Comments by "David Bockoven" (@davidbockoven161) on "7 Philosophy Books for Beginners" video.

  1. I accidentally read Plato's Republic when I was 11. It was during a summer holiday, and an older sibling had been given a list of books she "ought" to read by a librarian. She had dutifully checked the books out but then never actually read them. I picked up Plato on a lark, and at first I thought it was a weird form of science fiction or something--just a group of guys sitting around trying to define justice. For some reason it really hooked me. But I sort of joke that Plato ruined my life because I assumed that high school and college would offer the same level of intellectual stimulation, inquiry, and engagement. (They did not.) This expectation set me up for bitter disappointments down the road.
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  2. Reading primary texts is probably a good idea (I vividly remember reading Plato, Augustine, and Descartes as a younger person). There's something to be said for a good introductory survey, too, to know what direction to go in. For just the continental tradition, I thought two introductions to the field were pretty good: David West's An Introduction to Continental Philosophy and Time and Philosophy: A History of Continental Philosophy by John McCumber.
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