Back in January I blogged on Volume 1 of the Action Philosophers series. I went in search of other volumes and came up empty but I did find the complete set in one volume and bought it. I think this book would be a great addition to any Philosophy 101 overview course. The single volume I read previously included a wide range of philosophical eras. This complete version presents them chronologically from the Pre-Socratics through Derrida. The collection of philosophers are presented in different styles, sometimes borrowing from other comic strips e.g. John Stuart Mill presented as "Peanuts" comic strips and Foucault as "Family Circus", The Six Degrees of Francis Bacon, and a board game based on Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is not a dumbed down version of philosophical ideas, but rather an outline of major schools of thought presented in an understandable and entertaining graphic novel form. It actually took me awhile to finish this book because, after reading about several different philosophers in a sitting, I came away saying "my brain hurts." I never thought reading about philosophy could be such fun...with apologies to Dr. Shapiro.
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