The Existentialist Reader: An Anthology of Key Texts

Rating:
Summary: An Intriguing But Incomplete Book
Review: One doesn't often come across a text that approaches existentialism collectively rather than focusing on individual thinkers. This book is thus unique in assembling these pieces but unfortunately falls just a bit short of being comprehensive. Noticeably absent are such essential precursors to existentialism as Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche.

Rating:
Summary: A Valuable Book.
Review: This is a very insightful and concise anthology that may serve as a bible for those entering the world of existentialism and phenomenology; also, for those who already have a fundamental grasp of existential themes and existential ontology this book serves to both refresh the memory and cement a well-rounded knowledge of the topic in the reader.
Don't be overly alarmed about the omission of Nietzsche and Kierdegaard. The reader is informed of this omission in the preliminary acknowledgements and is given a reasoning for the omission in the introduction.
Dr. MacDonald has written an extremely comprehensive and lucid introduction - in itself the introduction is a valuable exposition of the subject matter. The energy, vigour and supply of intricate detail that is given in the introduction is followed through to all subsequent chapters. Furthermore, the selection of readings by the eight different authors gives the reader an invaluable insight into the thoughts of some of the 20th century's most prominant thinkers.
Overall, this is an exellent book that supplies the reader with an impetus for further existential and phenomenological inquiry.