If Minds Had Toes, by Lucy Eyre

Ben Warner is dizzy with boredom, working for the school holidays at Cod Almighty, his local fish and chip shop. One evening a young woman walks in and, between mouthfuls of chips, invites him to visit her in the World of Ideas. Ben is excited, but suspicious and with good reason. The World of Ideas is the philosophers quarter of the afterlife, and luscious Lila has been dead for over thirty years (her purple velvet outfit should have been a clue). Being dead is only the start of Lila's problems. Her boss, Socrates, President of the World of Ideas for the last 2,109 years, has made a bet with his rival, Wittgenstein, that philosophy can improve your life. If Socrates loses then he'll no longer be President, and Lila will be out of a job. Ben has been chosen as the unwitting guinea pig, and Lila's mission is to prove to him that even his life, annoying sisters, adolescent blues, smarmy boss and all, can be changed fundamentally for the better through philosophy. And so begins a mind-bending guided tour of the big questions in life. When is orange not orange? Do we have free will? Does time speed up when your heart beats faster? Paperback, 281 pp.