Leviathan (Penguin Classics)

Great edition! Used it for my Religion and Politics Course at my University.

The writing was captivating The characters were believable and I cared about them The plot had so many twists and turns I couldn't put the book down.

Good. I ordered it for my class and it came brand new.

Very interesting perspective on politics.

This is a review of this particular product, not the book itself.I am very pleased with this paperback edition. The binding is of great quality. The book is nice and supple, it flops right open on the table and stays without wanting to snap closed. You can curl it back and under as to hold it in one hand, yet when you close it it stays shut and does not hold the bend. Very comfortable to read.Also, I'm not sure if this feature is common to many editions, but I find the annotations very useful to keep track of what exactly is being said.

Good reading....

Great read for beginners studying morality, philosophy, political theory. I especially enjoyed his use of biblical examination of his ideas.

In picking a copy of The Leviathan, I chose the Penguin Classics edition, well because they are known for quality. The paperback edition is good quality and the size of the book is nice as the type isn't too tiny for my aging eyes.However, the text is "based on a copy of the first edition of Leviathan (1651) in the library at the University of Toronto" which means you read sentences like: "The word sensuall, as it is used by those onely that condemn them, having no place till there be Lawes." And find yourself looking up words like "suspition", "contemners", or "conceipt". Additionally the archiac spelling is inconsistent so you see hee or warre sometimes and he or war other times.Generally, I find the footnotes to be of questionable quality and usefulness: there are notes to "a Centaure" and "Bacchus" or "Adam being the first human created by God" but not to words in Greek that are not translated in the original text. Sometimes, Hobbes explains the Greek and sometimes he does not. Also, there are footnotes that rather than helping explain the idea, point to a specific text "Livy, Ab urbe condita I.24." or "Juvenal, Satire 15.1-9" which for the lay reader is insuffient and unhelpful.This is a slow read; but I feel even slower because of the archiac text that I find I struggle with more than the meaning.