Thomas Cathcart

Tom Cathcart spent most of his career in health care, including directing a boarding home for people with HIV/AIDS in Portland, Maine. His old college pal, Danny Klein, enlisted him as co-author of a book about how jokes can illuminate philosophical ideas. To their shock, after being rejected by 40 publishers, "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar" became an international bestseller. Two more joint books followed. Now Cathcart has published his first solo effort, "The Trolley Problem, or Would You Throw the Fat Guy Off the Bridge?" Tom is married to Eloise Balasco Cathcart, who coordinates the graduate program in nursing administration at NYU.