Part of a series by Oxford University Press, this book, 'Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction', follows the same format as other texts in the Very Short Introduction series -- it has fewer than 150 pages, is well indexed, accessible and interesting narrative, and captures the essence in a very short space the major points of its topic. There are probably nearing 100 volumes in this Very Short Introduction series (making it, ironically, not a Very Short series), but among those that I have read, this text stands out as being one of the best.
Simon Critchley is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Essex and Directeur de Programme at the College International de Philosophie, Paris. He is well versed in Continental Philosophy, particularly as it diverges from British and North American developments in philosophy. The text here begins (more or less) with Kant, and goes forward to the twentieth century, dominated also by German and French thinkers.
Critchley argues, in fact, there is no unified, systematic body of work one should call 'Continental Philosophy', but rather that it consists of eclectic and divergent voices bound sometimes by little more than geographic proximity. That having been said, Critchley does work through some major strands and commonalities of approach, or at the very least some vision of the progress of philosophy from one to the other, influences and reactions.
In all, this text is a good read, but given its presupposition about the state of philosophical knowledge on the part of the reader, this should not be assumed to be a first text (in the more traditional sense that 'introduction' seems to imply). It helps here if one already knows the major positions of the major philosophers (and wouldn't hurt if one already knew what thinkers like Derrida also thought of them).
Like other books in this Very Short series, there are occasional graphics and pictures, and suggestions for further reading, should the Very Short introduction not prove sufficient (and for many, this sample will leave the reader wanting more). I cannot speak too highly of this series. This particular volume, however, is to a certain extent what it says it is, too precisely -- it is not an introduction (however long) to philosophy, but rather presupposes some familiarity with philosophy, and looks at the advent or introduction of what turned out to be the major themes in Continental Philosophy.
