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Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser |  | Authors: William Irwin, Richard Brian Davis
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 21.95
Buy New: CDN$ 15.85
as of 7/30/2010 21:47 CDT details
You Save: CDN$ 6.10 (28%)
Seller: Amazon.ca
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 116162
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 0470558369
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780470558362
ASIN: 0470558369
Publication Date: December 23, 2009
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
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| Customer Reviews:
Serious Nonsense June 13, 2010
S. Benders (Edmonton, AB)
I am a huge Alice in Wonderland fan. One who was a tad disappointed with the 'Annotated Alice'. I wanted to know more about Wonderland and the thoughts behind it. This book about philosophy and Wonderland in some ways fulfilled this desire. This book contains 14 contributions from different scholars, each of whom take different (philosophical) perspectives on Wonderland.
The good thing about the book is that it does offer a very wide range of topics: from a feminist view on Wonderland to metaphysical issues, issues about language or time and even thoughts on nuclear war and Wonderland. There are definitely a few chapters in there, while entertaining, that do not merit the name of philosophy, though.
The second good thing is that the book is definitely not a boring read. Most authors are very well aware that they are writing for an audience who probably doesn't really know all that much about philosophy. Most chapters are quite accessible and the authors endeavoured to really use Alice-like language and refer a lot to the Alice books.
The last good thing is that I actually got a few perspectives on Alice that I never had before.
Now for the downsides: the book is very diverse due to the multitude of contributors and topics. It's not one comprehensive view. Most authors only scratch the surface and employ very little philosophy to make a sometimes obvious point. Some authors seem unable to make any point whatsoever and sometimes even contradict themselves (e.g. "Alice is very Nietzschean in her exploration of Wonderland" and a next page explains how Alice certainly isn't Nietzschean because she wants to structure her experiences). Sometimes contributions come off as people trying really hard to make *a* point about Wonderland and philosophy and they really don't have much more to add, but manage to write 12 pages about it nonetheless. Several authors also put excessive effort in trying to make their contribution 'fun' to read. Lastly, while mostly low key, some difficult philosophical themes are also employed by a select number of authors, but only a few of them really manage to explain the elusive concepts they use.
So, would I recommend the book? I definitely do not consider it a waste of my time and I had fun reading it and got some new perspectives. That's all that it takes for you to go and buy this book without hesitation, I'd say. Just keep in mind that there's really not all that much philosophy, it's sometimes not all that clear and sometimes it's just plain silly. But then again, "we're all mad here". Enjoy!
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