Having a great interest in philosophy,I so looked forward to what promised to be(based on the title)a wonderful experience reading this and 3 other books I purchased with similar titles by Mr. Strathern. Sadly,the experience was a terrible disappointment. One learns more about MR.Strathern's personal philosophical preferences and predjudices then about the men in question. Most good writers and teachers of philosophy I have been exposed to do their best to disengage their personal feelings and try to express the philosopher's ideas. Unfortunately,Mr. Strathern can't bring himself to bo that. These books are not worthy of anyone serious in their quest to learn about these great thinkers. I would recommend Stumpf's "Socrates to sartre" for anyone wanting to know more about these great men in a shorthand format.

I bought this book expecting a practical guide to using Socratic Method in the Composition classroom, but found a book more rooted in rhetorical philosophy than writing instruction. The thesis of the book is that "Transactional Rhetoric" and Socratic Method are more congruent than other rhetorical stances, a thesis which the author spends the entire book (all 100 pages of it)trying to prove. The book reads like a master's thesis. The only hint at application covers how the theory could be applied in theory.