The Matrix and Philosophy

By: William Irwin - editor

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Rick Adamson, Jennifer Jay Myers

The Matrix conveys the horror of a false world made of nothing but perceptions. Based on the premise that reality is a dream controlled by malevolent forces, it is one of the most overtly philosophical movies ever to come out of Hollywood. These thought-provoking essays by the same team of young philosophers who created The Simpsons and Philosophy discuss different facets of the primary philosophical puzzle of The Matrix: Can we be sure the world is really there, and if not, what should we do about it? Other chapters address issues of religion, lifestyle, pop culture, the Zeitgeist, the nature of mind and matter, and the reality of fiction.

An in depth philosophical analysis of The Matrix

An in depth philosophical analysis of The Matrix, that towards the end derails into an unhealthy feminist rant that sexualises anything and everything to suit the authors predisposition. Nonetheless I listened through it all.

I very much enjoyed the first few chapters. After that the book became quite repetitive with each essay overlapping the previous.

Way over my head

I love the Matrix, I love the plot behind it and understand that there is a lot that happens previous to the movies. I also understand that the philosphy behind it is very deep. This book was really interesting at first and then I just found it to drone on and on and on and on and .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz z z z z z z z z

Thought Provoking

This book consisted of multiple philosophy professionals giving their own personal views of how themes throughout the Matrix movie tie into the teachings of philosophy. Because of this "Multi-Author" format, some were better than others. The book links the scenes from the movie with anything from traditional Greek philosophy to feministic ideas of penetration in a male dominated world. Using parts of the movie as philosophy examples is a good way of introducing the subject to someone who may otherwise never get the opportunity to learn about it or even care about it for that matter. If you are the type that would like to think more profound thoughts than your grocery list or what's on TV tonight, then this book is for you.

Interesting but...

Interesting material, but the reading is rather flat, had trouble holding my attention.

Don’t bother

A bunch of boring essays tied together with quotes from the actual movie the matrix. Most of them are boring, overly wordy, and search for analogies and philosophies to try and make the movie relevant in a way that it isn’t. There are a few essays that are good, but the vast majority of it sucks. I found myself playing this audible book in the background when I wasn’t paying attention just so I could feel like I completed the entire thing. In reality, I should’ve just deleted it. It doesn’t do justice to the movie trilogy.