I think I understood most of the concepts mentioned and how each of the jokes illuminated the given philosophy.
I have never been interested in philosophy, but felt that perhaps I ought to know a little – and this book seemed like the perfect introduction: lots of humour and little effort required. Until reading this book, my entire knowledge of philosophers came from the Monty Python “Philosophers’ Song”. Should you buy it? I don't know, what do I look like - chopped liver? Does it deliver on its promise? - Every bit. The lessons in philosophy in the book are short entertaining vignettes with a meaning and a humorous punch line so it might just be the perfect book to put on the shelf in the guest bathroom if you know what I mean ("Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School" is definitely the best book of this category. And the lesson of that joke is the fallacy of "post hoc ergo proctor hoc." (I told you, you need some vocabulary). He laughed so hard he almost drove off the road. I feared for my life when I made the mistake of telling the joke about the old Jewish gentleman who marries a very young lady he loves but cannot satisfy to a friend of mine while in the car.
But the book does have its hysterical moments. They define the level of humor as that which you might use at grad school party to try and get laid (hmmm - a dearth of women reviewers?). Come on this is intellectual humor - you were expecting maybe Henny Youngman? And the authors say so. You will figure out where to go from there.Īnd if you approach the book expecting every joke to cause you to roll in the isle like you were watching the late great Buddy Hackett doing standup in Vegas you will also be disappointed. If you don't, try Mortimer Adler's "Aristotle for Everybody", Plato's "Republic" (I detest this disastrous book but you must read it) and "The Dream of Reason" by Anthony Gottlieb for starters. To truly appreciate the humor of this book (especially the punch line to the title - which is fabulous!) you need to have had at least some exposure to formal philosophy and its vocabulary. (Hmmm - maybe that college reminiscence review ain't so bad after all). This ain't exactly like sitting at the feet of Aristotle in the lyceum for four years. But come on, it is 199 pages of jokes with a bit of commentary by two old hippies who did undergraduate degrees in philosophy at Harvard. You are not actually going to learn a lot of philosophy from this book as others have noted. The back panel of the book says "Finally, a crash course in philosophy via jokes." If you buy into this unfortunate promotional drivel you will be instantly disappointed. So maybe I can inform your expectations and either prevent you from buying the wrong book or stimulate you to buy the right one. Why such variable responses? I think these different reactions arise from the variability of foreknowledge of philosophy among the reviewers and the expectations they have of both the comedy and philosophy in the book. Some folks write terse harsh dismissals, some say it is the best book they have ever read and some write irrelevant reminiscences about their collage daze. So you are looking at all the various reviews of this book and you are asking yourself "what is going on?" Some people love it and some hate it (and note that the audience is almost all guys - hmmm).
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