The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation (2 Volume Set; Bollingen Series, Vol. LXXI, No. 2)

Rating:
Summary: Great for Classicists and Novices Alike
Review: Barnes' translation is painstakingly accurate as well as highly readable, making these the best (as well as, quite obviously, the most comprehensive) Aristotle volumes on the market, for those familiar with the Aristotelean corpus in its original Greek, as well as for anyone who wants a good introduction to the seminal thinker.
As seems to be a common complaint--alas, the index leaves very much to be desired, and the editorial introduction is not great: Durant's famous essay (available in the "Story of Philosophy") eclipses it easily. Nonetheless, these two volumes should replace all the Aristotle on your shelf: they are a pleasure to own and read.
"Ho anexetastos bios ou biotos anthropoi--the unexamined life is not worth living." Said by Plato, proved by Aristotle.

Rating:
Summary: Overall great, but poor index
Review: It is great to finally have a collected works of Aristotle. The quality of the 2 volumes is superb and the translations, as far as I can tell, seem quite good.
However, the INDEX leaves a lot to be desired. First, there is only an index in volume 2 covering both volumes. This is a nuisance if you only have volume 1. Secondly, the index is, for all practical purposes, not subdivided. That is, let's say you want to look up "virtue," all you get is tons of reference (page) numbers but no additional information, so in order to find precisely what you're looking for, you basically have to look up all the references and decide for yourself. And that keeps the index from being very useful.

Rating:
Summary: The Complete Works of Aristotle Volume 2
Review: The Complete Works of Aristotle Volume 2 edited bu Jonathan Barnes is a continuation of the revised Oxford translation. Aristotle is one of the greatest thinkers in the Western tradition, but also one of the most difficult.

As with the first volume, this translation makes the surviving works of Aristotle easily read for the English-speaking readers. This volume combined with the first makes a comprehesive work. Both volumes are nicely bound and the type is easy to read. Also, the volumes have numerals printed in the outer margins to key the translations to Immanuel Bekker's standard edition of the Greek text of Aristotle of 1831. The index of both editions could use a bit more work as they are cumbersome to work with, but not impossible.

I've found that using "The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle" of great help. This is also edithed by Jonathan Barnes. The contents of volume 2 are as follows: On Plants, On Marvellous Things Heard, Mechanics, Problems On Indivisible Lines, The Situation and Names of Winds, On Melissus,Xenophanes,and Gorgias, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Magna Moralia, Eudemian Ethics, On Virtues and Vices, Politics, Economics, Rhetoric, Rhetoric to Alexander, Poetics, Constition of Athens, Fragments.

As with the first voume, this work contains works that the authenticity has been seriously doubted and works that are spurious and have never been seroiusly contested.

The translations are easily read and flow. You can definately understand what Aristotle is trying to say. Both of these volumes make an excellent addition to your home library.