Book reader community.
A good intro book to western philosophy is Will Durant - the story of philosophy. Very easy to read, and some chapters are insightful and very entertaining.
It's an attempt to humanize philosophy it by focusing each chapter on one important philosopher, their life, and the historical context their ideas sprang from.
Mikhail Bakunin: the philosophical basis of his anarchism - Paul McLaughlin
The Aristos by John Fowles.
Think and Being Good by Simon Blackburn
Think covers common topics an intro to philosophy class would cover.
Being Good is the same, but for an intro ethics class.
It's written in an accessible way, not like a textbook. Both books are very short and digestible.
Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel C. Dennett is a decent introduction.
Have you read The Philosopher's Toolkit by Julian Baggini? Your book rec made me think of it 😅
I have not, I'll check it out, thanks
let me know what you think of it, it was something academic philosophers I know were using; it reminds me more of a reference book, though (it's not really an intro book or anything)
Much heavier than what you are asking but worthwhile nevertheless:
A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny
The title says it all, it passes through most of the important philosophers of the western tradition. It is perfect to understand what (academic) philosophy is all about. Took me four months to finish but it was definitely worth it.
A Theory of Justice by John Rawles
I like the Very Short Introduction series - they're short non-fiction books aimed more-or-less at educated adults who aren't so familiar with a topic. And I found their Philosphy book to be worth a read.
It spends some time introducing some common philosophical questions before covering a few classic texts.
Conversations at the Edge of Apocalypse by David Jay Brown was interesting, but haven't read it in quite a while.
South Park and Philosophy by Robert Arp was interesting if I'm remembering correctly (another book that i haven't read in over a decade,) but it's accessable.
A history of humanity with some thinking points in Yuval Noah Harari's Deus series
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is kind of a classic:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance