View Gallery

Editions

Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover?

100 Fresh Takes on Familiar Sayings and Quotations

By Julian Baggini

List Price: $15.95

May 4, 2010 | Paperback | 5-1/4 x 8-1/2, 224 pages | ISBN 9781582436043
Order Now From Find a local bookstore

A philosopher takes a second look at sayings, proverbs, and bits of homespun wisdom: “Every society needs its guardian of good sense: Baggini is ours.” —The Financial Times

These short, stimulating, and entertaining capsules of philosophy delve into the familiar words that live in our consciousness yet are rarely examined. Should you really do as the Romans do when in Rome and practice what you preach? Is the grass always in fact greener on the other side of the fence, and is there ever smoke without fire? Is beauty always in the eye of the beholder and is it actually better to be safe than sorry?

From the popular author of The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, cofounder of The Philosophers’ Magazine, and academic director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, this is a witty, deeply thought-provoking reminder that we should never stop asking questions.

About Julian Baggini

Julian Baggini is the editor and co-founder of The Philosophers' Magazine. His books include Do You Think What You Think You Think? (with Jeremy Stangroom), What's It All About? - Philosophy and the Meaning of Life, and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten.

Praise
Praise for The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten

"Hugely entertaining." —Publishers Weekly

"Thinking again is what this taut, incisive, bullet–hard book is dedicated to promoting." —The Sunday Times (London)

"This book is like the Sudoku of moral philosophy: apply your mind to any of its 'thought experiments' while stuck on the Tube, and quickly be transported out of rush–hour hell." —New Statesman (U.K.)

Praise for The Duck That Won the Lottery

"A curiosity cabinet of spurious reasoning and spin . . . Every society needs its guardian of good sense: Baggini is ours." —Financial Times

Praise for What's It All About?

"Useful and provocative." —The Wall Street Journal

"Looking for a clear guide to what contemporary philosophy has to say about the meaning of life? Baggini takes us through all the plausible answers, weaving together Kierkegaard, John Stuart Mill, Monty Python, and Funkadelic in an entertaining but always carefully reasoned discussion." —Peter Singer, author of How Are We To Live

"A work of popular philosophy that is simple, serious and devoid of ostentation. The question of the meaning of life has long been a byword for pretentious rambling. It takes some nerve to tackle it in a brisk and no–nonsense fashion." —New Statesman (U.K.)

"Informative, thought–provoking, and entertaining in the process. The book takes a refreshingly personal approach and offers an encounter with a vigorous mind at work, puzzling through the issues in a trenchantly argued but subtly reasoned way." —New Humanist

Related Products