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What Does It All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy
Thomas Nagel · 1987 · Short (under 150 pages)
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What it is
A brief introduction aimed at readers with no background, which avoids history and names and goes straight to the problems. After a short introduction, nine chapters each take one question: how we know anything beyond our own minds, how we know other minds exist, the mind-body problem, how words can mean anything, free will, the basis of right and wrong, justice, death, and the meaning of life. Each chapter presents the problem in plain language, sketches the main positions and their difficulties, and sometimes indicates Nagel's own leanings without insisting on them. The book's aim is to show how philosophical questions arise naturally from ordinary thinking and why they are hard to answer.
Why read it
It shows newcomers that philosophy is a set of live problems they can think about themselves, not a body of doctrine to memorise.
Where to start
Read it in order; the chapters are short and each can be finished in a single sitting.