Always entertaining, but really a sour bull-shit artist. A dog-lover though. ( )

Brief but fascinating collection of essays (derived mainly from Parerga and Paralipomena, an appendix to Arthur Schopenhauer's masterwork The World as Will and Idea) that will be an invaluable resource to those who crave a sort of Schopenhauerian Desk Reference. The essence of his philosophy is powerfully conveyed in these pieces...and yes, this includes instances in which he was uncharacteristically short-sighted or even dead wrong. (In "Government", for example, he proclaims that "the danger of a free press outweighs its utility, particularly where the law offers a way of redressing wrongs," apparently finding it inconceivable that the rule of law could ever be manipulated, or simply dispensed with, in the interest of the wealthy and powerful.) By and large, however, Schopenhauer's keen observations of human existence remain as relevant today as when they were first published. He exhorts us (in "Ethical Reflections") to see misery "only as a fact of knowledge, that is to say, indirectly. We are mainly engaged in looking at the suffering of others, and our attention is withdrawn from our own. It is in their person that we become aware of human misery; we are filled with sympathy; and the result of this mood is general benevolence, philanthropy." Sadly, the vast bulk of humanity seems no closer to appreciating this wisdom than it has ever been. ( )