Approaching the writing of major intellectuals, artists, and philosophers need no longer be daunting. How to Read is a new sort of introduction--a personal master class in reading--that brings you face to face with the work of some of the most influential and challenging writers in history. In lucid, accessible language, these books explain essential topics such as Freud's core conviction that our innermost truths manifest only as distortions.

Josh Cohen is a Senior Lecturer in English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths University of London, and the author of Spectacular Allegories and Interrupting Auschwitz.