I remember in my (super)senior year of undergrad i found (i think in an abandoned pile of books) some paperback by schopenhauer. if i recall correctly, it had a celtic knot on the front. that's literally all i remember about it EXCEPT that i must have read 20 pages before deciding i had no idea what he was talking about.

kant is so opaque, i've heard that germans prefer to read the english translations.

if i didn't have the benefit of a formal education, i don't think i'd be able to form an opinion on whether daniel dennet is a terrifying cynic or nietzsche could be read in an optimistic light. i don't believe i'd be able to grapple with the gettier problem.

plato with his "the unexamined life" bit made me think i needed to read and understand all these other writers before i could understand myself, but if i can't understand them, then i can't even start to examine my life.

so what gives? why did graeber write a 1200 page tome? why is it all so hard to digest?