Existentialism For Dummies

The progression of descriptive intellectual factors concerning the Existential movement of the early 20th Century makes this book very easy to understand. It's a complicated subject with many considerations to digest and the material is presented in sequences that are reinforced section after section making it fairly easy to understand. Bravo.

I took two philosophy courses as an undergraduate. The "Logic" course was good but the instructor was nutty. In the second course the full professor was nutty and so were all seven or eight of the students. That was the end of philosophy for me for fifty years, i.e. there seemed to be a strong positive correlation between philosophy and nutty people. Then I happened to watch a raunchy pre-code Barbara Stanwyck movie "Babyface" and one character made reference to Nietzsche. My interest was rekindled. I bought Panza's book.Panza and his co-author are able to take the ramblings of many philosophers and actually make sense of, in this case, existentialism. Starting with the "God is dead" statement they explain simply that it means that science has destroyed the order in our civilization that the Church gave us. We must find something else. From here they go on to explain that reality can't be seen or understood because of our moods, they interpret much of the world as we see it. Next they go on to anxiety, yeah I suffer from anxiety as we all do. What's that lyric: tired of livin' but scared of dyin'?This leads us to the need to find some meaning in life. Well I won't go on and beat a dead horse. Just let me say the book is a fun read; yes, they are a bit humorous, and they explain this arcane bit of philosophy quite well. So am I an existentialist? Probably, just hope I don't turn nutty. Buy the book.

I have had a decades long fascination with existentialism going back to the 1970s and picked up this book out of general interest. I thought that the initial 100 or so pages were excellent, informative, and poignant. But then the book went off the rails when the authors turned to the main tenets of various existentialist’s individual philosophies. The presentations are certainly comprehensive and detailed, but are so dense and obscure that they added nothing to my understanding of the topic. The minutiae of Heidegger’s philosophy receives much more coverage than necessary and the points made are difficult to make sense of. I stopped reading half way through the 10th chapter devoted to Kierkegaard because the coverage became even less comprehensible. This book would have been excellent had the dense minutiae of the various philosopher’s thinking been edited, similar to how concisely John-Paul Sartre’s philosophy was presented. Although part of the “Dummies” series, far too much extraneous information is included in the middle chapters but I rate the book three stars on the depth of the authors’ research and their desire to be comprehensive.

Existentialism refers to a school of philosophical thought that was mainly popular among European thinkers in the twentieth century. It mainly focuses on the individual's role in the world and the concept of the "absurdity" or inherent meaninglessness of life.Recently, I got a cheap, used copy of a work by Jean-Paul Sartre, but I, with no real background in philosophy, quickly gave up on it when I had trouble understanding it. Instead, I turned to Existentialism for Dummies for an introduction to the subject and was greatly pleased.This book gives an overall look at existentialist concepts. It uses the ideas primarily from five philosophers: Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus. For example, the book seeks to explain just what Nietzsche meant when he declared that "God is dead." It also explains one of the central concepts of existentialism: the absurdity of life. Existentialism contends that life is basically meaningless and people are free to create their own meaning in life. This is also related to the idea that a person should strive to live authentically instead of relying on others to find meaning.All in all, this book was a good introduction to existentialism for the layman. I would recommend this to those looking for an introduction to the topic.

I found this book gave a very clear understanding of the topic and I would absolutely recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the topic. I read it from cover to cover and enjoyed all of it.At times I found the paragraph structuring to be a little off, but the underlying meaning was still understood. The authors have managed to explain a very subtle subject which is no mean feat, and hence I give them a lot of credit for it. And unlike other beginners' books, the authors have managed to give over the content in a clear form without incessant interruption of corny jokes.After reading this book, you will have a thorough understanding of existentialism, from its beginning to its end, as well as an understanding of each Existentialist's contribution, both on their own merit and within the broader gestalt. I am glad I bought this book, and highly recommended it!Update:I have since read Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide by Thomas E. Wartenberg, and I have to say that it's a clearer read of the subject.

Would definitely recommend as a beginner wanting to learn about existentialism. Like the style of the For Dummies books and enjoy the humour. Received promptly.

Good book explaining Existentialism as clearly as possible and providing examples of movies and stories that explore the themes espoused by existentialists.

A must for anyone interested in the topic of existentialism, it's easy to read, offers suggestions for future reading. Great buy!

great source for any philosophy beginner, definitely recommend

A good read and a great starter guide.