoped. It is signifcantly better organized than many of the other books that we looked at about Yellowstone.

Highly recommend this book. Well written explaination of what you are seeing. Much better than the park service materials.

It's helpful but a bid too expensive. I mean if you read the book that's should be good enough. But if you don't read the textbook then the study guide would help you pass the class. I didn't really have time to read it. So if you think you think you need help on top of reading the textbook then this is good. If you are planning to read the textbook then the study guide is almost the same thing. Besides, no one really has the time to go finish all of the exercises. I just used the study guide's summary. The bottom line is buy it if you have time to use it (or complete it) or else it'd be a waste of money.

Clinton Anderson has a way of making things easy to follow and explains the reasoning behind the ground work that he does. I like his no nonsense approach in working with horses. He takes you step by step through the lesson, answers what if questions, and talks you through other problems that may arise from the horse and the person working with it. I found his book to be simple, easy to understand, and once you get the hang of the basic concepts of what you're working towards, quite effective.

This book is great at illustration. I have a new horse that is only 5 yrs old and these techniques are working great. The book is very easy to follow and it totally helps to read each section over and over until you get it down. He gives do's and don't's and classic mistakes etc which help you to fine tune your technique because you know what mistakes to watch for in yourself.

I just received the book and am still reading it. I really like how he explains the lesson then has 2 students add their comments after their training session with Clinton. I find this helpful as it gives me insite how I might come across a problem similiar to theirs when I start my program.

My trainer suggested Clinton Anderson's book and it has really been very helpful for me. He is very clear in his instructions and possible problems one may encounter with various horses and issues.

Useful, but only if you're willing to buy the equipment. From his site. For quite a bit of money.

So yeah.