City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy

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.Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument (Palgrave Study Guides)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Stella Cottrell

September 09, 2005
This is the book to have if you wish to know more about critical thinking. The book has exercises and is abundant with knowledge to assist you with your exams, assignments and general thinking. A must have for all student, just wish i'd found it eariler.
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.The Art of War
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Sun Tzu, Sun Zi

May 01, 2006
I'm not especially interested in military history, neither am I a manager or businessman, but I still found this book very enjoyable. It has the rare appeal of being of its time but at the same time applicable to the present day. Many of the insights feel very contemporary - not simply to the business arena but to any aspect of life. The style is terse and aphoristic, which means that it doesn't really matter that the book is quite short. Even the chapters on terrain tactics are interesting from a historical point of view. I would also recommend a book called the Fall by Steve Taylor for its insights into the origins and history of warfare and social conflict The Fall:the Insanity of the Ego in Human History and the Dawning of a New Era: The Insanity ... Read More:
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.The Prince (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Niccolo Machiavelli, George Bull

February 16, 2004
This masterpiece of reasoning and good practical handbook on how to get ahead in real life if you happen to be already a man of some means, was a work of great humanity in an age when humanity was still considered disgusting and subserviant to the Lord above and his chosen servants on Earth. What a shot across the bows to all those religious hypocrites and Bible following automatons this must have been, then. Two elements surrounding this work's brave publication are crucial, I feel: One being that this was Italy, (as it became) and at its advanced stage of the great Renaissance, as we now know it, and the second being that it was written at a time which was just right to be publishing order challenging controversial works. After seeing the liberal benefits ... Read More:
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.The Republic (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Plato

May 31, 2007
The core of the book is the presentation of the ideal state, in which government is conducted by a specially trained and bred class of philosophers/judges/warriors, but he diverges onto various other topics as well, in particular what the nature of their education should be.

Plato's insistence that education in philosophy (which for him includes all the sciences) would automatically produce gifted rulers must surely have seemed a bit naive even in his own day. And yet, of course, you have large parts of society constructed around this: Oxbridge classicists going into the City; the énarques in France; the Ivy League in the US. On the other hand, I observe that really intelligent people often make poor politicians; few of the skills of political leadership are intellectual. ... Read More:
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.The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: MARX & ENGLES

September 09, 2005
"The Communist Manifesto" was first published in 1848 by the so-called founders of scientific socialism, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. It was the political manifesto of a small revolutionary group known as the Communist League. The Manifesto is still being re-issued today, since its considered to be a foundational text of Marxism.

Today, its also much easier to see the absurdities of the Manifesto. The program proposed by Marx and Engels was implemented in the socialist nations. It "worked" temporarily, as these nations created an industrial base and an infrastructure by the use of a planned economy, but only at the cost of enormous sacrifices. In effect, Stalin "built socialism" by plundering the peasantry, super-exploiting the working class and de facto re-introducing ... Read More:
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.Ethics and Values in Social Work (British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Practical Social Work) (Practical Social Work Series)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Sarah Banks

March 06, 2006
The subject is by no means new, yet I found the book a perfect start for understanding the principles around the contruction of values and the dangers of having oppressive values. Banks' writing style is fluid and the language used means that the information is accessable. The Use of examples will help any student (or practising) Social Worker to focus on their own value base.
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.Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography (Vintage classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Roland Barthes

July 15, 1993
To get a feeling for this book read the most negative coments from reviews of his "Mythologies" and you'll be on the right track. Incorrect assertions are presented as fact. Incorrect conclusions are built on those assertions. Language is used to obfuscate rather than elucidate meaning (if you don't know those words don't even try to read Barthes). Actually, language appears to be used more to say "I am clever." Clever people communicate clearly, monsieur!

Unbearable, and you won't learn a thing about photography, which he more or less rejects in his opening chapters in favour of contemplating his own navel


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.Leviathan (English Library)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Thomas Hobbes, C.B. Mac Pherson

July 24, 2008
What would you do if your government made a law that was completely immoral? It required you to act in an immoral way? This is not just a theoretical question, it has happened - consider Nazi Germany. So what would you do? Follow the law because it is what the law says and as citizens we are under a duty to follow the law? Refuse to follow the law because it is immoral (and risk prison/execution)? What if everybody refused to follow laws they didn't like? Wouldn't that result in anarchy? Would anarchy be so much better or maybe it would be even worse? Maybe if the law was immoral enough you would start a revoltion?
If you think about questions like this, Hobbes' Leviathan is the beginning of the modern consideration of this question. You may not like Hobbes answer (and personally I don't) ... Read More:
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.Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (Dover Thrift)
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Friedrich Nietzsche

1998-02
This is a fascinating book, a crucial theme of which is the support for a grown-up way of existance that has sadly been overshadowed by that of lesser minds. Another thread running through the book is the idea of the 'will to power' as the key to understanding our lives. Along the way, we also get opinions on the woman's relation to the kitchen; what it means to be a recluse; flashing criticism of the English and academics; criticism of Kant and other philosophers; a brilliant investigation of the 'master' morality, and just about anything else you could possibly imagine. Nietzsche's use of language is masterful in its creativity, colour, allure and entertainment value. His insights are profound and always accurate (perhaps with the exception of when he is talking about music). This really is a wondeful book.
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.Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer
City Travel Guides > Books > Philosophy
by: Christopher Hitchens

November 15, 2007
This is a thick tomb, not so portable as a set of keys but much more portable than a well stocked library. - what you need to look up the writings of the authors mentioned in this book. This book is a tourist guide to intellectual places you have never considered visiting, or wanted to but didn't know where to start.
I think this book may have been more readable to the non English Lit. graduate had the contents been presented from the most recent to the least. It takes effort to read the early entries and to understand them.
Stick with it nonetheless your brain may ache from the effort but it will be fitter because of it.
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