First, learn the basics.
I always recommend an essential set of 2 books to read, called The Great Ideas of the Western World. (Doesn t the title give you a hint?) The books are also called the Syntopicon. You can look them up in the library computer either way.
You can only get the Syntopicon in a library because it s part of a $2000 set of 66 books; or I got mine used, cheap, at a book store. (The 2 books, not the big set! I got mine for $5 each. )
Those two books will give you literally hundreds of more must-read choices. They are arranged by alphabetical subjects (102 of them), not by the philosophers names. The chapters are short--about 12 pages--but you will be fascinated beyond belief by things men said that you never knew.
The best way to learn real philosophy is to step back and take a grand, wide view that quickly outlines a topic. Otherwise you might start with Plato (for an example) but not catch the connection between his "Forms" and Aristotle s "essene" or Kant s Noumena. So you read the Syntopicon and the connection is made for you.
What if you wanted to read Plato s Republic? You ll get a better understanding of his ideas after reading the Syntopicon. His ideas of government can be found in the chapters Revolution, Monarchy, Oligarchy, Opposition, Citizen, Democracy, Government, and others, right along side comments by other philosophers that puts it all into perspective.
Also I like these sites for beginners:
http://www.philosophypages.com/index.htm
http://www.philosophybasics.com/index.ht...
http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/
This is the Wikipedia page about the Syntopicon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Syntopico...