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Looking For Philosophy Books

Since Robert Anton Wilson, Alan Watts, and Douglas Hofstadter have already been mentioned several times, I'll add:

The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
T. A. Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone by Hakim Bey
 
I also am on the look out for A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. I know from a previous encounter that his style is very readable for me.
I'm a great admirer of Russell's work, and I think his style of his writing is second only to Hume in the English language, but I must really dis-recommend this particular book for a few reasons. Off the bat, it spends far too much time on Ancient Philosophy for an introductory text to Western Philosophy as a whole. The time it does spend on modern philosophy is often simplistic and problematically selective; Russell is outright dismissive of philosophers of which he has no personal interest. And most damningly in my view, the book shows a complete poverty of understanding of Kantian metaphysics, and of idealism and transcendental idealism in general.

If I could recommend one "general" book on philosophy, I'd instead recommend Confessions of a Philosopher by Bryan Magee. It's not really a proper autobiography, but rather a story about the history of philosophy as told through the eyes of a modern philosopher. This leaves some things out, of course, but I find that the virtues of this personal approach to philosophy (the only way to approach philosophy, I think) outweigh the obvious disadvantages.

Magee has written another book of a more conventional style titled The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy. I haven't read it myself, although from my experience with Magee's other works I am very confident it'd be much more fruitful and insightful to you than Russell's History.
 
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