About the book

Author: Cathcart, Thomas (1940- ) and Daniel Klein.

Title: Plato and a platypus walk into a bar…: Understanding philosophy through jokes. (2006)

Publication: New York : Abrams Image, 2006. ISBN 9781456102821.

DAISY audio format narrated by Johnny Heller. CELA library call number DC46041. 224 pages in the paperback edition; 4 hrs., 9 min. as a recorded book.

Title: Aristotle and an aardvark go to Washington: Understanding political doublespeak through philosophy and jokes. (2007)

Publication: New York : Abrams Image, 2007. ISBN 9781449869014.

DAISY audio format narrated by Johnny Heller. CELA library call number DA46040. 196 pages in the paperback edition; 3 hrs., 32 min. as a recorded book.

About the story

I read the Aardvark book first, because that whole Trump thing surpasses comprehension from my Canadian point of view. While I did not find what I hoped for – it may not, in fact, be possible to understand what is going on down there right now – I was quite enchanted by this very fast read.

Clocking in at just over two and a half hours, this is possibly the shortest book I have ever checked out of CELA. It’s basically a crash-course in logic, illustrated first by American political falsehoods and then by jokes.

Light-hearted and funny, it makes the logical principles it discusses very memorable, and illustrates their importance. It looks at various verbal sleights of hand, such as arguments by weak analogy, ambiguity and over-sharing.

The not-very-much-longer Platypus book does the same for philosophy: metaphysics, logic, epistemology, philosophy of religion, existentialism, philosophy of language, social and political philosophy, relativity and meta-philosophy.

Both of these titles are available through CELA and as eAudiobooks in your local library if they subscribe to the OneClickDigital service.

These authors have a number of other titles, including:

  • Heidegger and a hippo walk through those pearly gates : using philosophy (and jokes!) to explore life, death, the afterlife, and everything in between (2009), which is available through Bookshare.
  • The trolley problem, or, would you throw the fat guy off the bridge? a philosophical conundrum (2013), which I cannot find in an accessible format.

His books are short, funny non-fiction. They are an interesting way into philosophical thought, which generally has a reputation for being a bit dry.