The Early Works of Orestes A. Brownson, Volume I: The Universalist Years, 1826-29 Book

The truth is, you have to work your way through some prerequisites to read this book. Three semesters might do it: Intro to Greek Philosophy, History of Medieval Thought, and Modern Philosophy, with an emphasis on Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel, the Romantics, and the Positivists. You might want to throw in an Intro to Physics course, too.

Fr. Bouyer is not concerned with summarizing the history of thought in this book. You can think of it as a romp through history with a graduate-level philosopher, someone who has some very provocative ideas about where some of the great philosophers and philosophical tendencies went wrong, and some hints on how they could have fixed it if only he was around.