- Brian Butterworth, author of What Counts: How Every Brain is Hardwired for Math.

Inspired by Wittgenstein's quip that a book on philosophy might consist entirely of jokes I Think, Therefore I Laugh explores topics such as misunderstandings of mathematics and science and of the relation between them, pseudo-science and its appeal, the uses and misuses of probability and statistics, humour and higher order endeavours and the interplay between narrative and numbers. This is a new edition of John Allen Paulos' second of six books and fans will recognise themes he later went on to pursue in other words.

A humorous look at everyday life with anecdotes on topics including family, faith, food, and religion.

Here Scruton explains the connection between good wine and serious thought with a heady mix of humour and philosophy. We are familiar with the medical opinion that a daily glass of wine is good for the health and also the rival opinion that any more than a glass or two will set us on the road to ruin. Whether or not good for the body, Scruton argues, wine, drunk in the right frame of mind, is definitely good for the soul. And there is no better accompaniment to wine than philosophy. By thinking with wine, you can learn not only to drink in thoughts but to think in draughts. This good-humoured book offers an antidote to the pretentious clap-trap that is written about wine today and a profound apology for the drink on which civilisation has been founded. In vino veritas.

This New York Times bestseller is the hilarious philosophy course everyone wishes they’d had in school. Outrageously funny, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... has been a breakout bestseller ever since authors—and born vaudevillians—Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein did their schtick on NPR’s Weekend Edition. Lively, original, and powerfully informative, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar... is a not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical thinkers and traditions, from Existentialism (What do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common?) to Logic (Sherlock Holmes never deduced anything). Philosophy 101 for those who like to take the heavy stuff lightly, this is a joy to read—and finally, it all makes sense! And now, you can read Daniel Klein's further musings on life and philosophy in Travels with Epicurus and Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change it.

What’s the best way to answer some of the biggest questions in life—questions like: Does God exist? What is the meaning of life? Is there a basic principle for all moral decisions? What is the best way to organise society? How do we know what is true? Are there limits to what we can know? Why do things exist? Is there life after death? Is there a design to the Universe? What is a ‘self’? What is beauty? What is humankind’s place in the cosmos? New York Times bestselling authors Daniel Klein and Thomas Cathcart have the answer: I Think, Therefore I Draw is a hilarious new exploration of philosophy through cartoons—a thorough introduction to all the major debates in philosophy through history to the present day. Packed with humour and loaded with profound philosophical insight, I Think, Therefore I Draw will delight and enlighten readers. Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein have known each other since they were philosophy students at Harvard. They have written several bestsellers together, including Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar and Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington. Cathcart is the author of The Trolley Problem, or Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the Bridge? Klein’s other books include Travels with Epicurus and Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It. ‘One is left marvelling at the depths the authors find in seemingly whimsical or simple sketches...A guide for those who like to smile wryly as they gently exercise their brains.’ Age ‘A breathtaking, entertaining and thoroughly digestible guide to some of the best thoughts ever thunk.’ Weekly Review on Everytime I Find The Meaning of Life, They Change It ‘A book with a lightness of touch that is also deeply serious and satisfying philosophically.’ Weekend Australian on Travels with Epicurus ‘You don’t have to be old to be won over by the charms of this intelligent, playful and moving book.’ Saturday Age on Travels with Epicurus

Ancient philosophers were very interested in questions about laughter, humor and comedy. They theorized about laughter and its causes, moralized about the appropriate uses of humor and what it is appropriate to laugh at, and wrote treaties on comedic composition. This volume explores themes that were important for ancient philosophers: the psychology of laughter, the ethical and social norms governing laughter and humor, and the philosophical uses of humor and comedic technique.

The Mirror of Laughter presents a theory of humor and laughter by examining their relationship to human behaviors. Kozintsev is especially interested in the relationship between biological and cultural factors that influence behaviors. He divides his work into four chapters, the first of which establishes a theme of the book, focusing on the study of meaning from the perspective of philosophy and psychology, while examining linguistic theories of humor. The second chapter examines biological data regarding laughter and the evolutionary origins of laughter and humor. It demonstrates the author's interest in studying humor objectively by detailing physiological reactions and underlying psychological issues. The third section on play, including linguistic play, distinguishes between orderly and disorderly play. While orderly play has no biological roots and is synonymous with culture, disorderly play is rooted in the pre-human past. The final chapter discusses the conflict between culture and nature and how culture has transformed the original semantics of laughter. Kozintsev seeks to understand the relationship between the biological, cultural, and social origins of humor and, from here, he seeks to create new understanding that only the alliance of several disciplines could provide. All of this is done while the author challenges many popular ideas of humor, such as that humor is inherently related to hostility. Originally written in Russian, this work makes great strides towards its goal, and it does so in an interesting and enlightening way.

The culmination of a lifetime's fascination with humour in all its forms, this book is the first in any language to embrace such an impressive span of authors and such a broad range of topics in French literary humour. In nine wide-ranging chapters Walter Redfern considers diverse writers and topics, including: Diderot, viewed as a laughing philosopher, mainly through his fiction (Les Bijoux indiscrets, Le Neeu de Rameau, and Jacques le fataliste); humourlessness, corraling Rousseau, Sade, the Christian God, and Jean-Pierre Brisset; the aesthete Huysmans, in both his avatars, Symbolist and Naturalist (A Rebours, Sac au dos, and other texts); the dramatic use of parrots by Flaubert, Queneau, and Beckett; Vallès and la blague; exaggeration in Vallès and Céline (Mort à credit and L'Enfant); the fiction, plays, and autobiography of Sartre; bad jokes in Beckett; wordplay in Tournier's fiction (especially Roi des aulnes and Les Météores). Five interleaved 'riffs' on laughter, dreams, black humour, politics, and taste, carry the enquiry into questions of humour outside of the purely French context, enhancing a book that impresses as much with its vivacity of style as with the breadth and depth of its scholarship.