Reading list
Philosophy books for beginners, in the order to read them
Most people who try philosophy start with the wrong book, usually something long and German, and decide it is not for them. The way in is through the books that were written to be read: dialogues, essays, letters and one novel.
12 books, all free to read
These are in the order the questions were asked, and each one stands on its own. None needs a teacher, though a pencil helps.
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1. Dialogues start with the Apology and Crito
by Plato
Socrates on trial for asking too many questions, then refusing to escape. Philosophy begins as a conversation, and it is easy to follow.
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2. Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
Not a system but a man reminding himself how to behave. The friendliest door into ancient thought.
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3. Nicomachean Ethics
by Aristotle
What a good life is, and why it is a matter of habit. Lecture notes, so read a book at a time.
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4. The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
How power actually works, written by a man out of a job. Short and still shocking.
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5. Essays
by Michel de Montaigne
The man who invented the essay, thinking about anything and himself. Dip in anywhere.
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6. Candide
by Voltaire
A comic novel that destroys the idea that everything is for the best. Philosophy you can laugh at.
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7. Pensées
by Blaise Pascal
Notes toward a defence of faith, including the famous wager. Fragments, so perfect for short sittings.
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8. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
by David Hume
Hume asks how we know anything about cause and effect, and the answer is unsettling. Clearer than its reputation.
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9. On Liberty
by John Stuart Mill
The case for letting people live as they choose, as long as they harm no one else. Still the argument behind free speech.
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10. Beyond Good and Evil
by Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche tears into every philosopher before him. Aphorisms, so it reads in bursts.
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11. The Problems of Philosophy
by Bertrand Russell
Russell's short tour of what philosophy can and cannot answer. The best map of the subject in a hundred pages.
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12. Tao Te Ching
by Laozi
Eighty-one short chapters on the way of things. The other tradition, said to be translated more often than any book but the Bible.
Read it as a path: Philosophy 101
The big questions in the order they were asked, each book readable on its own.
More lists
Read them free
Every book on this list is free in Doomreader: open one and it reads as short posts you scroll, with your place kept and its best pages a tap away. You can listen to any of them free too, read aloud by your device.