Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction by A.C. Grayling is a book introducing the reader to Wittgenstein’s philosophy, from his earlier work to his work published posthumously.

Since it is a very short book, it doesn’t go in depth over the concepts and ideas raised by Wittgenstein, instead opting to introduce them in a manner that the uninitiated can follow. And this is very much a book for the amateur who wants just a taste of philosophy. For more experienced readers, (I assume) this will not suffice, unless they just want a quick rundown of Wittgenstein’s work.

As an amateur myself, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I like to think that I learned a thing or two, but going in blind means some of the concepts were too far away from me and I couldn’t follow along without spending some considerable effort on my own time researching and reading other material. As a result, reading this book took me longer that expected to finish.

My highlight from the book were the sections where the author brought up questions and comments on the philosopher’s work. This “dialogue” between the author and Wittgenstein was most englightening and helped me solidify my understanding on some of the concepts.

All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in getting into philosophy. It is a light read, despite the need for external clarification at some parts, and it was a joy reading it.