Pocket Professor Philosophy: Everything You Need to Know about Philosophy Book

One of my best friends just received his doctorate in Political Philosophy, and though we'd talked a little here and there over the past few years about what he was studying, I still only had the most basic understanding of the field. When I saw this on the shelf, I reckoned it would be a good start--and it had tons of illustrations to keep it zazzy!

While the book did indeed give me a much broader understanding of political philosophy, and a primer on many of its major players, there are a couple of quibbles: 1) that the language Robinson used sometimes lapsed into "inside academe" language, which is a little clunky for a basic introduction, and 2) the illustrations were pretty decent, but sometimes superfluous, making them feel forced into the text rather than helping to support it. I don't think it would be a bad idea to have a full page of just text now and then, rather than jamming in some illustration that doesn't really add anything to the mix.

But overall, as I said, it's a good intro to the major figures and basic concepts behind political philosophy, so if you're curious about the topic, this is a good place to start.