Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason Paperback – 1 January 2007

Setting aside the question of translation for a moment, Critique of Pure Reason is THE most important and most profound philosophical work I have ever studied, and arguably one of the most important philosophical treatise ever written by anyone. It is simply astounding that a single mind, brilliant as it was, could come up with these ideas given their far-reaching, profound and essential implications. And I am not a student of philosophy mind you, but a chemist. I think this must be required reading for every scientist and any student of humanity. This original and revealing book is so important to that it sets apart the brilliant Kant from apart from all other philosophers, by far.As for this translation by Norman Kemp Smith, I must say that it is excellent, and at least to me, it is more clear in parts and more accessible than the original German work. It is difficult to translate Kant due to his rather technical style and the terms he used unconventionally, and Norman Kemp Smith does an admirable job. There are a couple of other, older translations which I have read and compared to the present translation. They are good, but not as good as Kemp Smith's.One last word: if you are going to study Kant, and specially this work, and you decide for some reason not to go with Norman Kemp Smith's translation, do yourself a favor a pick a translator who understands this work and is sympathetic to it. Don't pick a translation by someone, say Guyer, who neither thoroughly understands this work (or at best has critical misconceptions about it), nor is sympathetic to Kant's positions and ideas set forth in Critique of Pure Reason. Be certain that you are reading an honest translation which you can trust.As for reading this masterpiece on Kindle, well, you can't beat the price, however, I would recommend the Kindle edition mainly to those who have already read the book in paper (because it can be annotated) but like to have a portable copy for further reading and referencing. For instance, I purchased this particular edition on my phone after having initially read it on paper.There are a couple of very good "study guides" in English which I used when I studied the Critique. I purchased them from Amazon and will amend this review to give to the names and the links. They will help ... and I hope these comments have helped as well.

The logic of a house fire is a love kind of logic. A stickpin means a world if it’s stuck in the skin of the one you love. That burning flutter of ash was once a folder of sentimental poems written with bird intentions, rising, while a condensated drop of wallpaper glue rolls down the poreless wall.Flames don’t lick as much as they love. They take what they want and revise it to suit them. A dresser drawer protects its smoldering ball of cotton like a wick in wax. A floor lamp finds new utility as a consumptive illuminator. The refrigerator melts into a monolith, backlit by snapping electrical showers of light before the power cuts in deference for power.The house itself shifts in the way it is perceived. Panels curl back to reveal stronger stuff. The mirror shows a new face.At these times, you learn it’s harder to leave your burning home if you spent too much time cleaning its floors. Watching those baseboards blacken should be enough to make any good woman lay back in bed and let it happen.I felt really anxious when I first sat down and really fought to understand it on a sense-meaning level. I don’t think I’d faced such a literary challenge since I finally caved at some point and just let it turn into a sensory experience. Each of Amelia's sentences are like fortunes out of fortune cookies. What they will read?I was the dog photo for the second ceremony in which the women became cream. I had to hurry up and piddle so there’d be music. The floor rising toward its double: the house above our house above our house. My skin shirt had me on it, wearing another shirt with me on it wearing another shirt advertising assmeat, soaked clear through. Inside the shirt I was already holding the dog photo I would become when this began again, as it would have to. The dog inside the photo inside the shirt had become Adam. The furor of his cut glew in the divots around.

If you want to challenge you mind, this book will do it.

GREAT REFERENCE WORK. MANY MORE SUCH REFERENCE BOOKS SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE, AND UNIVERSITY POST GRADUATE STUDENTS.

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