The Presocratics

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Guide to Early Greek Though
Review: I consider myself at best an informed lay-person concerning philosophy and I found this book not only exceptionally informative about this topic, but beautifully written. I assume the translations are Wheelwright's; they are precise, elegant, and in modern English (that is the writing is free of archaic turns of phrase and the like). The notes and introductions tell the reader exactly what you need to know. Incidentally I heartily recommend his translation of Heraclitus also.

Rating:
Summary: A superb and cogent introduction for interested laymen
Review: This is a wonderful book on an important topic. Wheelwright first clearly outlines a conceptualization of religion that explains the sky vs. earth religion dichotomy better than any introductory text I have ever seen. He explains the evolution of early Greek philosophy from religion in a succinct and non-verbose way, and then in the bulk of the book he treats each pre-Socratic philosopher and philosophical school carefully, clearly, and intelligently, with a minimum of twentieth-century nonsense mixed in. He uses plenty of fragments to illustrate his points. This is a really lovely book. I guess it might be less-than-useful for a graduate student in Classics but for undergraduates and interested bystanders it will suffice very well as an introduction. Highly recommended.