Fiction and Philosophy, with Jonny Thomson • Episode #150

Is there any point in doing a nice thing if you can’t flaunt it on social media? Can we ever know what it’s like to be a bat? If we know Cinderella isn’t real, why do we care about whether or not she marries the prince? In this episode Kate is joined by Jonny Thomson, the man behind the popular Instagram account @philosophyminis, and a bestselling book of the same name. With a new title out, Mini Big Ideas, it seemed the perfect time to catch up with him and consider the philosophical ideas that lie behind three works of fiction: The Death of Yvan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy, Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Just what connects these three titles? Listen in to find out, plus a few more book recommendations. All that, plus discover 'the gap', and how knowing about it might change your life, and the benefits of scepticism. Book list On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien The Road by Cormac McCarthy The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy (and in particular the Peter Carson translation) Death and the Penguin by Andrei Kurkov Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Leonard & Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer Metaphysical Animals by Rachel Wiseman and Claire MacCumhaill Philosopher Queens by Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting Mini Philosophy and Mini Big Ideas by Jonny Thomson Notes Find Jonny on Instagram @philosophyminis Find us at: https://www.thebookclubreview.co.uk Instagram @bookclubreviewpodcast Kate's Threads reading log: @[email protected] Newsletter sign-up: https://substack.com/@thebookclubreview Patreon and book club: We've made free episodes of The Book Club Review for 6 years now, and we'll continue to keep them free, and ad-free. But they take a lot in terms of time and resources so if you appreciate the shows and would like to support us we now have a Patreon where you can do that. In return you'll get weekly bookish recommendations from Kate, plus, at the higher tier, extra episodes and membership of our podcast book club, to be held over Zoom once a month on Sunday nights (UK time). We would love to see you there. https://patreon.com/thebookclubreview