In fairness, philosophy drives me up the wall. Why I keep trying it I don't know, but political philosophy holds more interest for me than most.

Unfortunately this book is a good example of what appears - to me at least - to be a typical philosophy text. That is: it's far more interested in talking about philosophy than in communicating it. There are passages in here - more as the book goes on - which are actually readable, but these are in the minority.

If only philosophy writing could undergo the transformation that science writing is undergoing. Accessibility is not a crime, and one does not have to dumb down in order to open up.