So I'd definitely recommend William James to anyone wary of philosophy. He's very accessible through warm, clear, inviting prose, free of the elitism you often find in these types. I can't really find anything off-putting to say about the guy.

If you're interested in the topics in the book, go ahead and see if you want to read the whole thing. But really, you can get a valuable experience out of reading only a handful of the lectures. (If you go this route, definitely read the one on 'the sick soul' and the one on mysticism). One thing to consider is that James and a guy named Pierce founded a school of philosophy called pragmatism, and pragmatism underscores pretty much every substantial conclusion he draws in these lectures. But, being James, he is extremely careful to draw conclusions at all.

All in all, this had been on my list for a while so I'm glad I read it. It was kind of hard, but not nearly as dry as you'd imagine. William James is the man.