Jean-Paul Sartre in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern

Probably the easiest introduction to existentialism you'll ever find, Sartre in 90 Minutes

manages to produce an intellectually credible--and slyly humorous--summary of Jean Paul Sartre's

life and work in just over 70 pages. Paul Strathern ably shifts from descriptions of the open

relationship between Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir to analyses of the contributions of Heidegger

and Kierkegaard to Sartre's belief that life is what you make it. The jokes tend to be cynical

and snarky in tone; after the publication of Being and Nothingness, for example, "word soon began

to spread from the few who actually read the book to those who wished to talk about it as if they

had." The philosophical exegesis, however, is spot on, the equivalent of a very good college

lecture by an instructor who genuinely wants to make sure students understand the material. If

you're at all interested in Sartre and existentialism, pick this book up for a quick, painless

introduction.