Pooh and the Philosophers : In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-The-Pooh [Hardcover]

John Tyerman Williams (Author), Ernest H. Shepard (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996 | Age Level: 4 and up | Series: Pooh

Discusses the idea that the ideas of all the great philosophers of the West, such as Aristotle, Plato, and Camus, can be found in the tales of Pooh, demonstrating that their philosophies can be seen throughout the varied collection of Pooh tales.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Pooh And The Philosophers ($17.99; June 1996; 214 pp.; 0-525-45520-5): Contending that Pooh, all his protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, is in fact a Bear of Great Brain Indeed, Williams drives an already frayed conceit deeply, deeply into the ground, proposing Pythagorean precepts that presage Poohvian pronouncements, spinning more parallels from Spinoza, digging up Heideggerian dogma, giving new meaning to ``exegesis'' by pointing out all the x's in the ``expotition'' passage, etc. Adorned by the subtitle ``In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-the-Pooh,'' and plainly intended to be a painless primer of the major western schools of philosophy, this tedious, undiverting analysis doesn't come close to Benjamin Hoff's The Tao of Pooh (1982), not to mention its great progenitor, Frederick C. Crew's The Pooh Perplex (1962). Enough, already. (Humor/novelty. 12+) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

All the wisdom of Western philosophy may be found in A. A. Milne's Pooh-bear creation: here the bear sage illuminates the ideas of great philosophical thinkers in an entertaining, fun account which combines numerous Milne quotes with enlightening reflections on philosophy. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Books (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525455205
• ISBN-13: 978-0525455202
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #466,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply wonderful - fun, informative and even cute!, October 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Pooh and the Philosophers : In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-The-Pooh (Hardcover)

Pooh and the Philosphers tells us what we all should have known by ourselves - the the Bear of Little Brain is nothing less than a great philosopher and a very smart bear indeed. People give me strange looks when I laugh oput loud while reading this hilarious and yet serious book on the bus but who cares? Besides, I learned more about philosphy from this book that from any university course..

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good concept -- but the joke gets old, June 22, 2003

By 

Larry Nielsen (Boise, ID United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pooh and the Philosophers : In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-The-Pooh (Hardcover)

This book was the primary text in a university workshop I just took on "Philosophy in Children's Literature." Being a big fan of Benjamin Hoff's "The Tao of Pooh," I approached the book with great hopes. Williams' tongue-in-cheek conceit is that the Bear of Little Brain is, in fact, the greatest philosopher that ever lived. All of western philosophy before Pooh was mere preamble and the twentieth-century existentialists were familiar with an heavily influenced by the "Great Bear."
I felt that Williams was more interested in being clever than in whatever other goal he had in mind. He presents the philosophical concepts too briefly and dismissively to be of much value. Worse, it seems he spends more space extolling the brilliant Pooh that really discussing how the (sometimes stretched past the breaking point) passages from A. A. Milne's stories relate to philosophies. Like any one-joke movie or TV series, it just got repetitive and annoying after awhile.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit of a far stretch, but interesting..., August 7, 2004

By 

waitingtoderail "waitingtoderail" (Roslindale, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pooh and the Philosophers : In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-The-Pooh (Hardcover)

This book is reminiscent of the writings of conspiracy theorists. The author takes a number of threads from A.A. Milne's Pooh books and interprets them in a way to turn Pooh into the greatest teacher of Western philosophy. At the start, it seems entirely outlandish, but halfway through, you will start thinking, "Jeez, I suppose that could be true.., it makes sense, I think." Here's an example. Pooh gets a balloon from Christopher Robin in order to reach some honey. Williams posits the theory that this is referring to the earliest Greek philosophers, who were greatly interested in cosmology. The balloon, he says, represents the round earth, floating in space. The honey, thanks to Pooh's secrecy surrounding why he wanted the balloon, represents philosophical truth. In other words, the realization that the earth is round is a step towards philosophical truth. However, Pooh fails to get the honey, showing that the path to truth is not so simple. "We must not expect our first endeavours to lead us to our goal."

While this book is presented in somewhat of a tounge-in-cheek format, there is little doubt that Williams is earnest in his belief, and this book could serve as a bit of a basic primer on Western philosophy as it introduces the theories of a number of great philosophers. However, this is VERY basic, and the book itself is a bit of a trifle. I'd say it's worth a read, but don't take it too seriously.