Rating: 
Summary: An exceptional translation of a brilliant mind
Review: This book is a classic. I love it and cart it around everywhere- so much so that my wife took to calling me `Schopey,' soon after we married. Oh what a kidder... The text in question is basically an abbreviated form of "Parerga and Paralipomena," a collection of, you guessed it, essays and aphorisms that Arthur published towards the end of his life. In fact, he owed much of his early popularity to these little bits of brain, blood and bile- they paved the way for the interest in his earlier, more thorough and more intimidating work- `The World as Will and Representation,' his central text. Intense, brooding, and enthrallingly lucid (a trait much lacking in philosophy in general and German philosophy in particular), these little pensees and barbs will provide you with much enjoyment, quotes, quips and boundless food for thought. If you are at all the kind of person who enjoys reading, or if you are buying books with such a person in mind (and if you weren't I don't see how you would have ended up here) I cannot say enough good things about this tiny volume! Whether or not you agree with Schopenhauer's central philosophic themes, his high-jacking/hybridization of Kantian metaphysics and Eastern Vedic/Buddhist Scripture, his pessimistic misanthropy, his irrational and intuitive bent, his (huge) influence on psychology and psychoanalysis, his dismissal of Judeo-Christian religion, or his overbearing arrogance- he is not a thinker to be dismissed lightly. I disagree with him on practically everything important (as did Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy notwithstanding), except his scathing misanthropy and his views on opera (page 163- he loathed it by the way, as a philistine piling up of styles, an `unmusical invention for unmusical minds...'), but so what? His views, maxims and opinions are straightforwardly put with all the deceptive elegance of a minor key Chopin Nocturne. A refreshing break from the tireless jargon-juggling of contemporary, pomo, academic charlatans... And the man was brilliant. The kind of brilliance that engenders humility in readers and makes young, would-be philosophers reconsider their choice of profession. You cannot help but enter into dialogue with this man. And hey- All you young, winsome, despairing, romantically-inclined teenagers- take note! This guy was the real deal, it takes serious cajones to spit in the face of the Enlightenment and proclaim to the progress-minded 19th C. that, "Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of existence, then our existence must have no object whatever," (which is the first sentence in this nice little book) and then back that statement up with serious argumentation. And as a literary influence Schopenhauer is in a league entirely of his own. Thomas Mann is unthinkable without him (well, and Nietzcsche). Borges once opined that the only thinkers he thought accurately depicted the world were Schopenhauer and Berkeley. Finally, The introduction by Hollingdale is .. superb. It is possibly the best brief introduction to Schopenhauer (by way of Kant and 19th C. trends in German philosophy) that I have come across; it manages to be (simultaneously) anecdotal, psychological, historical, humorous and analytic- all in under 40 pages. No easy achievement, that. It should be noted that Hollingdale is a fine scholar/translator; his work with the late, great Walter Kaufmann on a variety of his Nietzsche translations comes to mind, as does his own fantastic critical biography, `Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy,' which still may be the best work of its kind in terms of its approachability. My only beef with Hollingdale is minor: he doesn't mention the effects of the `Nachmearz,' (a period in the mid 19th C. Germany, following revolts in 1848, wherein the public became disenchanted with `academic' philosophy and turned to more literary-outsider intellectuals) as influential in producing the kind of cultural climate in which a thinker and writer such as Schopenhauer could find a mass readership. This is odd because in `The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche,' Hollingdale discusses (at length) the far-reaching effects of said cultural phenomenon in producing the legends that permeate the widespread public perception of Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer... But I digress. Cheap copies of this are abound. Do yourself a massive favor, live a little- take a chance, as Nietzsche did, when he was a college student, nosing about in a bookstore...
Rating:
Summary: Politically -Incorrect Reflections of a Bitter Old Man
Review: This is a lively collection from one of Germany's greatest essayists. Unlike many philosophers, Schopenhauer can really write, and above all, he is a heckuvalotta fun to read. But his work is definitely not for the overly-sensitive--if he wrote some of this stuff today, he would probably be ordered to take diversity-training classes every time he put down his pen. But taken in context (which the introduction does a great job of providing), Schopenhauer is stunning. This is a good collection for the general reader who isn't "into" philosophy, but still enjoys a substantial read.
Rating:
Summary: insightful
Review: Why don't they teach this stuff in school? I'd have lived a better life. Btw, Hollingdale is superb as always - notes are plentiful and helpful, and introduction is very informative, yet concise, it doesn't rival the book itself as far as the volume (a very rare event.) I hear that it's abridged, well, that's probably good as a beginning for those not trained in philosophy. I'm moving on to the world as will etc.
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