Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: 10/13/07

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Catchart and Daniel Klein is a beautifully constructed and deceptively short book. It's one of those books that is nice to hold, nice to flip through and nice to read random snippets from. The jokes come in handy for the random reading approach.

But... this book is also a very solid introduction to philosophy and logic. If read slowly and thoroughly, one can learn a solid foundation of the important principals of philosophy. The book is even color coded to quickly let the reader know what is being covered. Broad sweeping statements about a given subject are in brown serif text. Further explanations are given in a standard looking serif font. The jokes come in a bold sans-serif font. There are also cute one pane comics to bring important points home at the end of sections.

I have to admit that there were times when I had to set the book aside because I found my mind wandering. It is a heavy subject in a light volume. When reading it, take your time. Read slowly. Maybe read the jokes first and then go back and fill in the blanks with the explanations. You will come away laughing and having learned a thing or two about philosophy.

Comments (1)

Comment #1: Sunday, October, 14, 2007 at 10:52:28

Sabrina

I really enjoyed this book! Great review!"