I’m currently doing a lot of reading for the Perth Writers Festival and so my mind is turning to favourite books that encourage an interest in philosophy — here’s one in particular that is fairly new (released in 2014) and it’s also written by a woman. One of the things I’m aware of with the study of philosophy, the ‘dead white male’ tradition does dominate it, and the history of Western philosophy is particularly guilty in that respect. With that in mind, here’s a book by a living philosophical writer, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein.

Plato At The Googleplex by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is an imaginative work that takes as its basis the works of Plato and extends them to the modern era. 

How might Plato navigate modern dating, what would a Socrates say about current politics, and so on. It has letters, interactions and debates (Plato reaching for his laptop is an interesting development!) and has a solid grounding in the works of the philosopher and how they are relevant to now. 

While this book is rather significantly large, at about 500 pages, Goldstein divides the adventures of the book-tour philosopher into digestible chapters, raising the question “If philosophy makes progress, then why doesn’t Plato at long last just go away?” to investigate how meaningful critical thinking is in an age of technology and scientific developments. It’s a detailed but enjoyable read, and I’d recommend it to anyone who has delved into early philosophy writings and want to explore the relevance further.