The Philosophy Gym: 25 Short Adventures in Thinking

I have to admit, I was expecting a book with a title like "The Philosophy Gym" to be somewhat facile, if not downright silly. I only bought it because my wife found it highly recommended by The Christian Science Monitor and a few of the chapter titles in the table of contents looked interesting. But don't let the glib title throw you! Stephen Law has managed to distill a wide variety of classic, age-old philosophical paradoxes into a neat, fun, easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down volume that will entertain you for hours, and challenge and enlighten you long after you finish it. Whatever beliefs you hold on religion, vegitarianism, knowledge and morality to name just a few, prepare to question and requestion them; no one and no belief is imune. You will be torn between storing this book on your "favorites" shelf or loaning it out to all your friends (depending upon your personal level of generosity; my copy is nestled snuggly in my bookshelf, my memory suffers more than my generosity these days and I expect I'll need it for reference now and again).

I just recently discovered an interest in philosophical thought, and I found myself overwhelmed by all the resources available to me. I had no idea where to start when I stumbled across The Philosophy Gym. Nothing could have been more appropriate. It dives right into all the hot topics and gave me some foundational knowledge about how to approach those issues from a logical standpoint. It introduces the reader to basic philosophical terminology as well as several of the great historical philosophers and their famous arguments. Each topic is brilliantly presented in nice bite-sized chunks with suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter. I couldn't be more pleased with this intro to philosophy.

Law deserves all those puffs from academics. This is easily the best introduction to philosophy on the market. It's by someone who knows the subject inside out (Law edits the Royal Institute of Philosophy's new journal THINK). It's ideal for those new to philosophy yet, weirdly, many of the chapters also manage to take you to the cutting edge. I'm doing a Masters in philosophy and I still got a lot from it. "Could a machine think?" is the best thing I've read on the subject.This book is going to stir up a lot of feeling in many readers - Law doesn't mind saying what he thinks, and what he says will outrage many (like homophobes - see below), but that's part of the fun of it. For anyone with an open mind who enjoys having their preconceptions challenged it's a total blast. I've noticed this is fast becoming a cult book among philosophy students.

The others reviewers (January 9th and 14th 2004) nailed it right on the head. I could have written the first review myself.I too go back to this book every spare time I get. It is simple and yet quite thorough in its examination of each question's arguments. The author may be biased on some points but, due to the fact that it's so apparent, I think it only added some spice to the content. It pushed my intellect to go further and try to see WHY I disagreed with him and HOW I would retort to his arguments. And THAT's exactly the point of philosophy: open the mind, cultivate curiosity and make up you own decisions.Another book that is often referenced in this book is "Philosophy: the basics" by Nigel Warburton. It complements this one wonderfully. It's less of a pleasure read but it's also unbiased and VERY thorough for a small book. After reading these 2 small books, I had deep conversations and ended up feeling like a great philosopher myself!Since then, I've been unable to stop reading philosophy books!Have a good read.

If you are fascinated by "big questions" like: Is time travel possible? Where did the universe come from? Could a machine think? and Should we allow designer babies? then you'll find The Philosophy Gym endlessly fascinating. Each short snappy chapter introduces one of these great philosophical conundrums, and gives you the key arguments and concepts through amusing dialogues, entertaining little stories and weird and wonderful thought-experiments. The chapters can be dipped into in any order. It's highly readable, yet also genuinely educational. Judging by the quality of the reviews he gets from academics (some of which are on the back cover) Law knows his stuff. True, he let's rip against the young-Earth creationists, and some religious people will probably dismiss him as "biased" (he's pretty clearly an atheist). But I have to say he seems pretty fair and even handed to me. Whatever your views on life, the universe and everything, you'll find this a hugely stimulating and challenging book, and great fun too.