Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar

Book Description

3 Reviews

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  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 13, 2008 | Add your feedback

• Read the first two chapters this afternoon--a fun book. The authors use jokes to elucidate the meaning of certain philosophical movements and ideas. Entertaining.

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  ― Greg Hyde, S.J. said on Mar 8, 2009 | Add your feedback

• 

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

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  ― Yun said on Aug 30, 2007 | Add your feedback

Book Details

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• English Books
• Hardcover 208 Pages
• ISBN-10: 081091493X
• ISBN-13: 9780810914933
• Publisher: Abrams Image
• Pub date: May 01, 2007
• Dimensions: 18 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Paperback
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書, Libros en Español

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