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  • This is one of those books that I wanted to really like, but I liked the concept of it better than the execution of that concept. It sounds great: use jokes to relate and introduce different concepts in philosophy to readers who probably don’t have a background in the subject matter. But the entire ... Continue

    This is one of those books that I wanted to really like, but I liked the concept of it better than the execution of that concept. It sounds great: use jokes to relate and introduce different concepts in philosophy to readers who probably don’t have a background in the subject matter. But the entire book follows this same layout:

    1. Introduce complex philosophical theory in short paragraph or two
    2. Joke
    3. A few lines or short paragraph tying the joke to complex philosophical theory
    4. Joke 2
    5. A couple more lines concluding the discussion on complex philosophical theory

    And that’s it. Sometimes there’s a third joke, but few topics get more than a couple pages. You don’t come to an understanding (as the book’s subtitle suggests) about philosophy because nothing is explored at a length that makes understanding possible. It’s not a crash course in philosophy. It isn’t even as fleshed out as Cliffs Notes. There are quite a few laughs sprinkled throughout the book, but I don’t know that I’ll recall any of it after a week. Still, it’s a light and easy read, and while I did enjoy most of it the book doesn’t amount to much. I wanted more. Much much more.

    

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• ― Cuzzin Todd said on Jan 12, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  • This book will give you a crash course of what philosophy is all what; and complete with jokes.

    

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• ― Yun (shirley77) said on Aug 29, 2007 | Add your feedback

Here's a lively, hilarious, not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical traditions, schools, concepts, and thinkers. It's Philosophy 101 for everyone who knows not to take all this heavy stuff too seriously. Some of the Big Ideas are Existentialism (what do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common?), Philosophy of Language (how to express what it's like being stranded on a desert island with Halle Berry), Feminist Philosophy (why, in the end, a man is always a man), and much more. Finally—it all makes sense!

“I laughed, I learned, I loved it!” Roy Blount Jr.

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