Is there any point in doing a nice thing if you can’t flaunt it on social media? Can we ever know what it’s like to be a bat? If we know Cinderella isn’t real, why do we care about whether or not she marries the prince? In this episode Kate is joined by Jonny Thomson, the man behind the popular Instagram account @philosophyminis, and a bestselling book of the same name. With a new title out, Mini Big Ideas, it seemed the perfect time to catch up with him and consider the philosophical ideas that lie behind three works of fiction: The Death of Yvan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy, Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Just what connects these three titles? Listen in to find out, plus a few more book recommendations. All that, plus discover ‘the gap’, and how knowing about it might change your life, and the benefits of scepticism.
Listen via the media player above, or your preferred podcast player with this podfollow link.
Book list
On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy (and in particular the Peter Carson translation)
Death and the Penguin by Andrei Kurkov
Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Leonard & Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer
Metaphysical Animals by Rachel Wiseman and Claire MacCumhaill
Philosopher Queens by Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting
Mini Philosophy and Mini Big Ideas by Jonny Thomson
Notes
Find Jonny on Instagram @philosophyminis
Transcript
[coming soon]
