Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington

Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington
by Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein

Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington
List Price: $18.95
Our Price: $5.14
You Save: $13.81 (73%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Daniel Klein, Thomas Cathcart
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-01-01
ISBN: 0810995417
Number of pages: 196
Publisher: Abrams Image

Book Reviews of Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington

Book Review: light, quick tour through a host of logical fallacies with lots of funny quotes and funny jokes
Summary: 3 Stars

I was convinced to read this book when I stumbled upon it at an airport bookstore and saw that it had (a) quotes from The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, and (b) funny story jokes. That was enough for me!

In this slim volume [just 3 CDs for the unabridged audiobook], the authors illustrate a broad array of logical fallacies (with fancy philosophical names like "denying the antecedent"*) using quotes from current politicians and lots of jokes (see Appendix A for an example). Members of the George W. Bush administration are the primary targets, although Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others don't get left out.

The quotes are funny and the jokes are funny. The book is light, quick, and enjoyable.

The philosophy provides a structural framework: the authors go through various fallacies one-by-one, giving a short description and then examples and jokes. One could probably learn something about philosophy from this, but I admit that a few days after having finished the book, most of what has stayed with me are the quotes and the jokes.

I listened to the unabridged audioboook narrated by Johnny Heller [just 3 CDs]. He does a good job except when he is imitating Dick Cheney or George W. Bush: Then, not so much.

* That may not be the actual name. I'm recalling here.

Appendix A: A joke from the book, retold by me

A man approaches another man on the street and says, "Jones, you've completely changed! You used to be fat and now you've lost all the weight and are thin as a rail. You used to wear nice suits and now you're wearing these rags. You even used to be short and now you're tall." The other man responds, "My name isn't Jones," to which the first replies, "So you've even changed your name!"

Summary of Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, authors of the national bestseller Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, aren’t falling for any election year claptrap—and they don’t want their readers to either! In Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington, our two favorite philosopher-comedians return just in time to save us from the double-speak, flim-flam, and alternate reality of politics in America.

Deploying jokes and cartoon as well as the occasional insight from Aristotle and his peers, Cathcart and Klein explain what politicos are up to when they state: “The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.” (Donald Rumsfeld), “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” (Bill Clinton), or even, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” (Thomas Jefferson, et al).

Drawing from the pronouncements of everyone from Caesar to Condoleeza Rice, Genghis Kahn to Hillary Clinton, and Adolf Hitler to Al Sharpton. Cathcart and Klein help us learn to identify tricks such as “The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy” (non causa pro causa) and the “The Fallacy Fallacy” (argumentum and logicam). Aristotle and an Aardvark is for anyone who ever felt like the politicos and pundits were speaking Greek. At least Cathcart and Klein provide the Latin name for it (raudatio publica)!

General Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Best Political Books of 2008 (So Far)
Goodnight Bush: A Parody ImageGoodnight Bush: A Parody
by Gan Golan, Erich Origen
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-05-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.96
Price in other shops: $14.99
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House, A: Humor, Blunders, and Other Oddities From the Presidential Campaign Trail ImageFunny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House, A: Humor, Blunders, and Other Oddities From the Presidential Campaign Trail
by Charles Osgood
Hyperion; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $23.95
How to Win a Fight with a Liberal ImageHow to Win a Fight with a Liberal
by Daniel Kurtzman
Hysteria Publications; Published: 2007-06-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.69
Price in other shops: $8.95
How to Win a Fight with a Conservative ImageHow to Win a Fight with a Conservative
by Daniel Kurtzman
Hysteria Publications; Published: 2007-06-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.70
Price in other shops: $8.95
How to Ruin the United States of America ImageHow to Ruin the United States of America
by Ben Stein, Phil DeMuth
New Beginnings Press; Published: 2008-06-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.24
Price in other shops: $14.95
Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington ImageAristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington
by Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein
Abrams Image; Published: 2008-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops: $18.95
Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq: The Experts Speak ImageMission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq: The Experts Speak
by Christopher Cerf, Victor S. Navasky
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-03-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops: $16.95
The Post-American World ImageThe Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.25
Price in other shops: $25.95
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) ImageFree Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
by David Cay Johnston
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2007-12-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.24
Price in other shops: $24.95
Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters ImageYour Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters
by Richard A. Clarke
Ecco; Published: 2008-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $25.95
Similar Books and other products
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions ImagePredictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely
HarperCollins; Published: 2008-02-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.77
Price in other shops: $25.95
Life of Pi: Deluxe Illustrated Edition ImageLife of Pi: Deluxe Illustrated Edition
by Yann Martel
Harcourt; Published: 2007-10-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.45
Price in other shops: $23.00
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) ImageFree Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
by David Cay Johnston
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2007-12-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.21
Price in other shops: $24.95
Coincidentally ImageCoincidentally
by George W. Rutler
The Crossroad Publishing Company; Published: 2007-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Age of American Unreason ImageThe Age of American Unreason
by Susan Jacoby
Pantheon; Published: 2008-02-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.47
Price in other shops: $26.00
Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (Popular Culture and Philosophy) ImageMonty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (Popular Culture and Philosophy)
by Gary L. Hardcastle, George A. Reisch
Open Court; Published: 2006-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.27
Price in other shops: $17.95
The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History ImageThe 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History
by Dan Karlan, Allan Lazar, Jeremy Salter
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2006-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Supremes' Greatest Hits: The 34 Supreme Court Cases That Most Directly Affect Your Life ImageThe Supremes' Greatest Hits: The 34 Supreme Court Cases That Most Directly Affect Your Life
by Michael G. Trachtman
Sterling; Published: 2006-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.67
Price in other shops: $9.95
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosopy Through Jokes ImagePlato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosopy Through Jokes
by Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein
Recorded Books; Published: 2007-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $11.77
Price in other shops: $19.99
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes ImagePlato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
by Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein
Abrams Image; Published: 2007-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops: $18.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories