James Garvey "The Story of Philosophy : A History of Western Thought (Quercus)

This is an excellent introduction for the novice to Western philosophy, being not only a text which offers insight and thought-provoking understanding of the great Western philosophical journey, but which also offers wonderful illustrations to help the reader cement that text into a greater understanding. So each chapter of the book is an enlightening text, with pertinent illustrations which help to put together what can be extremely complex ideas.
A useful primer book- very good introduction to the subject, easy to read, devoid of pretension and concentrates on the main aspects.