Through a series of 144 short texts on 12 key subjects, this text introduces the reader to some of the central perplexities of human life. Along with those texts written by the author himself are selections from the sources - Genesis and Lao Tzu, Plato and the Upanishads, Hume and Wittgenstein, Augustine and Ecclesiastes, to name a few. Topics range from the nature of language, to pleasure and pain, to life after death. Most of the classical questions of the philosophy of religion are introduced. Because selections from both the East and West are included, the Riddle of the Sphinx can serve as an introduction to comparative philosophy and/or religion.