Rating: 
Summary: Kierkegaard for Beginners
Review: This book was my introduction to this series, and overall it has whetted my appetite for more. I was skeptical about the "comic book" format (the publisher refers to this series as comic books, although I agree with another reviewer that the format is really text with illustrations), but my curiosity about how Kierkegaard's dense philosophy could be meanfully summarized so briefly got the better of me. I think the book is largely successful.Kierkegaard is difficult to understand, partly because his thought system is complex, but also because he often chose to write in what Palmer calls a "parable" format, for example espousing his views on the "aesthetic" stage by writing pseudonymous pieces in the aesthetic voice. Palmer clearly explains this device while simultaneously explaining the major tenets illuminated by the device, no mean feat of summarizing in so brief a space. He pretty well does the same with most of Kierkegaard's major ideas, which is exactly what you would hope for from a book like this. My quarrel with the book is with the illustrations and some insufficient treatment of some key ideas. The illustrations are many, they are not funny or helpful, they are distracting, patronizing and annoying. And they take up space that would have been better spent explaining more fully some points that are not made sufficiently clear. I would include most notably in the latter category a more lucid explanation of Kierkegaard's views of the subjective and objective realms and just exactly why (instead of merely that) Kierkegaard maintains that life is only fully lived when its tenuousness, or emptiness, is realized. This idea is an important link with eastern philosophies and was first introduced into Western thought by Kierkegaard. It would have been helpful to have gone a bit deeper into this core idea, and room could perhaps have been made by eliminating a fatuous "illustration" or two. I would not have been as cranky about the illustrations if they had been of the same quality as the text or as amusing as those in the "For Dummies" series. Those criticisms said, the book does manage to deftly explain, in very accessible summary fashion, the principal ideas of this rather inaccessible but important thinker. Even the ideas that are not as thoroughly treated as one would have liked (even in so concise a summary) are at least mentioned, and the reader is referred to the work, and even page number, where Kierkegaard sets them forth. My interest in this series is to read summaries of the work of thinkers I am curious about but whose principal works I may never quite get to. I decided to test the series by starting with this book, because I actually have read most of Kierkegaard. I'm more impressed than I thought I would be, and I will try some more in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't Sartre Get his Own Book in this Series?
Review: This is a serviceable introduction to the writings and life of Soren Kierkegaard (SK). It hits several of his major works and emphases and does a pretty good job unpacking some difficult concepts (dread, despair, irony etc..). Palmer falls into a common trap, however, of interpreting SK through the lens of the twentieth century existentialists that utilize him. There was a point in the text where I had serious questions whether he had quoted Sartre more than SK himself (it is of note that Palmer also wrote Sartre for Beginners). This leads at times to anachronism in Palmer's presentation and less than full treatment of those ideas that were important to SK but dismissed by those who followed (namely passionate, ironic and devotional theological prose). The illustrations were typical of what I have come to expect from this series: helpful aids for visual learners, occasionally comical (there is a great one on Woody Allen's take on the intro to Sickness Unto Death), but usually a little disappointing, particularly considering the vast reservoir of ironic and comical material availed by SK's sharp wit and various pseudonyms.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Beginners Book!
Review: This was the first book I read on philosophy. I was advised one day from a friend to read some western philosophy books, and she suggested the beginners series. I read this in one night (and even though it's a comic-formatted book, it was still kinda difficult to grasp at first). It was as though I became enlightened and wanted to know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I am now a philosophy major in college. I've read many philosophy books since then and recommend this serious to anyone somewhat interested in philosophy.
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