The Philosopher At The End Of The Universe
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"'It's Schopenhauer and the will. It's Plato, it's Hume, Baudrillard and the concept of the Nietzschean superman!' Keanu Reeves on The Matrix"
Book Description
New edition packed with good old-fashioned, high-octane, high body-count, alien ass-kicking, robot-wrecking philosophy!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book! For ages I had a passing interest in philosophy but never had the time to really grasp it's basics. This book allowed me to do so while still enjoying a great read. Rowlands explanations are fantastic and what surprised me was the humour that is littered throughout the book. I can honestly say that I will never look at Arnold Schwarzenegger in the same light again. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, it is a book that will make you look at some of your favourite movies in an entirely different way. I just hope that there is a follow before long!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am relatively new to philosophy and really enjoyed this book.Subjects that had been covered in my lectures finally started to make sense and I found revising much easier , I no longer needed to learn things off by heart as I understood them and just had to think back to the movies if I got confused.Incidently , my boyfriend loved the book aswell even though he had never read any philosophy before. Definately looking forward to the follow up.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The concept of the book, explaining philosophy through sci-fi films sounds good, especially to me as it combined something I knew well (sci fi) with something I wanted to learn about (philosophy).
In the actual course of the book, the chapters begin with a retelling of the film's story, then analyse some philisophical theme that the author has decided is related. In actuality, the discussion usually strays far from the film and one wonders what the point of the 'schi-phi' gimmick was; however the films do serve as useful examples for Mark's discussions and get one thinking in the right frame of mind beforehand. (It also pointed me towards some good films.)
The book, however, is excellent as an introduction to philosophy. I was a veteran 'armchair philosopher' beforehand but reading this book got me to think my ideas through in a more consistent fashion, and introduced me to the major ideas and characters of philosophy. It covers most of the major questions in philosophy (the ones that actually interest people, anyway) and goes over the basic arguments for the different views surrounding them. It's a credit that Mark makes his writing so clear, to the point and is low on any technical terms, making this a very easy read and allowing the basic ideas to be understood very easily.
Obviously not every point of view can be adressed, and in a book of this size he must gloss over the counter-arguments and answers to his claims. It's very likely that the reader will disagree with some of his conclusions, however one gets the feeling from reading this book that this is encouraged, and not that Mark is in possesion of some divine, inarguable wisdom. One is instead inspired to do some more research on points one finds interesting in the book (I thought Mark hadn't given a good answer to compatibilism, and reading more about it, i think it's a better answer than his of determinism, for one.)
The last word I can say about this book is: Sometimes I see on the internet some 'philisophical' debate or dissertation, where the author seems completely oblivious to some contrary argument or POV, and I think 'Hey! That was in the first book on philosophy I ever read!'
In the actual course of the book, the chapters begin with a retelling of the film's story, then analyse some philisophical theme that the author has decided is related. In actuality, the discussion usually strays far from the film and one wonders what the point of the 'schi-phi' gimmick was; however the films do serve as useful examples for Mark's discussions and get one thinking in the right frame of mind beforehand. (It also pointed me towards some good films.)
The book, however, is excellent as an introduction to philosophy. I was a veteran 'armchair philosopher' beforehand but reading this book got me to think my ideas through in a more consistent fashion, and introduced me to the major ideas and characters of philosophy. It covers most of the major questions in philosophy (the ones that actually interest people, anyway) and goes over the basic arguments for the different views surrounding them. It's a credit that Mark makes his writing so clear, to the point and is low on any technical terms, making this a very easy read and allowing the basic ideas to be understood very easily.
Obviously not every point of view can be adressed, and in a book of this size he must gloss over the counter-arguments and answers to his claims. It's very likely that the reader will disagree with some of his conclusions, however one gets the feeling from reading this book that this is encouraged, and not that Mark is in possesion of some divine, inarguable wisdom. One is instead inspired to do some more research on points one finds interesting in the book (I thought Mark hadn't given a good answer to compatibilism, and reading more about it, i think it's a better answer than his of determinism, for one.)
The last word I can say about this book is: Sometimes I see on the internet some 'philisophical' debate or dissertation, where the author seems completely oblivious to some contrary argument or POV, and I think 'Hey! That was in the first book on philosophy I ever read!'
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Philosophy that's accessible to all.
I was a newcomer to philosophy when I read this book, but I do love a classic sci-fi film. I therefore think this is a great pop-culture way to discuss philosophical ideas that... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2008 by J. Duducu
Easy read philosophy - deep, thought-provoking and entertaining
Overall a really great introduction to some of the more difficult philosophical questions. Reading phisosophy can be a very tedious slog - this book shows that a dry and academic... Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2007 by molari
Philosopher over here...
All I can say to Mark Rowlands is one should not be so hasty to resume a producers seat before there is a director.
Published on 16 Dec 2007 by Ms. Chen
If a point's worth making, it's worth making well...
Oh cripes - Rowlands is the affable lecturer-type with a propensity for comedy swearing and recreational drug references in order to get "down" with the kids! Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2006 by jill
A bit of a gimmick ..... but really fun
"Philosophy explained through science fiction films", as stated on the cover, is a somewhat misleading introduction to what is an otherwise excellent book. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2003
Sci-phi!
This book is quite an interesting read if you have any philosophical tendencies at all. It is however quite flawed as Rowlands continually persists in repeating himself. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2003 by A. Tsang
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