Jason T. Eberl

I had to force myself to finish. I really just wanted to keep my BSG high going after finishing the series on DVD. What you’ll find here is entry level philosophy with BSG sprinkled on top. By splitting the difference between the two the book becomes unsatisfying in both philosophic and galactic regards. Some of the articles are written poorly. Of course the ones I liked the most were about things I am already interested in: Heidegger, Zen, feminism, and transhumanism.Why isn't the ENTIRE show more book about transhumanism?There is another book with the same title and a book of academic essays about BSG I am going to try with hopes they will be meatier. If such books don’t exist yet, I’m sure they will be written in the future as BSG was one of the most intellectually stimulating shows ever on TV. show less

You can recognize a good philosophy book, you know them. They have an 8-point font and every other paragraph runs on for at least 2 pages. Until now.

THe Popular Culture and Philosophy series changes that. With Star Trek and Philosophy, several philosophers use the Star Trek universe to explore different topics in philosophy. They make great use of different facets of the numerous series and movies to discuss philosophical points.

For instance, Professor Harald Thorsrud discusses stoicism show more comparing it to Vulcan philosophies. He makes good use of the series, with a few dialog excerpts to drive points. Other topics include ethics of bioengineering, aspects of religion, the nature of time, and Lyotard's theory of the Differend, among many other topics.

The book offers good breadth with narrow depth, but provides enough depth in its choice of topics to give you a good taste of the subject. The book is light, yet full of information that is easy to digest. Any fan of Star Trek with at least a passing interest in philosophy should consider it for reading.

Care to discuss this book?
http://books.randolphking.com/?p=734 show less

I really liked the idea behind it. Each chapter was written by a different person with a different approach, and the quality was variable. I found it was sometimes quite repetitive, dealing with the same moments over and over but never getting very in depth (into either BSG or philosophical concepts). I feel like it could have benefitted from better editing.

Honestly I would have been happy with "Gaius Baltar and Philosophy" as he could merit a book all on his own, or perhaps one on their show more leadership and its consequences.

This is not a bad book but it also didn't wow me overall. It's quite specific so I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. For me it was a worthwhile read. show less

This book seems to be set up to introduce fans of Star Trek to the ideas of various philosophers. Since I usually find philosophy dull and meaningless, especially when you get down to individual philosophers, I didn't find much in this book attractive. There was one interesting essay on Deep Space Nine and problems of people getting along with irreconcilable differences. Unfortunately the philosopher highlighted in the essay, Jean-Francois Lyotard, doesn't really seem to propose any solution show more to this very real and pressing problem, so I wasn't any more informed on the subject than I was before reading the essay. But if you think simply liberal tolerance will do the trick, this essay might prove enlightening. show less