Along the lines of “If you ever wanted to read a clear explaination of…” I just read Peter Hallward’s book on Deleuze, Out of This World. This is the 3rd book in English, all avaible here at the usual places, to try to begin to dismantle what was to have been “the Deleuzean Century”. The first two are by Alain Badiou and Slavoj Zizek. The Hallward book stands out because, unlike the former, he does not have his own philosophy or theoretical agenda lurking in the background. He has written well on Badiou as well as Deleuze (with Derrida, two notoriously difficult thinkers, but in quite, quite different ways). Unlike Maretti’s book on Derrida (see Derrida thread) he has no sympathy for Deleuze so the book makes me uncomfortable (I like Deleuze). Having said that, the book is clear, well organized, and if you ever wondered what’s up with Deleuze, this would be a good introduction. (For what it’s worth, I adore Deleuze but more or less dislike Deleuzeans who obscure a thinking which is already pretty rough going (for some anyway; I find it exhilarating); Hallward lays out some basic ideas in Deleuze–he ultimately rejects them as worthless, but, there you are, at least you have a clue what’s going on, assuming you were ever curious of course.)