Popularizing Western Philosophy

The first attempt in this direction was made by Will Durant in his "The Story of Philosophy", (1926) which still remains a landmark publication. He provided short biographies & succinct summaries of the major western philosophers without dumbing down their ideas. It was deservedly a best-seller. It contains the famous quote: "We are, what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."

Next was the literary tour de force called "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder. First published in Norwegian (1991), it was translated & became a best-seller due to its detective novel format. It's eponymous heroine, a 14 year old schoolgirl, (like her famous sister Alice disappearing through a rabbit-hole into Wonderland), vanishes into the Wonderland of Philosophy, on getting an anonymous letter asking "Who are You?" On the way, the reader meets her mother, who reminds one of Dickens' Mrs. Nickleby. Sophie's friend Joanna, has a mother who dresses like an overgrown Barbie doll!

The third is the elegantly produced DK Publication of "The Philosophy Book", beautifully illustrated, with pithy quotations, contexts embedded in panels, & flowcharts encouraging logical thinking, guide the reader to delve deep into its pages in search of wisdom, because as Socrates said "The life which is unexamined, is not worth living."

Seldom has the supposedly dry subject of Philosophy been made so reader-friendly.