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Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away Hardcover – March 4, 2014

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Rebecca Goldstein (Author)
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4.2 out of 5 stars 171 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Pantheon; 1st Printing edition (March 4, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307378195
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307378194
  • Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.4 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (171 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #344,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsPhilosophizing with Plato and with Rebecca Goldstein
By Robin Friedman HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on February 1, 2014
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. In her new book, "Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away" (2014) Rebecca Goldstein examines the continuous nature of philosophical questioning through a partly expository partly fictional presentation of the thought of the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato. The twentieth century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead observed that all Western philosophy basically constitutes a series of "footnotes to Plato".

Rebecca Goldstein serves as both author and guide in this latest "footnote to Plato". One can only be humbled by her range of learning and her literary skill. Goldstein, a MacArthur Fellow, has written philosophical studies, including a book about Spinoza, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Jewish Encounters) and philosophical novels, most recently "36 Arguments for the Existence of God". 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction (Vintage Contemporaries) She combines philosophy, fiction, and much else in this book. It is rare that a thinker can write with such scholarship and insight on diverse, difficult subjects such as ancient philosophy and history, popular culture, Spinoza, and the mathematical philosopher Kurt Godel. Goldstein does so with a breathtaking ease.

Goldstein aims to show how philosophy, in the face of its many detractors, remains of critical importance.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsHow Is Plato Relevant in the Crowd-Sourcing Age of the Internet?
By M. JEFFREY MCMAHON TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on March 3, 2014
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
We can thank Rebecca Newberger Goldstein for spending her youth reading hundreds of science fiction novels for coming up for the premise of Plato at the Googleplex. Goldstein says science fiction novels required that you accept one absurd premise and then the rest of the novel had to obey common logic. That’s what she’s done here: She’s plucked Plato from around 400 B.C.E. and placed him in think tank discussions, Google headquarters, and cable TV talking heads debates to show, not only did Plato set the groundwork for rigorous debate, but that he is as relevant today as he ever was.

Goldstein’s book is no gushing iconic portrait of Plato. She makes it clear that he was imperfect, partly for living in a time that was in the dark ages scientifically.

With powerful intellectual rigor, Goldstein explains in the first chapter Plato’s place in history and why Plato’s argument for making the abstract as relevant as the concrete. Then in the next chapter Plato argues with a technophile at a chic bar in San Francisco about how arguments are made. The technophile believes in the democracy of the Internet and crowd-sourcing, using Google as a “rolling plebiscite.” but finds his arguments refuted by Plato. The great philosopher also demarcates the difference between “Google information” and real knowledge.

My favorite passage is Plato describing Internet niche websites in terms of the Myth of the Cave, with a fragmented society only listening to its own points of view. “People are all chained to their own points of view so they can’t share knowledge . . .”

For a book that dissects the folly of talking head TV and radio, the Ethical Answers Search Engine, and ideas of democracy in the technological age, Goldstein has written an ambitious, heady primer. Recommended.
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5.0 out of 5 starsIf you worried that this might be "Plato For Dummies", you'll be pleasantly surprised.
By Geoff Arnold VINE VOICE on February 28, 2014
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Unless "For Dummies" is all you want out of life.

I've read all of Rebecca Goldstein's previous works; I've attended talks by her; I guess you can call me a fan. However when I heard about this book, I was hesitant. I am not one of those who regards all of philosophy as a commentary on Plato; I think he got some important things VERY wrong, and that the history of philosophy has been something of a twelve-step recovery from his influence. If pressed, I would prefer to divide philosophy into Pre-Hume and Post-Hume.

Rebecca Goldstein has made me rethink my position. And she has done so using a strange, hard-to-pigeonhole work which is deeply scholarly and whimsical at the same time.

Recommended.
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5.0 out of 5 starsWinning combination of serious analysis of Plato with imaginary dialogues of Plato with moderns
By Timothy J. Bartik on March 22, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is a tremendous book. The excerpts that have been published various places really don't do it justice. This is NOT "Plato for Dummies", but rather a very serious book explaining Plato's philosophy.

The book includes several "cute" sections where Plato visits Google, helps an advice columnist advise people on problems with their love life, debates a cable news character, shares the stage with a Tiger mother character and a psychoanalyst to discuss child upbringing, and debates free will with a neuroscientist.

These sections are good, and amusing, and extensively use quotes from various dialogues -- most of Plato's speeches are not made up by Goldstein, but are taken from his writings. For example, much of what Plato says to the cable news character is actually taken from the Platonic dialogue called the Gorgias, in which the character Socrates addresses a character who is very similar to some modern cable news personalities. So this chapter actually summarizes and redoes the Gorgias dialogue, which is both enlightening and amusing.

However, most of the content of the book is not these fantasy sections. Most of the chapters of the book are instead a straightforward exposition by Goldstein of what Plato's philosophy is, how it is based in the culture of ancient Greece yet deviated significantly from that culture and modified it for the better, how it is distinct from Judeo-Christian and other religious approaches to the "meaning of life", and how it influenced subsequent philosophy in the Western world, and in particular the liberal philosophies that came out of the Enlightenment.

I believe that this book is perhaps one of the best introductions to Plato for modern readers that I have seen.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA very fine read. Never knew Plato was so well informed ...

A very fine read. Never knew Plato was so well informed about modern times.

Published 2 months ago by cwcarlson@msn.com
1.0 out of 5 starsso I feel like I have to say somthing

I don't really do comments, but this book really really pisses me off, so I feel like I have to say somthing.
Ms. Read more

Published 2 months ago by milopclee
5.0 out of 5 starsHey, Plato, glad to see you're still relevant!

Well written, fascinating, funny, real...

Published 2 months ago by bjezl
3.0 out of 5 starsPlato still underwhelms

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think the author did about as good a job as possible presenting Plato's views in a positive light. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Charles Grayson
1.0 out of 5 starsRead only if you love philosophy.

Difficult to enjoy..not a fun read.

Published 4 months ago by Kathy
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Wonderful book, just as good as everything else this author has written!!!

Published 5 months ago by Stephen B. Seidman
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

One of the most interesting books on Plato's contribution to Western thinking

Published 5 months ago by Edward Lay
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat way to make philosophy relevant for modern readers

Great way to make philosophy relevant for modern readers! The stories were engaging and witty; the characters and philosophical insights were well depicted

Published 7 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsPlato reimagined for our times

Who knew philosophy could be so much fun? Rebecca Newberger Goldstein argues persuasively for the continuing relevance of philosophy to our modern age. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Melissa Embry
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat topic, questionable format

In a time when philosophy is routinely disparaged and/or dismissed, it is refreshing to see a defense of the discipline that highlights its indispensability to all aspects of our... Read more

Published 8 months ago by wolvie05

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