That's sort of evil to use as an 'Introduction'...it's like reading the Silmarillion before you read LOTR.

Maybe, but it's a nice overview of a lot of stuff, spanning a long period of time, and it is better - IMO - than telling somebody "go read primary sources for all Western philosophy developed since the Greeks." I suppose one could recommend Frederick Copleston's A History of Philosophy, but it's difficult due to all the untranslated quotes from primary sources. (Well, unless you happen to read Latin, German, Greek, and whatever else.) It's also 9 volumes long, which is quite an undertaking.

It's substantially simpler and more straightforward than a lot of the primary sources, which makes me wonder what is the analogue of LOTR here.

You did that as well? I thought I was the only person in the entire to universe to do so.

I'll second this. It's both thorough and accessible. Sounds like a good fit for what OP is looking for.

At any rate, I think that it is a question of which history of philosophy the OP reads rather than a book on any one philosophy in particular based on his original post...unless he really wants to get back with his friend on that nihilism comment...

Thank you, that looks like a great start! Like I said, I have read philosophy before so I'm not looking for a "for dummies", just looking for someone to do the hard work with the primary sources as my curiosity has been piqued again!

The only problem being that it is Bertrand Russell's view of the history of philosophy