Sarah Bakewell
British writer, author of How to Live: A Life of Montaigne, At the Existentialist Cafe and Humanly Possible.
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
Then, once you've read an overview and feel equipped and ready for it, it's really worth plunging into either Being and Time itself, Heidegger's greatest and richest work, or to a compilation.
on fivebooks.com · 2 Jun 2013
Existentialism: A Reconstruction by David Cooper
This is a fabulous, clear introduction to existentialist thought. It's also very philosophically rigorous.
on fivebooks.com · 2 Jun 2013
Heidegger: An Introduction by Richard Polt
Richard's Polt's Heidegger: An Introduction is one of the best I've come across. It's a fantastically clear and concise exploration of Heidegger's philosophy, concentrating on his first great work, Being and Time, though he also covers the later writings of Heidegger.
on fivebooks.com · 2 Jun 2013
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
I chose this book because it's an incredibly powerful and moving example of what existentialist thought can actually be for in real life, what good it can do, how it can help people.
on fivebooks.com · 2 Jun 2013
Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
I chose Nausea for several reasons. One is that it's the first existentialist book that I ever read. It's what first made me curious to learn more, and that's exactly what the book does. It's readable, it's powerful, it's sometimes a bit ridiculous, but it's intense.
on fivebooks.com · 2 Jun 2013
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Another writer often mentioned is Dostoyevsky: a great way of getting into the real miserabilist side of existentialism is to read his Notes from the Underground. It absolutely captures the anguish of being an isolated individual and a misfit, wondering about your place in the world and being contrary, fighting against the normal human life that you're supposed to fit into.
on fivebooks.com · 2 Jun 2013
The Existentialist Reader by Paul S MacDonald
So this is just a fantastic compilation of existentialist arrows that you might want to follow into different thinkers.
on fivebooks.com · 2 Jun 2013
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