<p>Martin Heidegger is one of the greatest conundrums in the philosophical world, alternately incredibly inspiring and mind-bogglingly frustrating. S. J. McGrath acknowledges the impossibility of trying to encapsulate Heidegger in a nutshell, and refuses to present him here in summary, thereby absolving the audience of the task of reading the philosopher. Instead, this introduction is truly that -- leading readers to Heidegger where they can then begin or continue their own relationship with him.</p><p>McGrath deals extensively with Heidegger's excursion into ontology, for which he is most famous, having single-handedly resurrected the study in the twentieth century. A chapter is also devoted to Heidegger's phenomenology, including an examination of his best-known work, <em>Being and Time</em>. No book on Heidegger would be complete without a discussion of his life as a Nazi, and McGrath does not shirk that duty, offering a chapter on the philosopher's politics. His ethics and theology are also enthusiastically tackled, giving this deceptively small book a very wide range.</p><p>McGrath writes, “If in this book I take the trouble to point out something essentially wrong with Heidegger's philosophy, it is only because there is so much that is right about it.” Nonetheless, the book closes with a thoughtful explanation of why McGrath himself, though an admirer, is not a Heideggerian.</p>