artre by David Drake and How to Read Sartre by Robert Bernasconi offer short but informative introductions to Sartre's life and philosophy. On the one hand, Sartre by David Drake offers a short, yet comprehensive, biography of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980). On the other hand, Robert Bernasconi's How to Read Sartre presents a readable introduction to some of the popular, but elusive, Sartrean concepts. These books can be read side by side by beginners and enthusiasts alike;

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... this review is a demonstration of how beginners in Sartre's philosophy could complimentarily read these two books as well as critically engage with their authors. Upon reading Drake, one understands that Sartre's idea of freedom was influenced by his realizations after his experience of being called up to serve the war. Sartre's ideas on choice and free will can be understood in the existential statement that he has "created" himself. 3 It is also obvious that Sartre's personal relationships are related to his philosophy. His relationship with Beauvoir, for example, shows how Sartre values freedom; this can lead to the understanding of how they both agreed to stay together while having convenient affairs with others and why they chose to establish their relationship based on loyalty but not fidelity. It was in 1929 when Sartre met Simone de Beauvoir. Drake mentions that Beauvoir was Sartre's privileged companion. 4 One could, however, argue that Sartre was also as privileged as Beauvoir. Sartre considered Beauvoir to be intelligent and sensitive and admits that he had found in her exactly everything he could desire in a woman. 5 Their relationship, however, was not always smooth sailing, and this too resonates in their writings. Sartre's relationship with Olga Kosakiewicz, for example, inspired the writing of She Came to Stay, Beauvoir's attempt at fictionalizing the love triangle. Sartre's way of 1 London: Haus Publishing, 2005. 194 pp. 2 London: Granta Books, 2006. 116 pp. 3 It should be made clear, however, that Sartre understands the term "create" in the existential sense; his statement that he has created himself, therefore, does not necessarily mean that he was not influenced by his academic peers or the European philosophical tradition. Sartre's thinking was, of course, profoundly shaped by the ideas of Descartes, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, etc. 4 Drake, op cit., 28. 5 Ibid., 29.