The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten by Julian Baggini (2005)

Some interesting thought experiments but quite a lot of bizarre ones too. If it had been 20 experiments it would have been excellent!

This book provides a fascinating intro to the various fields of philosophy covering everything from ethics to political philosophy and beyond. It is written in an accessible style and it provides much food for thought by providing 100 thought experiments. I appreciated the sources given for the thought experiments which allowed me to find books and articles that treat the topics in more depth. My complaints about the book is that some of the thought experiments are so similar to each other that it feels like deja vu. And also, it would have been nice to go a little bit more into depth about the various topics but the book focuses more on quantity than depth. Still, this is a fascinating read. 4/5.

I love philosophy, and I love thought experiments. This book was on sale, so I grabbed a copy, and it’s everything I hoped for. It’s 100 short chapters with different philosophical thought experiments, but Baggini introduces each one with a fictional story. Then, he dives into where the thought experiment comes from and why it matters in our daily lives. I loved this book, and it’s going on my list of books to read with my son. You can sit down, read one a day or whatever you want just as a way to get your wheels turning and strengthen your critical thinking muscle.