Kierkegaard For Beginners

Few initially realize that the aesthetic slug which Kierkegaard often decried was he himself. Kierkegaard stuggled with determining, or rather willing, who he would be as a man in books like Either/Or. All of this is what makes him so relevant for postmoderns, existentialism students and even for card-carrying religionists.The format of the For Beginners series is very inviting and helps make the subject matter less daunting and far from boring, which is the point, and a good reason to use this series' versions whenever getting to know a thinker for the first time. You will get a broad overview of the person's career without getting bogged down too quickly in any one particular life phase. Once you see what it is you appreciate in the career timeline, you can more easily zero in on that selection of books and go from there.Kierkegaard For Beginners covers the Either/Or argument, the felial Abraham sacrifice delimma and explores Soren's own Christian commitment in a way that will charm and attract even nonchristians as it did me. His inspired figure of the "Knight of Faith" is a fascinating hook and resolves his existentialist concerns heroically.At the bottom of his writing is the need to account for and deal productively with the bitter anxiety bedrock of the human psyche, and how to resolve that energy and bring it into a sort of freeing self-affirmation by resolving one's will on the issues on which it brings anxiety to bear (thus the "Either/Or" theme elsewhere in title by same name). The comical critique of this is "which breakfast cereal ought I to eat today?!" but the practical application is more in line with "should I renounce playing bridge with the back-stabbing cretins at the moose lodge and take up philosophy/working with kids/see Tibet.") The concern is on changing those things that make one anxious so that they no longer cause anxiety. This said, there is a positive spin on anxiety as the doorbell that "God" rings when he is ready to visit. The feeling of dread, thus, is the threshold over which one comes into contact again with the Divine or whatever makes your life unquestionably, profoundly worthwhile.This book, as typically the series does, makes the full nature of the life and work roughly, excitingly intelligible in the space of about an hour. No small feat. Definite MUST for Kierkegaard beginners.

Very informative for someone who doesn't know Kierkegaard very much and wishes to tread the waters with something easier. Arrived on time as well. 5/5.

Amusing, thoughtful summary of Kierkegaard's major tenets. I love images and the cartoons are just the thing to help the author get Kierkegaard's point across. Neither the text nor the cartoons are trite but are right to the point.

great

I did my college thesis 40 years ago on his philosophy and this was a superb summary with a little humor thrown in to keep your interest as to an intense man with intense thoughts

Material was interesting but if I wanted a graphic novel I would have gone to the comic book store... Presentation was absurd, this is definitely not an adult reading experience or if it is our educational system has failed the multitudes. I would not recommend it.

The "For Beginners" series provides much towards understanding basic concepts of major thinkers. I own a few these books. However, I think that interpretations of Kierkegaard in this series (both in "Kierkegaard For Beginners" and "Existentialism For Beginners") do not due justice to the Christian convictions which informed Kierkegaard's life and works.The creative illustrations and clear address of major concepts are positives of this book, yet it interprets Kierkegaard through the lens of 20th century existentialists (e.g. Sartre), offering little to elucidate the Christian nature of Kierkegaard's writings.

I purchased the Kindle edition of this book and found two typos in the first few pages, so I got a refund. Here they are (the first date is correct and is included for reference).Location 25 of 1422Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)Location 42Soren Kierkegaard was born in Copenhagen on May 5, 1513.Location 75Therefore Soren was totally amazed when at two A.M. on August 9, 1333, his father died at eighty-two years of age.I therefore felt I could not trust the data in this book.