Philosophy Made Simple: A Novel

by RobertHellenga (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $7.50

  Rudy Harrington has spent half his life in a rambling Chicago house, raising three daughters with his independent-minded wife. But his wife has died, his daughters have moved away and Rudy is restless. In what he interprets as a moment of transcendent vision, he puts the family home up for sale and buys an avocado grove in Texas. While adapting to his new vocation, new home, new friends he takes up a book - PHILOSOPHY MADE SIMPLE - and begins to struggle with Plato and Aristotle, Hume and Schopenhauer. His newly acquired wisdom is put to the test when he enlists the neighbourhood elephant to preside over his daughter's Hindu wedding and falls in love with the groom's mother.

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $5.36

  Rudy Harrington has spent half his life in a rambling Chicago house, raising three daughters with his independent-minded wife. But his wife has died, his daughters have moved away and Rudy is restless. In what he interprets as a moment of transcendent vision, he puts the family home up for sale and buys an avocado grove in Texas. While adapting to his new vocation, new home, new friends he takes up a book - PHILOSOPHY MADE SIMPLE - and begins to struggle with Plato and Aristotle, Hume and Schopenhauer. His newly acquired wisdom is put to the test when he enlists the neighbourhood elephant to preside over his daughter's Hindu wedding and falls in love with the groom's mother.

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $22.80

  Rudy Harrington is ready for a new life. His daughters are grown, his wife has died, and the idea of running an avocado grove in Texas suddenly seems infinitely more appealing than staying in his rambling Midwestern house.
  So a new life it is. Rudy heads off for a part of the world where he knows scarcely a soul. But he has a guide: a slender book called Philosophy Made Simple, each chapter highlighting the ideas of a different philosopher. No amount of Plato, Schopenhauer, or Sartre, however, can prepare Rudy for the surprises that emerge as he arranges for his daughter's Hindu wedding and gets to know Norma Jean - an elephant with a talent for painting - who is abandoned to Rudy's care and who leads him, ultimately, toward the prospect of a new love.