Reddit mentions of How to Read Heidegger (How to Read)

I have read several translations of Being and Time in English as well as the German text. I believe that John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson have performed the best translation at this time. That was the older one from the 60's.

I would also recommend reading some of the work about how to read Heidegger1 2


I believe that Dreyfus and Wrathall are the best Heideggarian scholars currently and I tend to agree with most of their insights.

A prof of mine recommended Mark Wrathall's "How to Read Heidegger." Its a very quick read (I'm a slow reader and finished it within a day or so) and offers a great introduction to his writing. Each chapter in the "how to read' series attempts to translate an important section or paragraph of a primary text into ordinary language. This kind of layout allows you to deeply read one section and trace it line-by-line with what the commentator interprets. This is especially helpful for Heidegger's language. As far as commentaries of B&T itself go, I've read Dreyfus', Blattner's, Mulhall's, and Gelvin's. While Dreyfus' is much more popular, I think it is one of the weakest on the market now, down there with Mulhall's. The one that helped me to most was by far Gelvin's.

On a side note, remember that the arguments given in B&T are not set forth by logical deduction. You simply can't analyze the book like you can with ones written by authors like Spinoza, where everything logically follows from some beginning. This has lead some people to think that Heidegger is much more difficult than he really is. B&T's philosophical power comes from phenomenology. Thus, what I feel is the best way to read the book is to go through it section-by-section, taking a break every few pages or paragraphs. Between readings, simply live your life as you normally would while keeping Heidegger's notes in the background. Soon enough, his writing has a way of clearing up.

Not who you were responding to, but I really enjoy Heidegger as well. I would strongly suggest How to read Heidegger first before jumping into anything else. I read it first, then read Being and Time and it helped tremendously.