Philosophy: General

Adler’s Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon.
By Mortimer J. Adler.
New York: Scribner, 1995.

Difficulty: 1 (very easy)

Contents; review

Confusions and Clarifications : An Introduction to Philosophy for the Twenty-First Century.
By Centore, Floyd F.
Lanham, MD: Univ. of America, 1997.

Difficulty: 2 (popular)

• written with a thomistic perspective, this books excels in making serious philosophy very accessible and exciting by interacting with modern culture (ethics, politics, films, TV, natural science, etc.) and contemporaries philosophers and philosophies, as well as older ones.
• an impressive communication achievement (relating  abstract and difficult issues to the (post)modern minds)
• the best introduction to philosophy?
• also very usefull for apologetics

Contents; review

Looking at philosophy: the Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy made Lighter.
By Donald Palmer.
2nd ed.
Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1994.

Difficulty: 2 (popular)

• A historal introduction to philosophy with many funny illustration

Contents; review

Archetypes of Thought.
By Thomas Molnar.
2nd ed. New Brunswick, NJ : Transaction, 1996.

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Difficulty: 3

• a critical analysis of seven themes of thought throughout the centuries

Contents; review

Modern Thomistic Philosophy: an Explanation for Students.
By Richard P. Phillips.
2 vols.
London: Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1934.

Difficulty: 3 (academic)

• These two volumes provide the best basis for apologetics
• somewhat old, yet still excellent
• do no cover ethics nor aesthetics

Contents; review

The Decline of the Intellectual.
By Thomas Molnar.
New Brunswick, NJ : Transaction, 1994.

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Difficulty: 3

• The emergence of the intellectual
• the different kinds of intellectuals, philosophies and ideologies
• and the failure of today's intellectuals

Contents; review

Introduction to philosophy : A Christian Perspective.
By Norman Geisler & Paul Feinberg.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980.

Difficulty: 4 (difficult)

• Introductory exposition and analysis of all the alternatives for the major philosophical issues
• So fundamental that every serious person should study it.

Contents; review by Bruno Gedressac

Come, let us reason: An Introduction to Logical Thinking. .
By Norman L. Geisler & Ronald M. Brooks.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990.

Difficulty: 3 (academic)

• fundamental and accessible book for learning to think logically
• deals clearly with formal & informal logic, fallacies...
• contains exercises

Contents; review by Bruno Gedressac

Summa of the Summa : The Essential Philosophical Passages of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica Edited and Explained for Beginners.
By Peter Kreeft.
San Francisco: Ignatius, 1990.

Difficulty: 3 (academic)

• translation (into modern English), copious notes and diagrams..: The best book for first time readers of the Summa.

Contents; review

Thomism and Modern Thought..
By Harry R. Klocker.
New York: Apple-Century-Crofts, 1962.

Difficulty: 4 (difficult)

• exposes (also with selected readings) the views of the modern thinkers from Kant to Sartre, and refute their mistakes
• contains also a short part about recent thomists (Maritain, Gilson, Sertillanges)

Contents; review

Christian Philosophy : Greek, Medieval, Contemporary Reflections.
By Leo Sweeney.
New York: Peter Lang, 1997.

Difficulty: 5 (research)

• studies how Christian philosophy has been through the centuries and how it should be: the most detailled and up-todate study (and the best one?)
• ends by showing how Christian philosophy is the answer to (neo)Kantian idealism,   postmodernism, etc.

Contents; review

Greek Philosophy and the Christian Notion of God.
By Gerard Watson.
Columba, 1993.

Difficulty: 3

Contents; review

Bringing into Captivity Every Thought : Capita Selecta in the History of Christian Evaluations of Non-Christian Philosophy.
Edited by Jacob Klapwijk.
Univ. of America, 1990.

Difficulty: ?

• Dutch Reformed view on the integration of non-Christian contributions into Biblical philosophy
• Caution: unfortunately fundamentalist (sees one's  interpretation of the Bible as always having priority over the results of the other sciences)

Contents; review