Customer Reviews

Kierkegaard For Beginners

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Palmer does a better job than is imaginable with his medium. Contrary to Anonymous Boston reader's comments, this is not a comic book - although it does have illustrations. But those illustrations add everything to the book. They are Palmer's mode of expressing wit and lightening and personalizing what is basically a philosophical book. I understand that Palmer takes this approach in many of his works; I plan to find more of them. I bought other books in the "For Beginners series" thinking they would all be this good, but Palmer's are the best book of this sort I have in my collection. This book helped stimulate me into an abiding interest in Kierkegaard's thoughts and life. As I've read more (of course, SK's writings, Lowrie's biography, and compilations like the "parables") I've found myself returning to Palmer over and over again. This book gives a compelling rendition of Kierkegaard and remains one of my favorite introductory philosophy books. A treasure - and a travesty that it is out of print. Publishers! You do us a grand disservice!

This book was my introduction to this series, and overall it has whetted my appetite for more. I was skeptical about the "comic book" format (the publisher refers to this series as comic books, although I agree with another reviewer that the format is really text with illustrations), but my curiosity about how Kierkegaard's dense philosophy could be meanfully summarized so briefly got the better of me. I think the book is largely successful.

Kierkegaard is difficult to understand, partly because his thought system is complex, but also because he often chose to write in what Palmer calls a "parable" format, for example espousing his views on the "aesthetic" stage by writing pseudonymous pieces in the aesthetic voice. Palmer clearly explains this device while simultaneously explaining the major tenets illuminated by the device, no mean feat of summarizing in so brief a space. He pretty well does the same with most of Kierkegaard's major ideas, which is exactly what you would hope for from a book like this.

My quarrel with the book is with the illustrations and some insufficient treatment of some key ideas. The illustrations are many, they are not funny or helpful, they are distracting, patronizing and annoying. And they take up space that would have been better spent explaining more fully some points that are not made sufficiently clear. I would include most notably in the latter category a more lucid explanation of Kierkegaard's views of the subjective and objective realms and just exactly why (instead of merely that) Kierkegaard maintains that life is only fully lived when its tenuousness, or emptiness, is realized. This idea is an important link with eastern philosophies and was first introduced into Western thought by Kierkegaard. It would have been helpful to have gone a bit deeper into this core idea, and room could perhaps have been made by eliminating a fatuous "illustration" or two. I would not have been as cranky about the illustrations if they had been of the same quality as the text or as amusing as those in the "For Dummies" series.

Those criticisms said, the book does manage to deftly explain, in very accessible summary fashion, the principal ideas of this rather inaccessible but important thinker. Even the ideas that are not as thoroughly treated as one would have liked (even in so concise a summary) are at least mentioned, and the reader is referred to the work, and even page number, where Kierkegaard sets them forth.

My interest in this series is to read summaries of the work of thinkers I am curious about but whose principal works I may never quite get to. I decided to test the series by starting with this book, because I actually have read most of Kierkegaard. I'm more impressed than I thought I would be, and I will try some more in the series.

I always found Kierkegaards work archaic in language and dense in thought. However, this book helped me work through that in laying the underpinning's of Kierkegaards philosophy in a soft tangible style that is easy for anyone to grasp and enjoy. Perhaps this book will not propel everyone to investigate further into his works, however it will leave the reader satisfied that one has some base knowledge at hand. Donald Palmer gives a nice presentation of Kierkegaard's work and life from birth to death, which adds to the understanding of Kierkegaards philosophy. Definately reccomended to the beginning student of existentialism and Kierkegaard.

One day I was inspired to read Either/Or by this great philosopher. Suddenly painful memories rose to the surface as I remembered the struggle with this author's thoughts in my undergraduate and graduate classes in philosophy. Kierkegaard is not fun reading on any level. So what do you do when you want to revisit or re-read a major philosophical work but don't want to go through the pain?

"Kierkegaard For Beginners" was my answer. Using a cartoon format laced with humor this book takes the most complex philosopher and makes his life and works accessible to the general reader. One must remember that this is not an introductory text book on Kierkegaard's philosophy nor does it go into a deep analysis of his work. It covers the broad spectrum of his works without "dummying down" the thinker's ideas. Of course this isn't a substitute for reading the original works but it certainly puts you in touch with the major ideas of Kierkegaard that will motivate you to learn more about him. I highly recommend this book for high school students ( Do they take philosophy in high school any more?) and those in undergraduate classes of philosophy on the introductory level. It is a great supplementary work in making a great man's ideas accessible to students. And besides, it is fun and makes Kierkegaard a pleasure to study.

Author/illustrator Palmer brings out Kierkegaard's brilliance in a way accessible to all, simply conveying the complexity of Kierkegaard the person and Kierkegaard the writings while providing a continuous laugh fitting for SK's own serio-comic ironic style. Kierkegaard's the epitome of epigrammatic writing and living, a zealous genius misrepresented by both secularist existentialists as well as respected Christian theologians/teachers who wrongly accuse SK of throwing out objective Christian truth, when really SK's subjectivity IS the evangelical truth of personal relationship with God, not mere external religious tradition. As for the comics in this book, they (as is SK) are HILarious, though probably more so because of the Bible allusions. This book contains a glossary and bibliography, and after this SK intro I'd recommend 'The Essential Kierkegaard' by the editors Hong, then skipping 'Concept of Irony' and starting with 'Either/Or' reading thru the rest of SK's books, which from the outset were written on 2 parallel tracks, one being pseudonymous works (from which it is unfair to attribute quotes to SK) and the other being signed works. P.S.--it's ironic that SK is now associated with the existentialist all-about-self-and-living-in-the-moment philosophies when SK lived so dead to self (his name even means 'graveyard') and with vision, methodically poured himself out in a planned series of books so that his readers entrapped in dead state church religiosity might become aware that they're dead and need to get a life (a self).

This was the first book I read on philosophy. I was advised one day from a friend to read some western philosophy books, and she suggested the beginners series. I read this in one night (and even though it's a comic-formatted book, it was still kinda difficult to grasp at first). It was as though I became enlightened and wanted to know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I am now a philosophy major in college. I've read many philosophy books since then and recommend this serious to anyone somewhat interested in philosophy.

Amusing, thoughtful summary of Kierkegaard's major tenets. I love images and the cartoons are just the thing to help the author get Kierkegaard's point across. Neither the text nor the cartoons are trite but are right to the point.

Written with humor and very concisely. I love the pictures (comics) Donald Palmer did a great job of introducing Kierkegaard and his philosophy to the masses.

Few initially realize that the aesthetic slug which Kierkegaard often decried was he himself. Kierkegaard stuggled with determining, or rather willing, who he would be as a man in books like Either/Or. All of this is what makes him so relevant for postmoderns, existentialism students and even for card-carrying religionists.

The format of the For Beginners series is very inviting and helps make the subject matter less daunting and far from boring, which is the point, and a good reason to use this series' versions whenever getting to know a thinker for the first time. You will get a broad overview of the person's career without getting bogged down too quickly in any one particular life phase. Once you see what it is you appreciate in the career timeline, you can more easily zero in on that selection of books and go from there.

Kierkegaard For Beginners covers the Either/Or argument, the felial Abraham sacrifice delimma and explores Soren's own Christian commitment in a way that will charm and attract even nonchristians as it did me. His inspired figure of the "Knight of Faith" is a fascinating hook and resolves his existentialist concerns heroically.

At the bottom of his writing is the need to account for and deal productively with the bitter anxiety bedrock of the human psyche, and how to resolve that energy and bring it into a sort of freeing self-affirmation by resolving one's will on the issues on which it brings anxiety to bear (thus the "Either/Or" theme elsewhere in title by same name). The comical critique of this is "which breakfast cereal ought I to eat today?!" but the practical application is more in line with "should I renounce playing bridge with the back-stabbing cretins at the moose lodge and take up philosophy/working with kids/see Tibet.") The concern is on changing those things that make one anxious so that they no longer cause anxiety. This said, there is a positive spin on anxiety as the doorbell that "God" rings when he is ready to visit. The feeling of dread, thus, is the threshold over which one comes into contact again with the Divine or whatever makes your life unquestionably, profoundly worthwhile.

This book, as typically the series does, makes the full nature of the life and work roughly, excitingly intelligible in the space of about an hour. No small feat. Definite MUST for Kierkegaard beginners.

This is a great book - of course it only is the tip of the iceberg it is only an introductory work that makes it easier to start reading the real works of Kierkegaard. This topic can be very confusing to a novice and I think this book series does a great job of introducing people to topics that they would normally be put off by because of all the fancy jargain. they mispelled some Danish words??? Big deal! NOBODY can spell Danish words, they are really confusing!! this is a good book, period.