Plotinus: The Enneads Kindle Edition

as it is described on p. 3, in a new translation. There has since the 1960s been a tremendous amount of work on Plotinus as well as on the Greek text of the Enneads, and it is one goal of this work to reflect those efforts. It is not as poetic as the early 20th c. translation of Terrence MacKenna, which was read by W. B. Yeats (or even the selection done by Thomas Taylor, early 19th c., that inspired William Blake) but there are many advantages to using this new one. It is organized in a manner similar to Armstrong's 7 vol. Loeb ed. with Greek text, with an introduction to each passage explaining the subject at hand, along with a summary outline of the sections, necessary I believe for the student to get into the text starting with some degree of facility. The footnotes are for the most part comprised of passages from Plato, Aristotle, and others to which Plotinus is referring, very helpful and often the result of much research since Armstrong. As well there are many notes that cross reference various passages in the Enneads themselves. Another helpful aspect are the two indexes of the terminology used by Plotinus, one of Greek terms translated for the reader and the other of the English words used in the translation. It is important in reading Greek philosophy to understand and develop a sense of the vocabulary on its own since it is often quite different and more nuanced than what is used in modern philosophy. Overall, an impressive addition to Plotinian studies as well a great way to begin work on this very difficult thinker.

Where has this book been all my life? For many years I've been told that the Enneads are too difficult to understand so just stick to the commentaries. Well, not true. This edition is very well translated and generously footnoted as well. It also includes the life of Plotinus by Porphyry. Not only is the text well written and easy to understand, the footnotes are priceless. I so love going back to the source in Plato for it breathes new life into his writings. The Enneads are a sort of commentary on Plato's works which can indeed be difficult to understand. But, of course, it is so much more. For example, to truly understand the full meaning and worth of contemplation is a difficult matter. I am speaking of contemplation as a spiritual exercise, not simply a dictionary definition. And frankly, I've never read a more thorough description of contemplation than what is here in the Enneads. I searched for it in "The Ascent to Mt. Carmel" by St. John of the Cross but this is so much better, at least for me. The value of this book is just that......as a method of spiritual exercise, as defined by Pierre Hadot. By the way, an excellent book to read along with this is Hadot's book on Plotinus called "Plotinus or The Simplicity of Vision." They go together quite well if your purpose is spiritual exercise. I highly recommend this book.

I splurged and bought this one, and I'm glad I did. A sense of clean and clear, reliable and readable on every page in every aspect in this beautiful one volume including intro summaries, annotations and key terms. A labor of love for scholars/translators full engaged with Plotinus and Platonism, I dare say, Platonists themselves, believers.

Love the translation so far have no complaints in that area 5 stars. As far as Amazon's shipping practices I replaced and returned the book several times Amazon ships heavy paperback books in thin plastic bags and every time the book was beat up. I've had the same issue with other big books.

My favorite translation of one of my favorite philosophical works of Late Antiquity. Very highly recommended.

Patches of the translation are a little rough and seem hard to square with the Greek; but, given that this is Plotinus, that is understandable. A massive effort to translate all the Enneads in one volume, and a great contribution to scholarship. Better than Armstrong translations.

Absolutely ecstatic to have a new scholarly edition of this most important work of philosophy. The new standard has been set.

I received this book for Christmas today. The contents are excellent! Although the construction of the book is poor. The paper quality is medium at best and the book is glued, not sewn. It is essentially a paperback put between hardcovers. It will not lay flat. Very disappointing for the price. Being printed by Cambridge University Press - the press that is world renowned for printing quality Bibles - you would have thought they produced a better quality product for this price point.

For me, this translation is the new benchmark in translations, Thomas Taylor's coming immediately after.It flows so well for the modern reader and is more readily understood (given that it's Plotinus); whilst still maintaining that precision and clarity of thought.As for the actual physical book itself:Lovely shimmering gold lettering on the spine, sturdy cover and beautifully high quality pages.The only thing that stops this from getting a full five stars, is the fact that the ink isn't as bold as you'd expect for a book of this price. It's something you only notice upon close expection but again, for a book of this price you'd expect a slight bit more quality.On the whole though, definitely worth buying.

An excellent new and modern translation of the Enneads with rich and very helpful annotations.

This is just to add that the Kindle version Glossaries - both original Greek and English - have links to the text, and they work very well. This helped find key passages.

The book itself is good although there are many good selected translation of this work for example from Hackett if one want Plotinus’s Enneads in its entirety this is the one. But the physical hardcover which is the only version available right now is very poor. I have only used it for few weeks & some of the pages are loose & they will get detached soon. The problem - like many of Cambridge’s recent hardcover book this is just a paperback glued directly to the hardcover not an original sewn cloth binding. It’s surprising that the book is very expensive that’s why if one is not interested in reading Enneads in its entirety there are many options available. Unless the publisher release a cheap paperback version it’s passable. What’s the point of having a hardcover book if it’s not durable ?

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