Much philosophical work on pop culture apologises for its use; using popular culture is a necessary evil, something merely useful for reaching the masses with important philosophical arguments. But works of pop culture are important in their own right--they shape worldviews, inspire ideas, change minds. We wouldn't baulk at a book dedicated to examining the philosophy of The Great Gatsby or 1984--why aren't Star Trek and Superman fair game as well? After all, when produced, the former were considered pop culture just as much as the latter. This will be the first major reference work to right that wrong, gathering together entries on film, television, games, graphic novels and comedy, and officially recognizing the importance of the field. It will be the go-to resource for students and researchers in philosophy, culture, media and communications, English and history and will act as a springboard to introduce the reader to the other key literature in the field.

Order, elegance, beauty. Each of these tenets is represented by a fictional character—Martians referred to as “the three graces”—in this dystopian novella. In the Garden of Good and Evil brings together six scientists struggling to unearth the roots of Mars’ downfall from the utopian planet it once was. Led by Professor Lotus Latus, the trio of best friends and young scientists, Jin-Jin, Be-Kas, and Fos-D embark on a critical journey to understand the true and correct meanings of good and evil. They first ponder the basic evolutionary brain chemistry observing a deer in a garden of dahlias and other plants, observing how it instinctively knows what to eat or avoid. But one tree may be key to all understanding. Their interstellar exploration finds Jin-Jin returning to planet Earth on a reconnaissance mission to bring intelligence back to the team. They offer and analyze theories and one case study, in particular: why a strange tree called Uvariopsis dicaprio (actually named for actor Leonardo DiCaprio) with flowers growing from its trunk has become a symbol of authentic good on Earth—worthy of extreme measures to save it—while the annihilation of all living organisms including humankind is not only possible but clearly probable. Although In the Garden of Good and Evil is a work of fiction, author Donald Lang, PhD, plumbs the depths of science to underpin the imminent realities facing our world, particularly with regard to the disintegration of human rights (explored in his recently published treatise, Never Again: Why Human Rights Charters Fail to Fulfill Their Mandates) while climate change remains a threat, destroying the world as we know it. As humans, our failure to understand the real meaning of good and evil for the betterment of everyone, and how it relates to human rights, can be found within our brain chemistry that enables us to discern and embrace order, elegance, and beauty.

"Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None" chronicles the fictitious travels and speeches of Zarathustra, the founder of Zoroastrianism. Zarathustra contains the famous dictum "God is dead" and the concept of the "Übermensch" (overman or superman). In "Beyond Good and Evil" Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting dogmatic premises in their consideration of morality. The work moves into the realm "beyond good and evil" in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favour of what he regards as an affirmative approach. "The Birth of Tragedy or, Hellenism and Pessimism" is a work of dramatic theory which discusses the history of the tragic form and introduces an intellectual dichotomy between the Dionysian and the Apollonian. Nietzsche believed that in classical Athenian tragedy an art form that transcended the pessimism and nihilism of a fundamentally meaningless world. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, philologist, and Latin and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history. Because of Nietzsche's evocative style and provocative ideas, his philosophy generates passionate reactions. His works remain controversial, due to varying interpretations and misinterpretations of his work. In the Western philosophy tradition, Nietzsche's writings have been described as the unique case of free revolutionary thought, that is, revolutionary in its structure and problems, although not tied to any revolutionary project