Why are we passionate about this?

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein have been thinking deep thoughts and writing jokes for decades, and now they are here to help us understand philosophy through jokes, and jokes through philosophy. They like philosophy and they like jokes, not necessarily in that order. Best of all, they like combining them. 


I wrote

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between

By Thomas Cathcart and Danny Klein ,

Book cover of Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between

What is my book about?

A hilarious take on the philosophy, theology and psychology of mortality and immortality. That is, death. The authors pry open…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books we picked & why

Book cover of The Moviegoer

Thomas Cathcart and Danny Klein Why I love this book

For some philosophical subjects, a novel or play can convey more than an essay. Think Camus's “The Myth of Sisyphus" for conveying the absurdity of life. Well, ditto for Walker Percy's “The Moviegoer". One of the first American Existentialist novels, it also happens to be hilarious.

By Walker Percy ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Moviegoer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the 1962 National Book Award and one of Time magazine’s 100 Best English-Language Novels, Walker Percy’s debut The Moviegoer is an American masterpiece and a classic of Southern literature. Insightful, romantic, and humorous, it is the story of a young man’s search for meaning amid a shallow consumerist landscape.

Binx Bolling, a young New Orleans stockbroker, fills his days with movies and casual sex. His life offers him nothing worth retaining; what he treasures are scenes from The Third Man or Stagecoach, not the personal experiences he knows other people hold dear. On the cusp of turning thirty,…


Book cover of About Philosophy

Thomas Cathcart and Danny Klein Why I love this book

It’s one of the best and most accessible introductions to philosophy, now in its tenth edition. It’s also by our favorite college teacher.

By Robert Wolff ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked About Philosophy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Four Decades of Student-Friendly Philosophy



About Philosophy is an introductory text that covers all the major fields of philosophy in an easy-to-read language, interspersed with short selections from the major philosophers. It has been a best-selling leader in the field for more than forty years and it is written by an internationally recognized author of more than twenty books.


Book cover of Perturbations Of The Reality Field

Perturbations Of The Reality Field by A. R. Davis,

Thou shalt not go supraluminal.

When the spiritual and the physical universes collide, a cosmic mystery places humanity into a stellar prison where the inmates are dangerously nearby. Will mankind succumb to the same distractions as their alien predecessors; the struggle for survival, the quest for power, the fanaticism of…

Book cover of The Art of Happiness

Thomas Cathcart and Danny Klein Why I love this book

Epicurus gives hedonism a good name. The book is a guide for how to live and particularly well-suited to readers of a certain age.

By Epicurus ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Art of Happiness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The teachings of Epicurus-about life and death, religion and science, physical sensation, happiness, morality, and friendship-attracted legions of adherents throughout the ancient Mediterranean world and deeply influenced later European thought. Though Epicurus faced hostile opposition for centuries after his death, he counts among his many admirers Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, and Isaac Newton. This volume includes all of his extant writings-his letters, doctrines, and Vatican sayings-alongside parallel passages from the greatest exponent of his philosophy, Lucretius, extracts from Diogenes Laertius' Life of Epicurus, a lucid introductory essay about Epicurean philosophy, and a foreword by Daniel Klein, author of…


Book cover of Language, Truth and Logic

Thomas Cathcart and Danny Klein Why I love this book

It’s no secret that philosophy can often be murky. Ayer clears away the mud and shows us how to think clearly and logically about some traditional philosophical problems.

By Alfred Jules Ayer ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Language, Truth and Logic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A delightful book … I should like to have written it myself." — Bertrand Russell
First published in 1936, this first full-length presentation in English of the Logical Positivism of Carnap, Neurath, and others has gone through many printings to become a classic of thought and communication. It not only surveys one of the most important areas of modern thought; it also shows the confusion that arises from imperfect understanding of the uses of language. A first-rate antidote for fuzzy thought and muddled writing, this remarkable book has helped philosophers, writers, speakers, teachers, students, and general readers alike.
Mr. Ayers…


Book cover of Getting Dressed in the Dark

Getting Dressed in the Dark by Gabriella D'Italia,

How do you know the truth after the story you most trust disappears?

Self-betrayal, polyamory, adultery, and an unconventional life in a one-room, rural Maine schoolhouse ends in a crisis mirroring the larger, societal polarization and collapse of meaning. Compass shattered, an artist's wisdom guides a course home, revealing a…

Book cover of The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin

Thomas Cathcart and Danny Klein Why I love this book

The acknowledged father of existentialism actually makes anxiety interesting (if you’re into that sort of thing.) Not for sissies.

By Søren Kierkegaard , Alastair Hannay ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Concept of Anxiety as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published in 1844, Soren Kierkegaard's concise treatise identified-long before Freud-anxiety as a profound human condition, portraying human existence largely as a constant struggle with our own spiritual identities.


Explore my book 😀

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between

By Thomas Cathcart and Danny Klein ,

Book cover of Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between

What is my book about?

A hilarious take on the philosophy, theology and psychology of mortality and immortality. That is, death. The authors pry open the coffin lid on this one, looking at the Big D, its prequel, Life, and its sequel, the Hereafter. Philosophers such as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Camus and Sartre have been wrestling with the meaning of death for as long as they have been wrestling with the meaning of life. Fortunately, humourists have been keeping pace with the major thinkers by creating gags about dying. Death's funny that way - it gets everybody's attention.

Book cover of The Moviegoer
Book cover of About Philosophy
Book cover of The Art of Happiness

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,340

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 You might also like…

Book cover of Indicting the 45th President

Indicting the 45th President by Gregg Barak,

Indicting the 45th President is a sequel to Criminology on Trump in real time, continuing the criminological investigation into the former US president. It expands on the themes of political deviance, deception, dishonesty, lawlessness and lying.

In his second book, Gregg Barak considers the campaigns and policies, the corruption, the…

Book cover of The Battle of Cowpens, Reexamined

The Battle of Cowpens, Reexamined by Robert A. Ford,

The Battle of Cowpens was fought in an obscure field in rural South Carolina on January 17, 1781, yet somehow it had the power to change the world.

Cowpens began the process of unraveling the British war machine in America, a slide that ended in utter defeat at Yorktown later…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in philosophy, anxiety, and epicureanism?

Philosophy 1,943 books
Anxiety 223 books
Epicureanism 17 books