I'm only part-way into this book, but already I know that it's very good indeed. It occupies an interesting place in new (or newish) philosophy books, in that it is approachable for the layman, but it does demand further study: it is written with the assumption that the reader will go off and explore the problems on his or her own, by reading the philosophical works being discussed.

I'm using it to put together a programme of study, and it seems perfect for that. For readers who are merely curious about what philosophy is, there are better books. For one thing, this one assumes a knowledge of ancient philosophy, mainly Plato.

However, it's more than a dry textbook. Scruton really does make the arguments come alive, and he is frequently witty and enjoyably rhetorical.

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