Long lost philosophy

I'm feeling a need to read a little non-fiction before embarking on my next set of "great books" which include Lolita, The Great Gatsby, Catch-22, and 1984.

So, next up for me is Philosophy by Julian Baggini.

One of my few regrets in my life is that I didn't major in philosophy as an undergraduate at Wellesley. I was one of the most practical-minded 17-year olds to ever attend a liberal arts school and thought economics was the only rationale option if one wanted to go into business. But I had the pleasure of taking a single introductory philosophy course as a freshman and absolutely loved it.

I took one more philosophy class just before I graduated. And loved it as much as the first.

And ever since I look at philosophy as a road not-taken, but I've never done a thing about it. Other than look back with a bit of regret.

Well, it turns out that the father of one of the boys in my younger son's class is a philosophy professor. Of course, I was intrigued. So I asked him if he could please recommend a few books to me. Ones that I could handle given my total ignorance on the topic.

He did more than recommend a book. He actually gave me a book. I was surprised because I rarely even bump into him at school, but the next time I saw him, there he was, book in hand. How thoughtful is that?

Now, I feel ready to delve into it.

It's a thin book, 132 pages, and it discusses the most important works of Western philosophy. The jacket reads:

Designed for complete beginners (that would be me) it unlocks five classic texts by Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Sartre, and Russell. The main arguments of each work are vividly brought to life, along with a selection of major criticisms which will help you think about the question the positions presented.

Would it surprise if you if I said how much I'm looking forward to reading this? I've read the introduction so far, and am totally engrossed just by that. This may be the first step down a long ignored path.