Rating: 
Summary: A must-read book
Review: A well-written and thought-provoking book that hits upon many of philosophy's big topics. "Think" is as entertaining as it is educational.
Rating: 
Summary: Thinking is not as easy as it once was
Review: Blackburn has written this book as a defense of philosophy as a practical tool for making sense of the world in which we live. To be perfectly frank making sense of the world is a relatively difficult task.
Rather than discuss the history of philosophy Mr. Blackburn turns his attention to the topics of philosophy: Does free exist, is there a god, how do we know what we know. Over its two thousand year-history, the philosophical tradition hasn't come a long way toward answering these big questions. What it has done, however, is give thinkers methods for revealing obvious fallacies in a whole range of arguments.
"Think" is designed to give the general reader access to some of the methods and ideas developed by thinkers from Descartes onward. What the book does not do is give the reader any prefabricated answers to these Big questions. Mr. Blackburn is less interested in giving us the answers than he is in showing us how to approach the questions. Although he occasionally offers his own opinion, he is careful to show that there is no easy way to access philosophical truth.
Rating:
Summary: This is not an Idiot's Guide to Philosophy
Review: Blackburn takes a different approach to introducing philosophy: rather than provide a chronological survey (a la Will Durant) or a cartoon-&-sidebar summary (a la the Dummies and Idiot books), he focuses on eight of the most important philosophical problems and invites the reader to work through them, with the author's help and guidance from some of the leading thinkers in the Western tradition. He is by and large successful in this effort, pitching his discussion to the "intelligent" beginner. By the end of the book, you have both observed philosophers at work and taken a crack at philosophy yourself.
Rating:
Summary: This is not an Idiot's Guide to Philosophy
Review: Blackburn takes a different approach to introducing philosophy: rather than provide a chronological survey (a la Will Durant) or a cartoon-&-sidebar summary (a la the Dummies and Idiot books), he focuses on eight of the most important philosophical problems and invites the reader to work through them, with the author's help and guidance from some of the leading thinkers in the Western tradition. He is by and large successful in this effort, pitching his discussion to the "intelligent" beginner. By the end of the book, you have both observed philosophers at work and taken a crack at philosophy yourself.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: Gertrude Stein observed of Ezra Pound that he was a village explainer, and very good to have around if one happened to be a village. Simon Blackburn merits the same level of praise. This book's stated intention is to give readers some sense of how philosophers approach the really big questions of knowledge, free will, God, reasoning, and so on. That's a tall order. Think is better appreciated as a chrestomathy of thought-provoking quotations and asides. The book's strongest points are its useful tips on formulating and analyzing arguments. Incidentally, the politically correct reader will be delighted at Blackburn's bows to gender-neutral language, his digs at the religious right and his sly elbow in the dead ribs of Edmund Burke. We [...] recommend this book for anyone interested in philosophy but short of time, or merely out to impress friends, colleagues and clients by dropping names of celebrity philosophers into conversations or sales pitches.
Rating: 
Summary: bang then fizzle
Review: I was eager to read this book...The beginning was terrific with fascinating original characters and what appeared to be an original plot. I hunkered down full of anticipation. However, I never understood any of the characters. The last third of the book was an endless 'action film' script. The ending, was, well, I let the author ruin that for himself.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let that first review keep you from this book!
Review: I was looking for a "primer" on philosophy...who said what, when and so on. Though this wasn't the book I was looking for, I found it engrossing and interesting. After trying to wade through Durant's pompous prose in "A Story of Philosophy," Blackburn's straightforward style was very refreshing. Like a good novel, I couldn't put it down and sometimes jumped to the end of the end of a chapter just to peek at the author's conclusion. Blackburn never really gave definitive answers to life's great questions, but that made it even more satisfying. For a novice, like myself, the terminology was a little confusing and I'm still not sure who was associated with what school of thought (I wish I had had his dictionary to read along with this), but it left me wanting to know and read more.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let that first review keep you from this book!
Review: I was looking for a "primer" on philosophy...who said what, when and so on. Though this wasn't the book I was looking for, I found it engrossing and interesting. After trying to wade through Durant's pompous prose in "A Story of Philosophy," Blackburn's straightforward style was very refreshing. Like a good novel, I couldn't put it down and sometimes jumped to the end of the end of a chapter just to peek at the author's conclusion. Blackburn never really gave definitive answers to life's great questions, but that made it even more satisfying. For a novice, like myself, the terminology was a little confusing and I'm still not sure who was associated with what school of thought (I wish I had had his dictionary to read along with this), but it left me wanting to know and read more.
Rating:
Summary: Making philosophy relevant
Review: Neither a history of philosophy nor a dry, scholarly work, Simon Blackburn's book will appeal to those who have some knowledge of the subject and want an up-to-date primer on the big questions in philosophy. Using references to and quotations from the 'big names', Blackburn nevertheless ensures that the topics are always related to real life (including a hilarious reference to Microsoft when discussing the Problem of Evil), showing both the contemporary relevance of philosophy, and the current 'consensus' on the topics in question. A must read for non-philosophers interested in philosophy, or anyone interested in rejecting the 'unexamined life'.
Rating: 
Summary: A Compelling Introduction to Blackburnism
Review: Simon Blackburn has a talent for bringing complex ideas down to a level the neophyte can understand, and his wit and style are worthy of applause. Blackburn puts these skills to work in his short "introduction to philosophy." However, it quickly becomes apparent that Blackburn's talents are not directed toward what his subtitle seems to promise. Blackburn's gripping introductory chapter gives the newly interested hope. He claims that his aim is to make philosophy understandable and enjoyable to readers who are taking a first look at the "big themes," and that he intends to "introduce ways of thinking about the big themes." However, it would have been more accurate (and not to mention more honest) for him to write that he intends to introduce "a way" of thinking, namely his own. Blackburn zips through the "big themes" at a frantic pace, quickly brushing aside any school of thought that does not resemble his brand of materialism and scepticism. The problem is not so much his worldview, but, rather, it is the way he goes about promoting it. Throughout the book, he gives his opposition a very limited and inadequate voice, and, then, presents his view on a particular issue as the decisive winner in the debate. Blackburn's positive arguments for his positions are formidable, but, this particualar book is simply not long enough to give his opposition a fair opening statement or rebuttal. His "introduction to philosophy" does not give a comprehensive enough vantage point from which to adequately begin thinking about the issues. Hence, it is not a true "introduction" in the first place. With the above said, I must admit that this book is a good read for anyone interested in Blackburn's thinking, but, to present it as anything else but Blackburn's thinking is to take advantage of readers with little to no background in philosophy. I recommend this book only to those readers who are already equiped with a firm enough philosophical base to discern sincere, open inquiry from tacit indoctrination into one particular school of thought.
| 
