Wicks (philosophy, U. of Auckland) walks readers through all four books of Arthur Schopenhauer's magnum opus The World As Will and Representation (WWR) unpacking key themes, positions and philosophical terminology. Two chapters establish the context of Schopenhauer's life and work as a whole, and then the scope and aims of each of the books, before turning to the texts. The final chapter surveys Schopenhauer's influence on philosophy and literature. Once Wicks gets to the text, he paraphrases and almost never quotes or cites, giving a very good explanation of what Schopenhauer thought or meant, but not of what he wrote. This makes it less useful as a side-by-side guide, but not a bad exegesis. To that end, each "reading the text" section ends with several study suggestions and an extensive, thematic list of notes for further reading. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)