Truth Be Told

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love by Andrew Schaffer Review

Posted: 06 Jun 2011 01:45 PM PDT

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love

Written by: Andrew Schaffer
Published on: January 4th 2011 (My 21st Birthday)
Published by: Harper Perennial
194 Pages
Format: Paperback
Source: Romantic Times Booklover's Convention
Genre: Non Fiction

Synopsis
Few people have failed at love as spectacularly as the great philosophers. Although we admire their wisdom, history is littered with the romantic failures of the most sensible men and women of every age, including:

Friedrich Nietzsche: "Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent." (Rejected by everyone he proposed to, even when he kept asking and asking.)

Jean-Paul Sartre: "There are of course ugly women, but I prefer those who are pretty." (Adopted his mistress as his daughter.)

Louis Althusser: "The trouble is there are bodies and, worse still, sexual organs." (Accidentally strangled his wife to death.)

And dozens of other great thinkers whose words we revere—but whose romantic decisions we should avoid at all costs.

My Review
Great Philosophers Who Failed At Love was a witty look into a unique part of our history. The book almost struck me as ironic. These are all men and women who have been extremely successful in logical thinking and critical thinking, yet when it came to love, they all made terrible mistakes.

This book was informative but very funny to read at the same time. I liked that it gave a completely different view on philosophy and the philosophers.

You can really tell that a lot of research went into making this book. Even though each philosopher only has about a page and a half there is a lot of great information. This book goes back to some of the oldest recorded philosophers such as Socrates.

This book would make a really great gift for anyone who loves fun and unique facts, or likes reading about philosophy. You can even give it to someone searching for romantic advice, though some of these philosophers may not have the best advice, especially the guy who flashed people.

Andrew Schaffer was able to list interesting, well researched facts while still making it fun and humorous to read.