My first reaction upon starting my read of this book was "if only Hegel wrote as clearly as Stephen Houlgate writing about Hegel!" Of course, I don't (yet) know enough about Hegel to know whether or not I can justifiably accuse him of willful obscurantism ... but I've certainly read enough Hegel to know that Hegel is difficult to read.

Houlgate writes with precision and a crystalline style. Will update this when I've finished the book.

UPDATE: an excellent book. I'd recommend it for anyone wishing to get started with Hegel, but who feels daunted by the size and density of the primary texts. For this second edition Houlgate added material on the *Phenomenology of Spirit*, which Hegel-approach-ers will doubtless welcome. He devotes three whole chapters to Hegel's philosophy of nature, which he feels has been unjustly neglected ... I'm not certain he didn't overdo it a bit, here, since some of the arguments that what Hegel does philosophically squares okay with actual physics (not only of Hegel's time but of our own) savor a bit of special pleading ... perhaps (I'd need a second reading to decide. Houlgate concludes with a fine "Bibliographical Essay" which will provide lots of fodder for future reading, and in which a bit of impish good humor emerges.

I found the book focused, well-argued and helpful. One could wish H allowed his sense of humor to peek out a bit more throughout, but overall a super job. ( )