no rating bc its for school but i recommend it for anyone interested in a basic historical overlook of western philosophy

An exceedingly impressive piece of scholarly work. Grayling lays out dense, often obscure ideas in a structured and largely accessible way that invites you to engage with the material. This book offers a fairly comprehensive view of the "big names" in philosophy - primarily metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and ethics - starting from Thales; it presupposes no background in philosophy, nor does it wander into theology or what we now consider science (but for much of history was also included under the umbrella of philosophy). The sections on Western philosophy are much more in-depth than those on non-Western ones, as that's where Grayling's expertise lies, but the book as a whole offers a compelling entry point and invites further studying. It does take a little while to get through, and significantly longer if you really want to retain what Grayling writes, but I firmly think it's worth the effort.

I am slowly working my way through this one and finding it an excellent and highly readable survey of philosophy in all its dimensions. I especially appreciate the inclusion of Asian, Southeast Asian, Persian/Arabic philosophical traditions. The writing is scholarly, engrossing and often witty. It's unfortunately too long for my freshman students in the philosophy survey course, but I've ordered it for my college library and the local public library.
Thank you for the eARC from Edelweiss for review.

intellectual grazing food. varied, small individual pieces, yet rich and filling in aggregate. kept me going for weeks.

Basically an updated version of Bertrand Russell’s work.