The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (Popular Culture and Philosophy, 36)

by Luke Cuddy

Book Overview

With both young and adult gamers as loyal fans, The Legend of Zelda is one of the most beloved video game series ever created. The contributors to this volume consider the following questions and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812696549
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Open Court
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

great buy

this book is worth every penny spend on it. this book will bring up and address and discuss in depth philosophical questions and might even bring up some more after you finish reading this book. totally worth it; a must have for a Zelda fan.

A most unusual collection of philosophical essays

The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am is a most unusual collection of philosophical essays in that their theme is drawn from popular culture - specifically, the widely beloved series of "Legend of Zelda" action-fantasy video games. Those who grew up playing the Zelda games know them for their minimalist stories, epic quests, exploratory journeys, and Link, the silent everyman fantasy hero. Individual essays include "Why Do We Care Whether Link Saves the Princess?", "The Hero with a Thousand Hearts: Death in Zelda", "Zelda as Art", "How Can There Be Evil in Hyrule?", "The Legend of Feminism", and many more. The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy is a quite serious and substantial philosophical treatise, that applies full force of the discipline to the long-treasured Zelda series of interactive media. "An important fact of 'The Legend of Zelda' is that there are no directions or divine laws... Many ancient cultures and the philosophies they produced did not express linear time; like the seasons, the tides, the rising and setting of the sun, time was understood a circle of life and death, abundance and death. With the inception of Christianity, which plotted a beginning (God created the world in six days) an end (Armageddon and Judgment), a different understanding of time and history flared forth.

Fabulous...

So they took this great game series and this weird thing called philosophy and put them together. Unlike what some will say I think it's the gamers and Zelda fans who will appreciate this book more... if you read it just for the philosophy you'll probably run into theories and arguments that you've already heard before... but as a Zelda fan you can read with the hopes of learning something about not just the game but life aswell... The chapters on the Tri Force and God and Evil are amazing... Even if you don't wanna read the whole book you should check those two chapters out.... It's a really good read...

Great book, Great series

I (over time) have bought this entire series for my husband who doesnt read, save for a few magazines or game guides in the bathroom. They are a hit, he devoures them! They are good books and I'd reccomend them to anyone, especially good for picky readers!

Relevant and Interesting

This was a fantastic read. If you're a Legend of Zelda fan, or a gamer of any sort, this is a great book to get. Even if you aren't interested in philosophy, this book poses some thought-provoking questions and links a lot of famous philosophers work to the land of Hyrule making it more interesting to those who may not have considered philosophy a topic of interest. If you're already interested in philosophy, this book helps give you a great foundation to a variety of work, touching on numerous subjects and providing information on the works referenced for further reading.