JACK BOWEN / If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers

"Imagine speeding along the freeway while your driver, Ludwig Wittgenstein, dissects and reassembles the bumper-sticker “wisdom” on passing cars. That’s the kind of trip it is to read If You Can Read This."--Tom Cathcart and Dan Klein, authors of Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar

"In the sense of being pregnant with meaning, this book has a baby on board."--Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great

If You Can Read This is a witty and entertaining exploration of the philosophical ideas reflected in the most popular bumper stickers.  Author Jack Bowen believes that philosophy is all around us and that something as ordinary as a bumper sticker can open us up to new ways of grappling with a wide assortment of issues.  He argues that (almost) every bumper sticker, no matter how offensive or seemingly inane, holds at least a kernel of truth.  

Jack Bowen teaches philosophy at Menlo School in Atherton, California, and runs the Stanford Summer Philosophy Camp.  He will be featured along with Richard Dawkins and Leonard Susskind in an upcoming documentary titled "The Nature of Existence."  A charismatic presenter, he speaks frequently on philosophy-related subjects.  His first book, a philosophical novel titled The Dream Weaver, was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller.