Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates
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My husband ordered this Kindle book to read.  He enjoys learning and then discussing the different topics with our children (all in their 20's and 2 in college).
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Ecce Homo: His wit and wisdom shines through in his hyperbole, irony and deel learning on many topics. Nietzsche on Nietzsche? A work to be treaured.

GOM: His analysis of the origins of comteporary morality is striking. His counter intuitive and historically grounded insights leave one shaken, yet hopeful that a better, life-affirming morality may still be posssible. His explanation of the phenomenon of "ressentiment" and the "Slave Revolt"  in Christianity is perhaps more relevant than ever. A dense, conplext, systematic work of philosophy that avoids that cardinal sin which so many commit: lack of a proper historical sense.
In both boooks, the prose is second-to-none.
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A compendium of 225,000 definitions advances itself as an uncommonly intimidating treatise but, lo, I garnered the tenacity to venture forth on an arduous quest of nigh incomprehensible magnitude. My pursuit of rhetorical erudition was both prolonged and tortuous. Indeed, I must yield that the whimsy of surrender infrequently manifested itself as an alluring courtesan of nectareous temptation. Nevertheless, my resolve was but consolidated when I observed a distention in the radius of my parlance. Indeed, I can affirm without recourse to fallacy that the juncture of my undertakings expeditiously culminated prior to the desistance of the tertiary synodic month.

This exhaustive scholastic glossary of the English idiom was most appeasing to my propensity for the conglomerative acquisition of wisdom (although Doreen has experienced sufficient discombublation as to articulate the apprehension that my manner of discourse is presently akin to that of a bovine sphincter).
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The Rebel, is one who opposes authority or restraint, one who breaks with established custom or tradition. Above all, he seeks an Internal Change, a change in the Attitudes, Emotions, and Outlook of the people to whom he is devoted. He often seems to be temperamentally unable to accept success, and the ease it brings. He kicks against the pricks, and when one frontier is conquered, he soon becomes ill-at-ease, pushing on to the new frontier. He is drawn to the unquiet minds and spirits, for he shares their everlasting inability to accept stultifying Control.

He may, as Socrates did, refer to himself as the Gadfly for the State, the one who keeps the state from settling down into a Complacency, which is the first step towards Decadence. No matter how much the Rebel gives the appearance of being egocentric, or of being on an ego trip, this is but an Illusion. Inwardly, the authentic Rebel is anything but brash.

True to the meaning of the Rebel, as one who renounces authority, he seeks primarily not the substitution of one political system for another. He may favor such a political change, however it is not his chief goal. He rebels for the sake of a Vision of Life and Society, which he is convinced, is critically important for himself and all others. The Rebel fights not only for the relief of his fellow Man, but also for his Personal Integrity. For him, these are but two sides of the same coin.

The function of the Rebel is to shake the fixated mores of the rigid order of Civilization, and it is this shaking, though painful, which he believes is necessary, if the society is to be saved from boredom and apathy.

Civilization begins with a rebellion .... it gets its first Flower from the Rebel.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus, one of the Titans, steals fire from the Gods on Mount Olympus and then brings it as a gift to Man, marking the birth of Human Civilization. For this rebellion, Zeus sentences him to be chained to Mount Caucasus, where vultures consume his liver during the day, only to have it grow back every night, so that it can be eaten away once again the following day. This is a tale representing the agony of the creative individual, whose nightly rest only resuscitates him so that he can endure his agonies the next day.

The authentic Rebel knows that the silencing of his adversaries, is the last thing he wishes. Their extermination would deprive him, and whomever else, from the uniqueness, the originality, and the capacity for insight, that these enemies, who being Human, also have, and could share with him. If we wish the death of our enemies, we cannot talk about the Community of Man. In our losing of a chance to dialogue with our enemy, we are the poorer.

Throughout history, there has been observed a regularity in which society martyrs the rebel in one generation, only to worship him in the next.

From Rollo May (Existential Psychologist 1909-1994)
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"Socrates in90 Minutes" -- another installment in Paul Strathern's  "philosophers in 90-minutes series" -- delivers precisely what it was designed to. Strathern leads us in a wide-ranging discussion of everything you might want to know about Socrates - his place of birth, the issues that were salient in his day, his education, his personal life with wife Xanthippe, and his death by hemlock. You will learn how we know about Socrates, his relationship with Plato and his influence on his day and future generations. You will accompany Strathern as he takes us to the places where Socrates taught and died. You will also find out what a strange fellow he was - bald, bowlegged, bulge-eyed and irritating as all get out. Strathern does a wonderful job of blending the sources to provide a real-life glimpse of the man who gave us the Socratic dialog and inspired countless generations with his unyielding puncturing of the pretensions of his day. Beyond a few aphorisms ("To thine own self be true," etc.) you might not hear as many of Socrates' words as you might like, but what you get in 90 minutes is the context for any future study of this fascinating man.
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In his scholarly yet readable 1909 book Myth, Magic, and Morals, A Study of Christian Origins, Oxford professor Frederick Conybeare celebrates the life of Jesus and demolishes the claims of Christianity.  About Jesus's  teachings, Conybeare writes, "...he desired to raise a hedge against the  most common forms of selfishness; against envy, spite, illiberality, and  time-serving timidity; against clinging to the lower forms of well-being at  the expense of the higher; against the suppression of truths which seem to  menace our comforts and vested interests.  For a sublime intransigence  breathes through these parables and precepts: a fierce scorn for the rich  and selfish, a tender love of the poor and suffering, a contempt for shams  and empty conventions, an uncompromising devotion to truth, a true  humility.  There is about them a ring of real manliness...."

The first  chapter of this book is titled PAUL. ("...Paul's Christ is an a priori  construction of his own, owing to the historical man of Nazareth and to  those who knew that man and cherished his memory little except the bare  name of Jesus.").  Chapters two through eight excavate and reconstruct  in fascinating detail the layered composition of the Synoptic Gospels, i.e.  Matthew, Mark and Luke.  ("They are party documents, so far as their  manifest aim is to show that Jesus was, what the majority of Jews denied  him to be, the Messiah; nevertheless they are, on the whole, transparently  sincere documents embodying nave traditions, mostly collected from the  mouths of the people of the districts about which he had wandered and  taught, of his wonder-workings, teaching, and death.").  Ten more  chapters examine Jesus's teaching, fill out the historical context for his  life, chronicle the early development of the Church, philosophize about  ultimate meanings, and exhort readers to maintain a rigorous intellectual  honesty. ("Those who cannot accept a creed literally do best to avoid  it altogether....")

Analyzing religious belief and practice, Conybeare  rarely lapses into dry rationalism and its attendant materialist  ideologies.  Slicing through the underbrush of myths and religious  hocus-pocus, Conybeare indeed skewers the Christians who may be hiding there.  But his intent here is less to punish error, and more to promote virtue by  revealing a human Jesus in sharp relief. Conybeare clears important ground.  Decades later, other inspired English scholars, particularly the marine  biologist Alister Hardy, would begin to build a modern theology on that  cleared ground.

Myth, Magic, and Morals went into a second edition in  1910 and a third in 1925, but found few champions among English  opinion-makers of the day.  In 1958, University Books in the United States  reissued the book under the title "The Origins of Christianity."  The 1975 paperback edition restores Conybeare's original title.  A comment  in Joel Carmichael's introduction to the 1958 edition continues to ring  true as we enter a new century: "There is a scholarly fashion,  doubtless rooted in the overriding commercialism of the age, of snubbing  last year's model in books; nevertheless, a really first-rate work of  scholarship can survive...."
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Albert Rijksbaron has provided an excellent edition of the Ion of Plato with a comprehensive introduction and an extensive commentary. Matters often ignored, such as the title of the work and its punctuation, are analyzed in detail. Also, the quotations from Homer utilized by Plato in the work are examined quite carefully, and sensibly as well. The text is clearly presented and the commentary is clear and exhaustive. References abound and invite further study. All in all it is an excellent edition. A. Bertero
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Readers of any of Plato's works are bound to feel they might profit from various commentaries.  His Timaeus, in particular, may be said to elicit such a hope because of number and intricacy of its details.  Cornford's running commentary is arguably the best suited to fulfill this desire: it helps make clear the integrity of the dialogue as a whole and illumines the specific points along the way.  Although this work is certainly dated, originally published in 1937, it is certainly one of the best full commentaries on the Timaeus.
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If you are at all interested in the history of philosophical or theological thought, then you will want to acquaint yourself with the writings of Marcus Aurelius.  In this work addressed to himself (he originally entitled it "To Myself" and it later came to be known as the "Meditations") he distills the essence of Stoicism, one of the most important and influential schools of classical philosophy.  The Staniforth translation combines elegance and clarity, and the introduction and notes are excellent, so the Penguin edition is probably the one to go for, although some reviewers here seem to favor the Hays translation, which looks to be more direct and colloquial.  Staniforth argues persuasively that Stoicism formed the rational basis for the fledgling Christian theology.  (Interestingly, there is one, rather disparaging, reference to Christians in the text, which I suppose illustrates how significant the movement had become, a century after the death of its founder.  Many scholars believe this to be an interpolation by a later author).  Indeed, the similarity of this work to the late medieval "The Imitation of Christ" is striking.  Part of the fascination of "Meditations" lies, of course, in the fact that Marcus was emperor of Rome, the greatest power on Earth at that time.  We thus get an insight into the mind of an important historical character.  This also means that much of what occupied him is hardly relevant to you or me.  How many of us are plagued with sycophantic courtiers, or need to remind ourselves that the adulation of the mob may be short-lived?  Yet it is clear that, despite all his power and privilege, Marcus was a troubled and pensive soul.  One might say that "Meditations" is Stoicism for monarchs, whereas "The Imitation" is Stoicism for monks.  If you enjoy one of those books, the chances are you will enjoy the other.
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Historieta entretenida, fcil de leer y entender. Ejemplo de como escribir para entretener, usando bien el idioma sin argumentos rebuscados
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If you believe that living is a relational practice, reading Chancellor Lazare's book "On Apology" is a must! In this easy to read book - filled with dissected example after example - the author allows us to appreciate how the `apology' works as a relational process - it is a negotiation that is completed when the needs of the parties are satisfied.

In general, the person or entity apologizing is driven to this relationship healing act in response to an internal need to relieve strong feelings, or by the need to relieve strong external pressures. And, the recipient of the apology will have one or more of the following needs:
* Restoration of self-respect and dignity
* Assurance that both parties have shared values
* Assurance that the offenses were not their fault
* Assurance of safety in their relationships
* Seeing the offender suffer
* Reparation for the harm caused by the offense
* Having meaningful dialogues with the offenders

The author suggests that the successful apology has four parts: 1) acknowledgement of the specific offense and the feelings of the other party; 2) communicating remorse and the related attitudes of forbearance; 3) explanation, and; 4) reparation.

He also suggests that apologies fail due one or more of the following: 1) offering a vague and incomplete acknowledgement; 2) using the passive voice; 3) making the offense conditional; 4) questioning whether the victim was damaged; 5) minimizing the offense; 6) using the empathic "I'm sorry"; 7) apologizing to the wrong party, and; 8) apologizing for the wrong offense.

And, while the jury is out on the timing of the process - after things cool, or in the heat of the moment; it is never too late to apologize, as the apology and forgiveness are inextricably bound together. Also, as the author says you cannot apology in advance of the offense, I now apologize for the length of this review.  Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"
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Two brief but useful reviews of (1) classical Greek and Hellenistic approaches to understanding how Greek thinkers understood language (notably Stoic and Epicurean epistemology) , and (2) a summary of the 50-year chronology of  the principal parties who undertook solving the mystery of the Cretan (Minoan) tablets inscribed with unknown figures in an unknown language (which turned out to be a syllabary for pre-Homeric Greek ca. 1500 B.C.  This latter essay is a tasty appetizer to Margalit Fox's "The Riddle of the Labnyrinth."
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The legend is that when the comedy "The Clouds" by Aristophanes was first performed in Athens in 423 B.C., his target, Socrates, stood throughout the performance so that everyone in the audience was aware that he was there and hearing what was said of him. The portrait of Socrates clearly satirical and most critics consider it to be inaccurate. But Aristophanes is making fun of Athens' renowned "Think-tank" the "Phrontisterion," the school where the rich young men of Athens were taught the fine art of rhetoric. Instead of anything lofty the comic poet suggests the primary purpose of such an education is to be clever and out-reason greedy creditors. This is an especially good translation of the play, which includes insightful notes and essays on both Old Comedy and the Theater of Dionysus that helps readers understand the conventions of staged comedy at the time of Aristophanes.
In this comedy Socrates is consulted by an old rogue, Strepsiades (sometimes translated as "Twisterson"), who is upset with the mountain of debts his playboy son Phidippides, who loves fast horses and fast living. Phidippides agrees to go to Socrates' school of logic where he can learn to make a wrong argument sound right. After graduation is able to use the system of "unjust logic" to outwit his father and kick him out of the family home. The Chorus of Clouds comments on the proceedings and in the end the Phrontisterion is burned to the ground by Strepsiades.
The flaw of the play is Aristophanes is trying to satirize the Sophists, who were popularizing a new philosophy that denied the possibility of ever reaching objective truth, he picked the wrong target. The Sophists were mostly teachers who were not native to Athens, such as Isocartes and Gorgias. "Sophist" basically meant teacher, so while Socrates was a "sophist" he was not a "Sophist." Twenty-four years later, when Socrates was condemned to death for "corrupting the youth of Athens," the only accuser he said he could name was a certain "comic poet." For contemporary audiences who are untutored in the traditions of classical Greek philosophy it is easy to see Socrates as the prototype for the absent-minded professor, but historically that is, of course, far from the truth. Ironically, even today, Socrates is still one of the few "sophists" that a contemporary audience would recognize by name if not by reputation.
The version of "The Clouds" that has passed down to us is not the original version, which was defeated by Cratinus' "Wine Flask" at a comedy competition during the Great Dionysia celebrations. We know this is a revised version because the Chorus complains about Aristophanes finishing third in that competition. However, critics assume it is essentially the same play, albeit a more polished version. Once you forgive Aristophanes for his unfair characterization of Socrates, "The Clouds" is a great comedy employing all of his standard tricks of the trade from fantasy and ribaldry to funny songs and obscene words.
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When  you first think of Socrates it is not always in modern terms.  Not only is Socrates a "modern man" in every sense of the word, he is a man across time.  When the mind opens darkness flees.  The Socratic method of questioning is really simplisticity codified.  A child asks why because they don't know and are not afrad to say so.  The same with Socrates - his ego does not get in the way - only his mind and it is wonderfully open.  I recommend this if nothing else as a method to open the mind and expand our individual universe.
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This work is the fruit of a collaboration between Bishop Aymond, a renowned theologian and educator, and Sofield and Juliano, established authors and workshop presenters on the topics of psychology and spirituality. The 25 stories at the heart of the book are based largely on experiences of those attending workshops on anger and forgiveness. The causes of their hurt are diverse, and their responses vary, but the authors have found a common theme: Those who achieve forgiveness "have experienced, almost to a person, a rebirth, an overpowering sense of new life," while non-forgivers often suffer from grief, physical pain, and clinical depression.

The book is divided into three parts, (1) an introduction examining personal beliefs on forgiveness, (2) the stories, each beginning with a relevant passage from scripture and ending with reflection questions, and (3) material on the sacrament of reconciliation. A bibliography and guide for faith-sharing groups are also included. Though brief, Facing Forgiveness, abounds with valuable insights such as forgiveness need not be communicated to the other; anger is an emotion, wrath a behavior; and forgiveness differs from reconciliation and justice.
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This book serves as a useful introduction to some of the perspectives on rhetoric and argumentation that dominated New Rhetoric from its emergence in the mid-1960s to its demise in the mid-1980s.  In many respects it is an abbreviated version of Perelman's foundational, and better known, work THE NEW RHETORIC: A TREATISE ON ARGUMENTATION, co-authored with Olbrechts-Tyteca.  Contrary to opinions expressed by other reviewers here, I found the writing clear and easy to read, although the text does assume that readers are well educated in the liberal arts and can recognize references to notable writers and philosophers.  And for anyone who hasn't read and understood Plato and Aristotle, the text may be rough sledding.  Like most new rhetoricians, Perelman takes an essentially Aristotelian (or perhaps more accurately, Ciceronian) position, which means that there is little innovation in this work.  Like Aristotle, he focuses, for example, on the importance of the audience and on shaping one's rhetoric to meet the needs and expectations of that audience.  He differs from Aristotle, however, with regard to his understanding of rhetoric.  For Aristotle, rhetoric was largely theoretical, as evidenced in his most cogent definition in THE ART OF RHETORIC: the ability of observing or discovering "in each case the existing means of persuasion."  Moreover, Aristotle located rhetoric in his broader effort of exploring human nature, whereas Perelman does not.  Perelman is significantly more pragmatic:  In this text he sees rhetoric as argumentation with the aim of gaining the adherence of an audience.  One could argue that this pragmatic orientation was a hallmark of the New Rhetoric, and Perelman's stature ensured that he influenced a generation of new rhetoricians.  But one could also argue that this orientation ensured that the movement was doomed from the start, since theory is so much more valued than the pragmatic in academe.  On this basis, THE REALM OF RHETORIC is valuable not only as a treatise on rhetoric as argumentation but also as a historical artifact that helps us understand the sudden collapse of New Rhetoric in the face of the postmodern assault.
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Nietzsche has been interpreted to represent the last word in a line of thought which begins with Socrates, generally referred to as the era of Western classical philosophy. Like enormous bookends, Nietzsche and the object of so much of his thought, Socrates, sit, at the crucial intersections of the flow and development of ideas, and adjudicate, with all that came between and after somehow in the radius of their influence.  Nietzsche, father of existentialism, intellectual father of the 20th century.
The battle will always rage (Nietzsche, true to the fire of his Herakleitian habit, would have liked that): which is better, this one, Hollingdale's anthology, A Nietzsche Reader, or Kaufmann's anthology, the venerable Viking Portable Nietzsche? I'll cop on that one. But, for the prospective buyer, I'll attempt a brief, opinionated comparison.
1) Translation: I was nurtured on the Kaufmann, which I used to carry around with me in my high school days, 40 years ago. Thus, for me, the Kaufmann translation rings truer to my tinny ear and limited knowledge of German. Besides, Kaufman was German.  But, as Nietzsche gets down on the Germans at least as much as the English (a fact to which his Nazi misinterpreters liked to turn a blind eye), and, as Hollingdale's translations are accepted in the academic world to be at least as accurate as the revered Kaufman, pas differance there, or one merely of taste.
2) Organization: The Hollingdale is far better organized for quick reference or for the first time reader who wants an easily accessed guide to Nietzsche "from the horse's mouth" (with Nietzsche - this way is best, for so much of Nietzsche's power is in his enormous literary gifts). The creme de la creme of much of Nietzsche's most powerful work is arranged under the key rubrics: Philosophy and Philosophers; Logic, Epistemology, Metaphysics; Morality; Art and Aesthetics; Psychological Observations; Religion; Nihilism; Anti-Nihilism; Will to Power; Superman; Eternal Recurrence. The book ends with a truly neat 20 page collection of many of Nietzsche's best aphorisms and summary statements.
The Kaufmann, on the other hand, sprawls, and weaves a tapestry of the man's conceptions, which coalesce finally into a remarkably comprehensive summation of Nietzsche's basic positions.  One could say that if the Hollingdale is the digital approach, the Kaufmann is the analog. The Kaufmann, however, has one insurmountable advantage: included are the complete texts of Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Neitzsche Contra Wagner, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.  The Kaufmann translation of the latter is widely regarded as the best ever, and the book is an awesome masterpiece, at once hilarious and deep, a classic among classics, which says almost all that Nietzsche wishes you to hear in one loud shot.
3) Construction: Both have useful introductory sections, the Kaufmann is a bit better, including a helpful chronology. Neither has a particularly huge Bibliography, but the Kaufmann has been updated fairly recently by Viking. The Hollingdale is svelte, 285 pages, in the time tested Penguin format, tightly bound, light in the pack. The Kaufmann is chunky, 700 pages, a number of which are falling out of my 1968 edition bought for a pittance at a good, old fashioned, independent used bookstore.
My advice: Take the Hollingdale to school, but take the Kaufmann to that proverbial desert island.