This book covered so many awesome and frightening concepts that organizing and filtering them properly was difficult when reading, and the choice in what to believe in was masked because of the impulse to synthesize all the relevant knowledge. Fortunately, the logic and reason sections provided a framework for harsh topics such as death and societal collapse. The ugliness of the sciences of collective opinions were compensated with the greatness of meanings such as truth and beauty. All in all, this book has made the world a move interesting, if not challenging place, and certainly turned loads of literature into more fuller and complex stories.
I read this for work. I told my husband, "The last chapter is on nihilism." He said, "OH WHO CARES?!" :-D Anyhow, this is a thoughtful overview of the greatest hits of Western philosophy, and there is also some philosophy from other regions plus some feminist philosophy.
Good for what it was written for -- introducing people to philosophy. The text does a good job of explaining both sides to each idea; albeit, I found some of the ideas absurd and sometimes downright laughable.