The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight & Change the World (Nonpareil Book, 81) [Paperback]

Richard A. Watson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1567920845 | ISBN-13: 978-1567920840 | Publication Date: April 1, 1999 | Edition: Revised

This toothsome classic takes on the combined challenges of discovering the meaning of the universe and eliminating fat at the same time. Its topic sentence contains a promise that should sell millions: "In this book, I tell how to take weight off and keep it off." He doesn't stop there, but continues, "The book also embodies a philosophy of life. The weight program is the content of the book, the philosophy of life is its form." If Descartes had sat down to write a treatise on losing weight as a metaphor for maintaining discipline amidst life's vicissitudes, it would have read much like this.



Clearly, Mr. Watson has not written a low-fat, new-age, easy-fix solution for the weight challenged. After all, losing weight is hard work. But for our money, it is the most erudite, fascinating, and eccentric book ever written on the subject of weight control, a combination of common sense (driven by human experience), Cartesian philosophy, and the presumption that understanding the mysteries of weight loss and the universe are somehow compatible, even sympathetic, ambitions.



The author is (of course) a professional philosopher, and this extraordinary exegesis is at once a moral manifesto, a philosophical discourse, and a practical manual (although the chapter on "How to Live" and "How to Die" take it a few steps beyond the ordinary). We love this book for its humor, its iconoclasm, and its weird and wacky mixture of high seriousness and low humor. Read it. Even if you're not overweight, it's a book to treasure.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine; Revised edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567920845
• ISBN-13: 978-1567920840
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Watson taught philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis for forty years. He is known for innovative work in Early Modern Philosophy: THE BREAKDOWN OF CARTESIAN METAPHYSICS (Hackett Publishing Company) and REPRESENTATIONAL IDEAS FROM PLATO TO PATRICIA CHURCHLAND (Kluwer Academic Publishers); and in Environmental Ethics and Philosophy of Geology. He is the author of three novels on the theme of obsession: UNDER PLOWMAN'S FLOOR (hb Zepyrus Press, pb Cave Books), THE RUNNER (hb Copple House Books, pb Cave Books) and NIAGARA (Coffee House Press), which is about the first man to walk across the Falls on a wire, and the first person (a woman) to go over the Falls in a barrel.

For more than fifty years he explored caves in the Mammoth Cave region, and with Roger W. Brucker he is the author of THE LONGEST CAVE (hb Alfred A. Knopf, pb Southern Illinois University Press), which has never been out of print since it was first published in 1976. He and Roger contend that it will never be out of print so long as people read books of adventure.

THE PHILOSOPHER'S DIET: HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT AND CHANGE THE WORLD (hb Atlantic Monthly Press, pb David R. Godine) has been translated into nine languages. THE PHILOSOPHER'S DEMISE: LEARNING FRENCH (hb University of Missouri Press, pb David R. Godine) has been translated into Italian. The French translation of NIAGARA (Coffee House Press) was featured at the Saint-Malo Etonnants Voyageurs Festival International du Livre in 1997, where it won a translation award. COGITO, ERGO SUM: THE LIFE OF RENE DESCARTES (hb & pb revised 2nd ed. David R. Godine) was chosen by the New York Public library as one of "25 Books to Remember from 2002."

William H. Gass characterizes Watson's writing as genere-busting, because he treats serious philosophical themes in uncoventional ways.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars weight loss, common sense, and taking charge of your life, December 16, 2002

By 

John McAndrew (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight & Change the World (Nonpareil Book, 81) (Paperback)

There is so much to love about this little gem. The author speaks to you like a curmudgeonly uncle who takes you seriously enough not to coddle you or offer you comforting excuses. You want to lose weight? Fine. It's going to be the hardest thing you've ever done, but here's how you go about it. While everyone else is counting calories and grams of this and that, he cuts straight to the point: cut calories (900 may be too few for some people, but he gets your attention with the dramatically low figure) and exercise (again, 4 miles in 30 minutes may be a bit much to ask for some of us penguins, but he doesn't set the bar too low to be a challenge). His voice, while caring, is uncompromising. He is not sympathetic in the cloying manner of many self-help gurus, but in the manner of a teacher who is confident that you can do what you set out to do - as he has - and if you don't succeed, it's because you don't really want to. Some people have medical conditions that may contribute to weight gain, and his simple approach does not address those complexities. I think the author would suggest that you know enough to take care of yourself, which is what this is all about anyway. He removes the weight loss/diet genre from the gnostic realm of medical professionals, and returns it to the accessible realm of common sense, where it belongs. The book is a metaphor for how you can take charge of your own life, give meaning to your own life, without waiting for someone with credentials to tell you you're doing it all wrong if you don't do it his/her way. If you're looking for more complexity, you may be looking for a program that's so difficult to follow that it comes with its own built-in excuses. You won't find excuses here, but encouragement and prodding. Americans are not fat and slovenly because we've failed to eat nothing but protein or failed to find The Zone, but because we eat too much and don't get enough exercise. Do something about that, and then, with the discipline you develop in the process, go change the world, why don'tcha. Lose the weight, and get over it.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Might change your life - it's up to you, September 6, 2000

By 

J. Charles Hansen (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight & Change the World (Nonpareil Book, 81) (Paperback)

Watson presents a simple formula for long term weight loss along with the philosophical argument for why this is a worthy aim. A quite inventive concept that made a real impact on me. I doubt that I read much here that I didn't already know about the fundamentals of exercise/weight loss/nutrition/eating habits. Let's face it, we all know what is and isn't good for us. But this book coupled the simple rules of weight loss to the all important WHY to make the life change needed to allow us to lose excess pounds and keep them off.

Eat less - more healthy food - exercise more - I know all this. yet as I sit here today there is some reason I haven't changed my habits. The Philosopher's Diet did an excellent job of rationalizing why I should act differently.

Bottom line - this book has encouraged me to get and stay in the shape I desire much more than anything else I've run across, probably because it challenges the reader to take the road less traveled, and I like a challenge.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The ONLY diet book you may ever need, June 18, 2002

By 

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight & Change the World (Nonpareil Book, 81) (Paperback)

How many diet books have you read which also have sections on Sex and How to Live? Well, this one does and it is written in a no-nonsense fashion but with plenty of humor too. The author pulls no punches as he shares both his secrets for weight control and living well. This may be one of the most eccentric books you'll ever read, full of philosophical musics and random digressions, but it could also be the key to successful and long-term weight loss. Plus there is a killer recipe for bran muffins that not only taste good but provide plenty of fiber (another key to successful weight loss).