For years I have been trying to find a good book about philosophy.  I have always found the ideas behind different philosophers and philosophical concepts to be very interesting and I’ve wanted to learn more.  The trouble is, most books on philosophy are written in such dull language that I couldn’t make it through the first chapter without falling asleep.

Therefore, when Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein’s book “Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar” caught my eye in a bookstore in Washington’s Reagan National Airport I just had to get it.  “Plato and a Platypus”, a New York Times Bestseller, is a book that is all about understanding philosophy through jokes.

I purchased the book in the airport, opened it up and started reading immediately.  I couldn’t put it down!  In fact, I had read through all 191 pages before my plane even took off (though I must add an aside to say that our plane sat on the runway for 4 hours due to bad weather…).

“Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar” is, in my opinion, a work of genius.  It goes through the history of philosophy from Metaphysics to Meta-Philosophy, stopping to joke about Logic, Epistemology, Ethics, Religion, Existentialism, Politics and Relativity on the way.  Cathcart and Klein do a great job of explaining different philosophies and philosophers in layman’s terms and use jokes (and good jokes at that!) to help them explain.

The duo break down Existentialism into a single statement:  “You haven’t lived until you think about death all the time,” and they use jokes to explain other difficult philosophical concepts.  I think it is quite obvious that I highly recommend this book.

And on an end note, here is my favorite joke in the book.  It is used to help explain Aristotle’s distinction between essential and accidental properties.  In the book, Cathcart and Klein write that According to Aristotle, “essential properties are those without which a thing wouldn’t be what it is, and accidental properties are those that determine how a thing is, but not what it is (I. Metaphysics).”

“Why is an elephant big, gray, and wrinkled?”
“Because if he was small, white, and round, he’d be an asprin.” (Cathcart & Klein)