If Aristotle’s Kid Had an iPod: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Parents by Conor Gallagher is a new book from TAN Books that I believe has been released today.
This is kind of a cross between and introduction to Aristotle and a philosophy book for parents. He purposely calls it not a parenting book as he says he is not qualified to write one – I think otherwise though. As a philosophy book for parents I think it succeeds rather well as he takes the wisdom of Aristotle out of just the intellectual into the practical. Preparing your children for a life of virtue, true friendships, and happiness. As this book has a Aristotelian focus it doesn’t try to project Christian theology upon his thought. Though there is so much that integrates quite well as the Scholastics found. Human nature has not changed since Aristotle lived.
I quite enjoyed the format of the book and the way he presented philosophical ideas that are easily grasped. There is some humor in the writing which keeps it light while discussing serious philosophical ideas regarding human nature and living a life of virtue. The author also used various studies, statistics, and stories to support the underlying ideas. A summary at the end of each chapters goes over some of the main ideas. The theme of the iPod is used in these summaries which it calls a “Playlist” and overall I quite liked the layout of the book. “Aristotle’s Dictionary for Parents” at the end provides references to ideas in the book.
I thought this books succeeds quite well at what it sets out to do both as a introduction to Aristotelian thought and philosophy in general and what it means to our daily lives. If I every run across a time machine I will be sure to send a copy of this book back to my early self.
