Popkin's does a great job of covering the basic premises of philosophy. This book gives the essentials of the subject without much bias, and is in fact, very straight to the point.
I picked this book up with the hopes that it would jumpstart me on my attempt to study philosophy. I never took philosophy as a formal subject in school, because it was not conducive to my future endeavors. I have a latent regret of this fact, but it was much assuaged when I realized that this book could summarize the basic knowledge I wanted to know.
Why should you study philosophy? Or rather, why should you read this book? Because philosophy is perhaps one of the most important subjects in life. It is a subject with which we actively engage in daily; whether by our inane opinions of life, or simply disputing the nature of reality with out friends. Undoubtedly, most of us have voiced our own opinionated thoughts on this subject subject without even knowing it. Philosophy, like the study of history, should help you become a better citizen. By learning and accepting/rejecting different views of philosophers, it leads to a deeper introspection of one's self.
This book just does that: it feeds the reader information on the basic ideologies of famous philosophers from Descartes, to Plato, to Aristotle. There are numerous examples and critiques upon their views. Subjects from justice to morality, to...well, just about everything, are covered in this book with the opinions of numerous philosophers to shine light on seemingly obvious topics.
A sneak preview of the major topics covered in the book are...
Ethics
Political Philosophy
Metaphysics
Philosophy of Religion
The Theory of Knowledge
Logic
Contemporary Philosophy
The only reason I would give this book only a three-star, is because the writing can be a bit dry sometimes. Also, I disliked the column-layout of the book and the unnecessary bolded and unbolded words. It just, well, was not pleasing to the eye. Don't get me wrong, the writing definitely trumps the mechanical writing style of most textbooks, and can serve as a supplement to those you are using in class. Take into consideration, if you do decide to read this, that this is not a typical light reading that you can use ontop of your textbooks on the subject. This book could very well replace a philosophy textbook, so if you don't have much time, pickup another, more condensed general overview of philosophy.