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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What is the sound of one toe tapping?, December 8, 2009
This review is from: How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most (Paperback)
Why is the art of clear thinking often so difficult to achieve?? McCarty has written an upbeat and multi-faceted gem of a book that challenges us to focus on big questions, some seemingly easy, but in reality elusive such as: "What is joy?" or "What are the essential ingredients of empathy?" or "Do you know the sound of your voice?" You can read the book alone, but it is meant for conversation; and, with its plethora of offerings of music, poetry and other media that support each chapter, you've got the makings of a great party! McCarty asks us to go deep to that often under-used place within us that begs to express itself. She invites us to explore, dance with and absorb, with the help of well-versed philosophers, ten Big Ideas. Besides an intelligent and often humorous discussion of each topic, we are also given "homework". "Listen and hum" invites us to explore music's take on the topic, whether it's Phish's approach to Belonging, or John Coltrane's free-flying saxophone belting out "My Favorite Things". How's that for Joy? In the "Recite and Write" part of the chapter on Perspective, McCarty suggests we read Wallace Stevens "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird". Why not? Look at each of the ideas with "beginner's mind", and, if you are like me, you will find whole new ways of expressing yourself, maybe even with new friends. I can see gatherings of budding philosophers engaging on levels way beyond that of most book groups, partaking in the abundant buffet of delicious resources the book offers that entice the soul to search with all its senses - and sensibilities.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good idea, faulty execution, August 16, 2010
This review is from: How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most (Paperback)
I know, I know, previous reviews rate the book as one of the best books on "practical Philosophy" ever written, however I believe it is not, here is why: let's consider the structure of the book: for each chapter or idea there comes a light introduction about how miserable and lacking our life is in that respect, then comes what this or that philosopher(s) said about it, finally there comes some truly superficial activities for working in groups. The problem with the first section (introduction plus exposition of the philosopher's thinking) is that it is very short and superficial, no real discussion of the idea, but just one point of view and that's it, even worse, sometimes this single point of view is explained in a poor, not even coherent way, as for example when the author talks about Jaspers' ideas on communication. Now, the section that disappointed me most is the homework: full of trivial, sometimes even silly suggestions that I honestly doubt even people who gave the book 5 stars would take seriously. On the other hand, the section called "Discussion Questions" does indeed contain some interesting and important questions, but wait a minute, should not the author -a philosopher herself- at least have tried to answer some of them? No, not in this life!, all that hard work is left to the reader. In general my view is this: the author is well intended, she really tries to put philosophy to the level of basically everybody but she did it in a wrong way, they way she did it makes philosophy look more like the cheap, good for nothing self-help books that can be found by thousands. The extremes are bad, hard, academic Philosophy is not easy to understand, with no practical application in sight, on the other hand philosophy as presented here is too superficial, trying to make Philosophy accessible is "accomplished" by paying a high price: a complete lack of depth, a lack of real arguments therefore, the result is not surprisingly disappointing. I honestly believe Philosophy do matter, actually whether we like it or not it is always with us because we live our lives according to a particular form of it (understood as a set of principles, values and shared views that guide our thinking, decisions and behavior and therefore our social project). In our case, we live under the unwritten philosophy of modern capitalism. Not being truly aware of this, not thinking about it in a reflexive, highly critical way so we can take action can lead us to our own destruction because many of its core values put the survival and the continuing functioning of the system right above basically everything else. Well, too harsh a review maybe, but in the author's favor I have to say that at least she made the word philosophy visible again, and perhaps made many people think, which is good of course. In general, her commentaries and advise are OK, the problem starts when she mixes it with light, too superficial philosophical arguments, in this respect the title and especially the editorial review are misleading, creating expectations the book does not fulfill.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe the most important book you'll ever read, January 1, 2010
This review is from: How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most (Paperback)
Many years ago I took a philosophy course in college. I was so enthralled with it that I considered becoming a philosophy major. That dream faded fast, however with each passing class as so many of the ideas and language I read in our homework felt like a mental bootcamp for those willing to work hard just to decipher it sentence by painful sentence. I wanted so much to be part of this club but it felt like an elitist group I could never hope to be a part of. So imagine my delight all these years later to find this book by Marietta McCarty! Finally philosophy is demystified in such a way that I can immediately understand and apply it to my daily life. It is written with a discussion group in mind but it is also a book you will want to keep by your bedside every night. It is a book you will read over and over again. A book like a friend that you can turn to in times of doubt or challenge and read a passage to calm you. A book that can give you insights, reassurance, wisdom, joy. This book is such a triumph! There is no book out there like it. It is not only very enjoyable to read but it is a very important one to have. Give yourself the gift of this book.
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