There Are Two Errors in the the Title of This Book, Revised and Expanded (Again): A Sourcebook of Philosophical Puzzles, Problems, and Paradoxes

by Robert M. Martin

Martin provides fascinating discussions of each problem or puzzle, and appends suggestions for further reading. Where the puzzle or problem admits of a right answer, Martin provides it in a separate section. But he also often ends with a question; as this book richly and entertainingly demonstrates, philosophy is as much the search for the right questions as it is for the right answers.

There are many new entries in this edition, including "God as the Tortoise on the Bottom," "Free Beer," "How to Win a Camel Anti-Race," "Watch out for Extreme Politeness," and "The Enormous Tiddly-Wink Tournament."

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Puzzles, Death, Science, Mathematics

566 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Sichefute · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتاب دقیقا همون چیزیه که ادعا میکنه: مرجع معماها، مسئله‌ها و پارادوکس‌های فلسفی
کتاب پر از سواله و خیلی به دنبال جواب نهایی نیست، دقیقا مطابق نقل قولی که خودش آورده:
«بهتر است بعضی از سوالها را بدانی تا اینکه همه جوابها را»
به طور خلاصه یه مرجع خوب برای فکر کردنه، که تو هر موضوع فلسفی سرنخهای اولیه برای تفکر رو ارائه میده
نکته جذاب ترجمه اجازه از نویسنده کتابه که انصافا ترجمه خوبی هم شده

[Paweł · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm impressed by the variety of interesting topics discussed in this book. I've felt like it touched upon topics from multiple other books I've read in the past.
I think it shows that philosophy is interesting and parts of it can have real implications in everyday life.
It isn't exactly a light book, even though humorous, it requires thinking and a fresh mind to process the content. It's something you should expect from the book about philosophy tough, isn't it?

[Allan Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is easy to kind of pick up and put down whenever you need to. If your at all interested in philosophy then this is a great book, if your only slightly interested this book might get extremely boring extremely fast

[Shantia · Rating 5 out of 5]

اين از اون كتابهاست. كتابي كه با طرح كردن موارد زيادي از زندگي روزمره اونها رو بررسي ميكنه.
فصل اول در مورد عمل گرايي.
فصل دوم در مورد برگشت به ميانگين. كه احساس ميكنم با اين دو بيت حضرت سعدي همخواني معنايي دارد،
گه بود كز حكيم روشن راي/ بر نيايد درست تدبير تدبيري
گاه بود كه كودكي نادان/ به غلط بر هدف زند تيري
فصل سوم در مورد نظريه تصميم گيري هست. و همينطوري ادامه داره تا اينكه از وسطهاي كتاب يهو مفاهيم بسيار نظري و سخت و متفاوت از قسمت هاي قبل كتاب ميشه. يعني انگار نموضوعات آسون نويسنده تموم ميشه. و تا قبل پايان كتاب دوباره اوج ميگيره و در اوج تموم ميشه. نويسنده بسيار شوخ طبعه و وسط خوندن كلي تقلاي ذهني براي فهميدن يهو ميخندونتون. بخونيد اين كتاب رو.

پينوشت: در صفحه ٣٧٣ در قسمت همه چيز نسبي است، پاراگرافي در زيرنويس اومده كه نه از نويسنده هست و نه از مترجم! به نظرم از طرف سانسورچي ها هست با توجه به مفاهيمي كه بعدش مياد. مترجم نتونستم تو اينترنت پيدا كنم اين موضوع رو ازش بپرسم. البته اين حدس تا اونموقع فقط يه فرضيه باقي ميمونه. اگر كسي مي شناخت ايشون رو و فهميد به منم بگه لطفا.

[Mario Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly interesting little book. It covers a lot of ground and it does a very nice job of presenting the various puzzles present in philosophic thought in an incredibly accessible manner. The format of the book is also quite well done, in that it typically presents a particular puzzle and allows the reader to engage in thinking about the puzzle, and its implications, before ultimately providing a commentary in terms of possible ways of viewing the issue. It's interactive and whether being read from a beginner's standpoint or a seasoned thinker's, there is much to consider here. The only critique i can offer is a minor one. I wish that a bit more time was spent discussing individual puzzles. At times it all feels rather rushed, and although that's to be expected considering the wide variety of paradoxes covered, sometimes less can be more. All in all, certainly worth a glance.

[ltcomdata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good thinking puzzle book. It enlivens parts of philosophy by concentrating on unexpected questions/answers. For the most part the author exposition is pretty objective. There are times, however, when the author makes unwarranted and subtle evaluations as to the relevenace of some arguments, thereby pre-judging the issues that the reader receives.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

For clarity: I did not read the "revised and expanded" version.

I really, really enjoyed this book! I thought it was an excellent mix of presented topics. I enjoyed the ones involving statistics much more than I initially thought, too.

Robert is also a pretty funny guy. At many moments it felt more like I was listening to an intro college course's lecture rather than reading a book.

I have brought up some of these problems (such as being a "brain in a vat") to other folk. It's a book that's easy to understand but also broad enough to keep you interested.

Since it's not my typical type of reading material, I found the citations included throughout the book to personally be useless. But it's formatted so that you can just skip over those, if you want. On occasion a cited work was also a little funny because of the title though.

Overall, I would highly recommend it. Especially if you've been into the "2 hours of paradoxes to fall asleep to" YouTube videos recently (not speaking from experience...).

[Javad9975 · Rating 5 out of 5]

شاید نشه عنوانی رو نام برد که این چنین فلسفه زندکی روزمره رو باهاش زیر سوال ببریم و رخداد های هر روزه رو تبدیل به چالش های فکری بزرگ
کنیم...کتاب خط به خط سرنخ هایی برای مطالعه بیشتر در مورد موضوعات مورد علاقمون میده و این بنظرم مهمترین کار رابرت مارتین هست...فقد تنها نکته ازار دهنده پراکندگی موضوعات هست
https://taaghche.com/book/10157/%D8%A...

[Frank Strada · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book. Something for everyone. The subtitle tells the reader much more about the book than the title: "a sourcebook of philosophical puzzles, problems and paradoxes." It's not necessarily meant to be read cover to cover. It's got everything from chapters on aesthetics, jokes, morality and god to math and logic puzzles. So make your preference. Just beware, the answers aren't always exactly clear and rightly so, because life is like that. I can see this as a sourcebook for an intro to philosophy class. It might persuade more people to take philosophy classes. But then again, maybe it won't. Read it, or at least some of it. And buy it, so that you can keep it on your shelf for future reference.

[Jeff Duda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coulda gone with 3.5*, but whatever.

This book is a philosophy anthology. There are three implicit units comprising the chapters. In order, they are general logic/reason with paradoxes, epistemology, and ethics.

[Yasmn]

مربی کراس فیت با طراحی تمرینات متنوع و پرانرژی، به بهبود قدرت، استقامت و انعطاف‌پذیری ورزشکاران کمک می‌کند و آن‌ها را در رسیدن به اهداف تناسب اندام هدایت می‌کند. https://ebrahimabdi.ir/%d9%85%d8%b1%d...

[Johan Kwok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what I was expecting. Interesting bits of philosophy, nothing too in-depth, but pointing some resources if you want to know more.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The set of all sets that don't contain themselves urges me to read Wittgenstein.

[David Nerlich]

The author says there is only one error in the title, not two. This paradoxically creates a second error that renders the title correct (but therefore isnt an error, but therefore the title isnt correct etc etc)

However he seems to overlook that there actually is a second error in the title - in the word "errors". So there is no paradox. There are two errors.

[Greg Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by Dalhousie University philosopher Robert M. Martin, this is one of the best collections of thinking puzzles that I've come across, both for the breadth of its coverage (more than 250 puzzles) and for Martin's refreshing willingness to admit that paradoxes and puzzles can be fun in themselves even as they illuminate deeper principles. To the intellectually curious, questions are often more stimulating than answers, and the habit of playful inquisitiveness should be encouraged particularly in budding philosophers -- that's the engine that drives the whole train. (Be sure to get this edition, which includes two sets of revisions and expansions on the original text.)

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a book meant to digest over a longer period of time, since often the topics are presented with guiding questions and little more than a cursory examination. I appreciated the humour imbued in this book, and found that the scenarios presented really got to the crux of the issue to which they pertained. Finally, the footnotes and citations were extremely enlightening, although I still found some sections to be rushed. It's still a fantastic introduction to many areas in philosophy!

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book covers all the best known logical paradoxes: "This sentences is false", the set of all sets that do not contains themselves, etc. However, it also ventures into many other branches of philosophy, using conundrums that are easily stated, but require deep thinking. Other books of a similar nature exist, but this one is the most entertaining and enlightening that I've read.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acquired Sept 10, 1999
City Lights Book Shop, London, Ontario

[Deborah Escobar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the puzzles and ideas in this book. It really makes you think, deeply. Wonderful, but take your time with it. Can't rush through this one, every chapter needs to be pondered.

[Isaiah Fapuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very challenging read, but enjoyable nonetheless. One to make you think, if you have the time to (!)

[Nicole C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good things to think about. Good conversation starters. I liked that the book was organized somewhat coherently.