Rating: 
Summary: Heidegger at his best..not that that means many will beneft
Review: Some declare Sein und Zeit and Heidegger's other work as opprobrious epithet, including the scholars of the 20's-40's, until suddenly philosophers began seeing things in his ontological thought. What did they see? Something analagous to what Deleuze saw in NIetzsche, that shaped postmodernity, where thought can no longer be thought in terms of Hegelian dialectic, something so fundamentally accepted that philosophy had to be rewritten. Such a revolution is certainly present in the work of our favorite Nazi. Sure, he was a Nazi, and sure, he was morbid (anyone who says he isnt doesnt take death seriously; Heidegger is morbidity, and it never looked so resounding), but the gods be damned, he finally uncovered something only Cicero speculated; that "to philosophize is to learn how to die." Not that one need to even focuse on authenticity in the light of the horizon of being to find revolutions in our way of being, but it is for Being and Time, if one hopes to ask that continuous question, the question of the meaning of being. This question couldnt be more straightforward, being directly asked from the opening pages, and yet it couldnt be more difficult to grasp. Heidegger's style is, without a doubt, one of the most complex and hard to read proses ever created, with terminology that a native German couldnt follow. But Heidegger does nothing more if not a working in and through the traditions of philosophy (including the complication of language) in order to uncover primal grounds. It will probably take a person longer to get through this text than it took the author himself to create it. Thus, this is by no means a book to be read by a layman, nor by someone lacking time (?) and dedication. Considering the massive numbers of poor interpretations that have arised in Heidegerrian analyses, one must remain skeptical before accepting what a college professor might offer up, if one were to take a class on Heidegger in hopes of discovering more than he would on his own. Just search the internet for class lecture notes to see what I mean. As another reviewer mentioned, "Read Being and Time and skip Sartre, whose dumbed-down appropriation of Heidegger's ideas is one of modern philosophy's most egregious mistakes", many, including Heidegger himself, agree with this. One of the reasons Heidegger has been interpreted as proclaiming an ethics and transcendental understanding of Being is because Sartre twisted Heidegger's authentic Dasein into some unified self, whereby all future "existentialism" fell into place. "Existentialism" is almost as erroneous as former "postmodernity," which we all know was proclaimed a joke by none other than Rorty himself. Heidegger is not an existentialist, nor is he a transcendentalist. He is a phenomenologist engaged in an ontological investigation of being. Stambaugh (which is misspelled by the amazon.com) does an excellent job of fixing a number of misleading translations by the more popular M&R translation. The only complaint I have is the lower-casing of Being when used as a noun; this was done so as to not put emphasis on being as some sort of transcendental figure, but a note of that would have sufficed and saved readers the even further complication of Heidegger, since now one must determine when it is being used as a noun and when a verb, which can be trickier than one might think inside a Heideggerian text. But still a better translation.
Rating:
Summary: a smoother translation
Review: To me, Heidegger is the peak of Western philosophy, is writing is very meaningful and enjoyable to me. If you get IT, this book (and his later writings) can change you life. However this is difficult reading, but so very rewarding. However, Being and Time is not the place to begin reading Heidegger. There are several very excellent introductions: Steiner's Martin Heidegger,and Macquarrie's Heidegger and Christianity both are very excellent. When you read Being and Time (which is so much better than Being and Nothingness, I can't begin to tell you) you will need a commentary, there are several, but I would recommend Being-in-the-world by Dreyfus. I approached Heidegger as a Buddhist, so his main concept, dealing with the recognization of Being, was very familar to me. I found Heidegger to be wonderfully enriching in my own insight into the most essential question of philosophy. Then I studied German for 2 years in order to read Heidegger in his Original langauage (and also to read Rilke's poetry in it's original). The German source is very precise (a trait of the German language, which lends itself to precision and new combinations to create new expressions). The terms are necessary to get us to see the meaning that would not be visible with out new expressions. For me this works, and put into words (as nearly as anyone has) some of the great "mystical" insights. If you are reading only in English, you must have a commentary and both translations, start with the Joan Stambaugh, it is easier reading; but you will need the older Macquarrie & Robinson translation for comparision. Some concepts are better explained in one, some in the other. Also recommended Basic Writings : From Being and Time (1927 to the Task of Thinking) and WHAT ARE POETS FOR? and Heidegger's writing on Kant and Holderin. If you enjoy philosophy, this has my highest recommendation. This is philosophy that will awaken you in this moment.
Dreyfus
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