Jokily philosophical reading: "Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates", by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

In the last review on this blog, after a particularly (and unjustifiably) long slog over Bring Up the Bodies, I said:  "I'm pining for a book that grabs me, a page-turner that needs to be read at every opportunity". 

So here I am writing about a book on philosophy as it pertains to death... Not really what I had in mind.

Not the obvious page-turning choice, perhaps, but - d'you know what? - it is a page turner, and I did pick it up whenever possible. Perhaps it's the jokes. Yes, the jokes help a lot... And the cartoons. For this is, to quote the blurb, "like the Intro to Philosophy class that you wanted to take in college but couldn't because it wasn't offered". The authors, Messrs Cathcart and Klein, are the real deal, that is to say they know their philosophy, being Harvard philosophy graduates and having written a lot (not all of it jokes), but feel the need to communicate it in a way which your regular guy (he's called Daryl, by the way) can understand. That means a lot of jokes and anecdotes.


Here's the back-cover picture of the authors, by the way.

No, they try not to take themselves too seriously, but, at the same time, as they point out, they are old guys and "the time is nigh (we have both recently attained our biblically allotted three score and ten) for us to take an unflinching look at Death and what the big thinkers have to say about it, so we're going to need all the laughs we can get." 

You might be surprised by the outcome. The book covers the big philosophers, but does so in a way that is considerably easier to follow (not always actually easy, mind) than the originals surely were. Of course, I have no way of knowing in most cases how much has been left out or even misrepresented, but, do you know what?, I think I trust these guys to give me a reasonable approximation. Besides, the interpellation of - actually quite funny - jokes, puts one in a well-disposed state of mind. 

The book ranges over questions like: How should our consciousness of death affect the way we live our lives? Would life have a radically different significance if we lived forever? Do we have souls? Is yours better than mine? Is heaven a place in time and space?... Hmm, as they say in the intro: "Death: you can't live with it, you can't live without it. What's a person to do? How about telling a joke? Hey, it couldn't hoit".

I should quote a joke, I suppose. I'll quote the shortest in the book (not the one that follows the quote above), because it's too much effort otherwise: 

After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said: "No hablo inglés."

On second thoughts, I will quote the first joke in the book (the one that does follow the quote above), because I just re-read it:

Millie accompanied her husband Maurice to the doctor's office. After he had given Maurice a full checkup, the doctor called Millie into his office alone. He said, "Maurice is suffering from a serious disease brought on by extreme stress. If you don't do the following, your husband will die. Each morning, wake him up gently with a big kiss, then fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant at all times and make sure he is always in a good mood. Cook him only his favorite meals and allow him to relax after eating. Don't burden him with any chores, and don't discuss your problems with him; it will only make his stress worse. Don't argue with him, even if he criticises you or makes fun of you. Try to relax him in the evening by giving him massage. Encourage him to watch all the sports he can on TV, even if it means missing your favorite programs. And most important, every evening after dinner do whatever it takes to satisfy his every whim. If you can do all of this, every day, for te next six months, I think Maurice will regain his health completely.  "On the way home, Maurice asked Millie: "What did the doctor say?" "He said you're going to die."

So is this a joke book? Well, it is and it isn't. But it is also a philosophy book, and, one can't help feeling, actually quite a wise one. Which is to say one that doesn't actually think it can answer any of those Big Questions, even if it has given you a lightning tour of some other people's Big Answers, but prefers in the end to side with the answers most of us find for ourselves, whatever they are. As the authors say: "If a heaven in the clouds seems to you to be the way the universe is pushing you, then, hey, what's the problem? Who am I to say you're wrong? I honestly hope you get there, and in fact I hope I can drop by there and see you sometime. Maybe we can kick back, have a beer and talk." 

When you've read the book, you'll see that that is not quite the easy-peasy thing to say as you might think. 

One more joke, the last in the book:

So Heidegger and a hippo stroll up to the Pearly Gates and Saint Peter says, " Listen, we've only got room for one more today. So whoever of the two of you gives me the best answer to the question 'What is the meaning of life?' gets to come in."And Heidegger says. "To think Being itself explicitly requires disregarding Being to the extent that it is only grounded and interpreted in terms of beings and for beings as their ground, as in all metaphysics."But before the hippo can grunt one word, Saint Peter says to him, "Today's your lucky day, Hippy!"

Recommendation: I liked it, readable, funny and, yes, wise.