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How to Grieve: An Ancient Guide to the Lost Art of Consolation (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)
by Marcus Tullius CiceroAn engaging new translation of a timeless masterpiece about coping with the death of a loved oneIn 45 BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero fell to pieces when his beloved daughter, Tullia, died from complications of childbirth. But from the depths of despair, Cicero fought his way back. In an effort to cope with his loss, he wrote a consolation speech—not for others, as had always been done, but for himself. And it worked. Cicero’s Consolation was something new in literature, equal parts philosophy and motivational speech. Drawing on the full range of Greek philosophy and Roman history, Cicero convinced himself that death and loss are part of life, and that if others have survived them, we can, too; resilience, endurance, and fortitude are the way forward.Lost in antiquity, Cicero’s Consolation was recreated in the Renaissance from hints in Cicero’s other writings and the Greek and Latin consolatory tradition. The resulting masterpiece—translated here for the first time in 250 years—is infused throughout with Cicero’s thought and spirit.Complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction, Michael Fontaine’s engaging translation makes this searching exploration of grief available to readers once again.
How to Grow Old: Ancient Wisdom for the Second Half of Life (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)
by Marcus Tullius CiceroTimeless wisdom on growing old gracefully from one of ancient Rome's greatest philosophersWorried that old age will inevitably mean losing your libido, your health, and possibly your marbles too? Well, Cicero has some good news for you. In How to Grow Old, the great Roman orator and statesman eloquently describes how you can make the second half of life the best part of all—and why you might discover that reading and gardening are actually far more pleasurable than sex ever was.Filled with timeless wisdom and practical guidance, Cicero's brief, charming classic—written in 44 BC and originally titled On Old Age—has delighted and inspired readers, from Saint Augustine to Thomas Jefferson, for more than two thousand years. Presented here in a lively new translation with an informative new introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, the book directly addresses the greatest fears of growing older and persuasively argues why these worries are greatly exaggerated—or altogether mistaken.Montaigne said Cicero's book "gives one an appetite for growing old." The American founding father John Adams read it repeatedly in his later years. And today its lessons are more relevant than ever in a world obsessed with the futile pursuit of youth.
How to Grow a Human: Adventures in How We Are Made and Who We Are
by Philip BallThe award-winning science writer shares “a winding romp through advances in cell biology [that] pushes readers to ponder the boundaries of life” (Science).In the summer of 2017, scientists removed a tiny piece of flesh from Philip Ball’s arm and turned it into a rudimentary “mini-brain.” The skin cells, removed from his body, did not die but were instead transformed into nerve cells that independently arranged themselves into a dense network and communicated with each other, exchanging the raw signals of thought. This was life—but whose? That disconcerting question is the focus of Philip Ball’s How to Grow a Human.In this mind-bending tour of cutting-edge cell biology, Ball shows how recent innovations could lead to tailor-made replacement organs; new medical advances for repairing damage and assisting conception; and new ways of “growing a human.” Such methods would also create new options for gene editing, with all the attendant moral dilemmas. Ball argues that these advances can never be “just about the science,” because they are already laden with a host of social narratives, preconceptions, and prejudices. But beyond even that, these developments raise provocative questions about identity and self, birth and death, and force us to ask how mutable the human body really is—and what forms it might take in years to come.
How to Have a Life: An Ancient Guide to Using Our Time Wisely (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)
by SenecaA vibrant new translation of Seneca’s “On the Shortness of Life,” a pointed reminder to make the most of our timeWho doesn’t worry sometimes that smart phones, the Internet, and TV are robbing us of time and preventing us from having a life? How can we make the most of our time on earth? In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger offered one of the most famous answers to that question in his essay “On the Shortness of Life”—a work that has more to teach us today than ever before. In How to Have a Life, James Romm presents a vibrant new translation of Seneca’s brilliant essay, plus two Senecan letters on the same theme, complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction.With devastating satiric wit, skillfully captured in this translation, Seneca lampoons the ways we squander our time and fail to realize how precious it is. We don’t allow people to steal our money, yet we allow them to plunder our time, or else we give it away ourselves in useless, idle pursuits. Seneca also describes how we can make better use of our brief days and years. In the process, he argues, we can make our lives longer, or even everlasting, because to live a real life is to attain a kind of immortality.A counterweight to the time-sucking distractions of the modern world, How to Have a Life offers priceless wisdom about making our time—and our lives—count.
How to Ikigai: Lessons for Finding Happiness and Living Your Life's Purpose
by Tim TamashiroDiscover your reason to get out of bed in the morning with the ancient Japanese philosophy that &“leads to a longer and more joy-filled life&” (Elise Marie Collins, author of Super Ager). Okinawa, Japan is a tiny, tiny island south of the Japanese mainland where people live their life&’s purpose every day. How is it possible for so many to live each day in such meaningful ways? The Okinawan concept of Ikigai. How to Ikigai describes the lifestyle choices that have led to an island full of fulfilled, long-living people. Examples of Ikigai in action are often magical. Take David Michiels. David stuttered severely well into his adulthood. In clinical terms, his stutter was difficult to treat. But David started to work in a liquor store. Before long, his focus turned to one specific section of the sales floor: the scotch section. As he spent more of his days learning about scotch, he began to share his knowledge with customers. Eventually, David noticed that his stutter vanished when he talked to anyone about scotch. Over time, David&’s passion led to a new life. Today, he is a renowned whiskey expert, traveling the world tasting and purchasing whiskey on behalf of his employer. He feels his life is meaningful because of Ikigai. How to Ikigai explains a simple but abstract map for living a meaningful life. After reading this book, you will understand how to implement Ikigai&’s four directions in your own life: · Do what you love · Do what you&’re good at · Do what the world needs · Do what you can be rewarded for
How to Improve Your Mind
by Dagobert D. Runes Baruch SpinozaHow to Improve Your Mind is an engaging philosophical text by master Enlightenment thinker Baruch Spinoza. Dr. Dagobert D. Runes, the founder of Philosophical Library, and Albert Einstein were close friends and colleagues who regarded Spinoza as the greatest of modern philosophers. This edition includes exclusive commentary and biographical notes written by Dagobert D. Runes.
How to Improve Your Mind
by Baruch SpinozaThe Enlightenment thinker asserts that mental tranquility is achieved through knowledge of God in this brief philosophical treatise.Seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza was one of the most original and important thinkers of his time. His magnum opus, Ethics, influenced generations of great minds from Karl Marx to Ludwig Wittgenstein and George Santayana. In this earlier work, Spinoza articulates his view that life is best lived with the supreme happiness of knowing God&’s infinite love. By extension, all earthly pursuits—including money, fame, and sex—are mere distractions from the greater joy of the soul&’s quietude. This edition of How to Improve Your Mind is translated by the philosopher and founder of the Philosophical Library, Dagobert D. Runes. Runes also provides exclusive commentary and biographical notes.
How to Innovate: An Ancient Guide to Creative Thinking (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)
by AristotleWhat we can learn about fostering innovation and creative thinking from some of the most inventive people of all times—the ancient GreeksWhen it comes to innovation and creative thinking, we are still catching up with the ancient Greeks. Between 800 and 300 BCE, they changed the world with astonishing inventions—democracy, the alphabet, philosophy, logic, rhetoric, mathematical proof, rational medicine, coins, architectural canons, drama, lifelike sculpture, and competitive athletics. None of this happened by accident. Recognizing the power of the new and trying to understand and promote the conditions that make it possible, the Greeks were the first to write about innovation and even the first to record a word for forging something new. In short, the Greeks “invented” innovation itself—and they still have a great deal to teach us about it.How to Innovate is an engaging and entertaining introduction to key ideas about—and examples of—innovation and creative thinking from ancient Greece. Armand D’Angour provides lively new translations of selections from Aristotle, Diodorus, and Athenaeus, with the original Greek text on facing pages. These writings illuminate and illustrate timeless principles of creating something new—borrowing or adapting existing ideas or things, cross-fertilizing disparate elements, or criticizing and disrupting current conditions.From the true story of Archimedes’s famous “Eureka!” moment, to Aristotle’s thoughts on physical change and political innovation, to accounts of how disruption and competition drove invention in Greek warfare and the visual arts, How to Innovate is filled with valuable insights about how change happens—and how to bring it about.
How to Interpret the Constitution
by Cass R. SunsteinFrom New York Times bestselling author Cass Sunstein, a timely and powerful argument for rethinking how the U.S. Constitution is interpretedThe U.S. Supreme Court has eliminated the right to abortion and is revisiting other fundamental questions today—about voting rights, affirmative action, gun laws, and much more. Once-arcane theories of constitutional interpretation are profoundly affecting the lives of all Americans. In this brief and urgent book, Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein provides a lively introduction to competing approaches to interpreting the Constitution—and argues that the only way to choose one is to ask whether it would change American life for the better or worse. If a method of interpretation would eliminate the right of privacy, allow racial segregation, or obliterate free speech, it would be unacceptable for that reason.But some Supreme Court justices are committed to “originalism,” arguing that the meaning of the Constitution is settled by how it was publicly understood when it was ratified. Originalists insist that their approach is dictated by the Constitution. That, Sunstein argues, is a big mistake. The Constitution doesn’t contain instructions for its own interpretation. Any approach to constitutional interpretation needs to be defended in terms of its broad effects—what it does to our rights and our institutions. It must respect those rights and institutions—and safeguard the conditions for democracy itself.Passionate and compelling, How to Interpret the Constitution is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about how the Supreme Court is changing the rights and lives of Americans today.
How to Justify Torture: Inside the Ticking Bomb Scenario
by Alex AdamsFrom Batman Begins to Tom Clancy, How to Justify Torture shows how contemporary culture creates simplified narratives about good guy torturers and bad guy victims, how dangerous this is politically, and what we can do to challenge it.If there was a bomb hidden somewhere in a major city, and you had the person responsible in your custody, would you torture them to get the information needed to stop the bomb exploding, preventing a devastating terrorist attack and saving thousands of lives?This is the ticking bomb scenario -- a thought experiment designed to demonstrate that torture can be justified.In How to Justify Torture, cultural critic Alex Adams examines the ticking bomb scenario in-depth, looking at the ways it is presented in films, novels, and TV shows -- from Batman Begins and Dirty Harry to French military thrillers and home invasion narratives. By critiquing its argument step by step, this short, provocative book reminds us that, despite what the ticking bomb scenario will have us believe, torture can never be justified.
How to Keep Your Cool: An Ancient Guide to Anger Management (Ancient Wisdom For Modern Readers Ser.)
by Seneca James S. RommTimeless wisdom on controlling anger in personal life and politics from the Roman Stoic philosopher and statesman SenecaIn his essay “On Anger” (De Ira), the Roman Stoic thinker Seneca (c. 4 BC–65 AD) argues that anger is the most destructive passion: “No plague has cost the human race more dear.” This was proved by his own life, which he barely preserved under one wrathful emperor, Caligula, and lost under a second, Nero. This splendid new translation of essential selections from “On Anger,” presented with an enlightening introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, offers readers a timeless guide to avoiding and managing anger. It vividly illustrates why the emotion is so dangerous and why controlling it would bring vast benefits to individuals and society.Drawing on his great arsenal of rhetoric, including historical examples (especially from Caligula’s horrific reign), anecdotes, quips, and soaring flights of eloquence, Seneca builds his case against anger with mounting intensity. Like a fire-and-brimstone preacher, he paints a grim picture of the moral perils to which anger exposes us, tracing nearly all the world’s evils to this one toxic source. But he then uplifts us with a beatific vision of the alternate path, a path of forgiveness and compassion that resonates with Christian and Buddhist ethics.Seneca’s thoughts on anger have never been more relevant than today, when uncivil discourse has increasingly infected public debate. Whether seeking personal growth or political renewal, readers will find, in Seneca’s wisdom, a valuable antidote to the ills of an angry age.
How to Keep an Open Mind: An Ancient Guide to Thinking Like a Skeptic (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)
by Sextus EmpiricusHow ancient skepticism can help you attain tranquility by learning to suspend judgmentAlong with Stoicism and Epicureanism, Skepticism is one of the three major schools of ancient Greek philosophy that claim to offer a way of living as well as thinking. How to Keep an Open Mind provides an unmatched introduction to skepticism by presenting a fresh, modern translation of key passages from the writings of Sextus Empiricus, the only Greek skeptic whose works have survived.While content in daily life to go along with things as they appear to be, Sextus advocated—and provided a set of techniques to achieve—a radical suspension of judgment about the way things really are, believing that such nonjudging can be useful for challenging the unfounded dogmatism of others and may help one achieve a state of calm and tranquility. In an introduction, Richard Bett makes the case that the most important lesson we can draw from Sextus’s brand of skepticism today may be an ability to see what can be said on the other side of any issue, leading to a greater open-mindedness.Complete with the original Greek on facing pages, How to Keep an Open Mind offers a compelling antidote to the closed-minded dogmatism of today’s polarized world.
How to Know A Practicalist Conception of Knowledge
by Stephen HetheringtonSome key aspects of contemporary epistemology deserve to be challenged, and How to Know does just that. This book argues that several long-standing presumptions at the heart of the standard analytic conception of knowledge are false, and defends an alternative, a practicalist conception of knowledge. Presents a philosophically original conception of knowledge, at odds with some central tenets of analytic epistemology Offers a dissolution of epistemology's infamous Gettier problem - explaining why the supposed problem was never really a problem in the first place. Defends an unorthodox conception of the relationship between knowledge-that and knowledge-how, understanding knowledge-that as a kind of knowledge-how.
How to Know Everything: Ask better questions, get better answers
by Elke WissThe international bestseller that will sharpen your mind, broaden your perspective and transform your relationships._____________________________________________________WHY ARE WE SO BAD AT ASKING GOOD QUESTIONS?In an increasingly polarized world, asking better questions in our daily and working lives is a radical shortcut to personal and professional success. It can create space for us to rethink our positions, find answers together, and even change our minds for the better.Drawing on the lessons of Socrates and other great thinkers, practical philosopher Elke Wiss lays out an essential toolkit to help you:· Transform debates into dialogues · Embrace your doubts like a true philosopher· Ditch your ego and become an active listener· Discover an open and curious Socratic attitude· Learn Sherlock Holmes's powers of observation · Open conversations up or dig down deeper with key question types· Explore thorny issues and avoid classic question pitfalls· Face your fear of asking and start connectingThe right questions can unlock the answers to anything - and help you know everything, without being a know-it-all. _____________________________WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:'Read this book, it will enrich your life!''A disarming and urgent book in today's world!''A great book for anyone who wants to better understand themselves and others!''Everyone should read this. What fascinating conversations we would have then!''A clear and practical book for brave thinkers who want to start having better, deeper conversations.''I found this book so valuable! A real enrichment to my daily life.' 'What a gem this book is!''Highly recommended for anyone who usually gets bogged down in discussions, quarrels, disagreements that lead to nothing.''A ray of hope in a time of dispute and polarization.' 'Elke Wiss makes practical philosophy manageable for everyone. A must read!''A cheerful, unconventional book.' 'An inspiring, easy-to-read book, full of practical exercises to get yourself started right away. For me it's a must read!''Its powerful message urges us to connect more with each other and with ourselves.''Some books can actually change your worldview or your daily actions, and as far as I'm concerned this is one of them. I recommend it to everyone.'
How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali (Routledge Library Editions: Yoga #2)
by Swami Prabhavananda Christopher IsherwoodThe aphorisms collected in this book, first published in 1953, were composed by Patanjali, a great Indian sage, over 1,500 years ago, and here translated into clear English prose. The accompanying commentary interprets the sayings for the modern world, and in doing so gives a full picture of what yoga is, what its aims are, and how it can be practised.
How to Know Higher Worlds
by Rudolf SteinerThere slumber in every human being faculties by means of which she can acquire for herself a knowledge of higher worlds. Mystics, Gnostics, Theosophists - all speak of a world of soul and spirit which for them is just as real as the world we see with our physical eyes and touch with our physical hands. At every moment the listener may say to herself: that, of which they speak, I too can learn, if I develop within myself certain powers which today still slumber within me. There remains only one question - how to set to work to develop such faculties.
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
by David BrooksNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A practical, heartfelt guide to the art of truly knowing another person and fostering deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives—from the author of The Road to Character and The Second Mountain&“More than a guide to better conversations, it&’s a blueprint for a more connected and humane way of living. It&’s a must-read for anyone looking to deepen their relationships and broaden their perspectives.&”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes (Summer Reading Pick)As David Brooks observes, &“There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.&”And yet all around are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing essential questions: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person&’s story should you pay attention to?Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them and, in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How to Know a Person is for anyone searching for connection, and yearning to be understood.
How to Let Things Go: 99 Tips from a Zen Buddhist Monk to Relinquish Control and Free Yourself Up for What Matters
by Shunmyo MasunoFeeling overwhelmed? Step away from life's demands and free yourself up for what matters with this succinct and sensible guide by the Zen Buddhist author of the international bestsellers The Art of Simple Living and Don't Worry.Amid the relentless cycle of news, social media, emails, and texts, it can be hard to know when, if ever, you can take a break from everything clamoring for your attention. The internationally bestselling Buddhist monk Shunmyo Masuno offers a radical message: You can leave it all be, and, indeed, sometimes the best thing you can learn is how to do nothing. How to Let Things Go will teach you to:Lesson #2: Give people space—being caring and being nosy are not the same thing.Lesson #15: Remember that social media is a tool and nothing more.Lesson #19: Let a relationship come to an end rather than force it.Lesson #40: Think of letting things go not as throwing them away but as setting them free.Lesson #75: Make decisions in the light of the morning—don't rush into them.Lesson #90: Slow down and take more breaks.With these and ninety-three other practical tips, you can abandon the futile pursuit of trying to control everything and discover the key to a fulfilling social life; individual well-being; and a calmer, more focused mind.
How to Listen (Mindfulness Essentials #11)
by Thich Nhat HanhListening with compassion can solve our most pressing issues—across global politics and interpersonal relationships and within our own hearts and minds.In How to Listen, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh demonstrates how deep listening is a fundamental building block of good communication. But perhaps more fundamentally, listening is central to our practice, a basic ingredient to strengthen our capacity for mindfulness, concentration, insight, and compassion. Learning how to listen with equanimity to life itself, we generate insight into the true nature of our deep connection to all things. And from this place of understanding—when we know that we aren&’t separate—our capacity to listen deepens even further. With clear and gentle guidance from Thich Nhat Hanh, we learn how truly listening—to ourselves, to each other, to Mother Earth, and to the many &“bells of mindfulness&” that are available to us in each moment—is the foundation of our practice, an expression of love, and a solution to our deepest and most urgent large-scale conflicts. All Mindfulness Essentials books are illustrated with playful sumi-ink drawings by California artist Jason DeAntonis.
How to Live Forever: Science Fiction and Philosophy
by Stephen R ClarkImmortality is a subject which has long been explored and imagined by science fiction writers. In his intriguing new study, Stephen R.L.Clark argues that the genre of science fiction writing allows investigation of philosophical questions about immortality without the constraints of academic philosophy. He reveals how fantasy accounts of issues such as resurrection, disembodied survival, reincarnation and devices or drugs for preserving life can be used as an important resource for philosophical inquiry and examines how a society of immortals might function through a reading of the vampire myth. How to Live Forever is a compelling study which introduces students and professional philosophers to the possibilities of using science fiction in their work. It includes extensive suggestions for further reading, both fictional and philosophical, and examines the work of such major science fiction authors as Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, Larry Niven, William Gibson, and Colin Wilson.
How to Live Like the Little Prince: A Grown-Up's Guide to Rediscovering Imagination, Adventure, and Awe
by Stéphane Garnier"All grown-ups were once children... but only a few of them remember it."–Antoine St. Exupéry, The Little PrinceFull of insight, inspiration, and gentle compassion for our complicated modern lives, How to Live Like the Little Prince captures the brilliance and wisdom of Antoine St. Exupéry's beloved tale. Through the eyes of the iconic Little Prince, Stéphane Garnier reminds us who we were before we grew up and teaches us to once again take time to live, play, and find wonder in the small, everyday moments.Few books have been as universally cherished as Antione St. Exupéry's The Little Prince. First published in 1943 and now one of the bestselling books of all time, the haunting, lyrical fable explores the meaning of life through a young boy who travels the universe in search of happiness.In How to Live Like the Little Prince, Stéphane Garnier revisits St. Exupér's story with a fresh, contemporary eye, urging us—as the Little Prince did—to preserve our childlike wonder by slowing down, dreaming big, and showing humble kindness to our planet and one another. In each chapter, Garnier beautifully conjures the expressive wisdom of St. Exupéry's storytelling, reminding us of essential lessons like how to be rebellious and incorruptible, how to leave your mark on the world, how to be free from the judgment of others, and how to let go and be alone.Featuring the iconic original illustrations from The Little Prince alongside memorable quotations and thought-provoking ideas about how we can apply St. Exupéry's philosophies to the increasingly complex demands of modern life, Garnier offers a stirring guide to rediscovering what matters most—at any age.A great gift for fans of The Little Prince, graduation, retirement, and other life milestones.
How to Live When You Could Be Dead
by Deborah James"Deborah James has captured the heart of the nation." —The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge @KensingtonRoyal"Brave, bright, beautiful." —Lorraine Kelly"Deborah's ability to find positivity in the darkest of places is an inspiration to us all." —Davina McCall"I was alive when I should have been dead. In another movie, I missed the sliding door and departed this wondrous life long ago. Like so many others, I had to learn to live not knowing if I have a tomorrow, because, statistically, I didn't. At the age of 35, I was blindsided by incurable bowel cancer—I was given less than an 8 percent chance of surviving five years. Five years later, my only option was to live in the now and to value one day at a time."How do you turn your mind from a negative spiral into realistic and rebellious hope? How do you stop focusing on the why and realize that "why not me" is just as valid a question?When Deborah James was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer at just 35, she learned a powerful lesson: the way we respond to any given situation empowers or destroys us. And with the right skills and approach, we can all face huge challenges and find strength and hope in the darkest of places.How to Live When You Could Be Dead, a Sunday Times bestseller, will show you how. It will awaken you to question your life as if you didn't have a tomorrow and live it in the way you want to today. By harnessing the power of positivity and valuing each day as though it could be your last, you'll find out, as Deborah did, that it is possible to live with joy and purpose, no matter what.
How to Live a Good Life: A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy
by Massimo Pigliucci Skye Cleary Daniel KaufmanA collection of essays by fifteen philosophers presenting a thoughtful, introductory guide to choosing a philosophy for living an examined and meaningful life. A VINTAGE ORIGINALSocrates famously said "the unexamined life is not worth living," but what does it mean to truly live philosophically?This thought-provoking, wide-ranging collection brings together essays by fifteen leading philosophers reflecting on what it means to live according to a philosophy of life. From Eastern philosophies (Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism) and classical Western philosophies (such as Aristotelianism and Stoicism), to the four major religions, as well as contemporary philosophies (such as existentialism and effective altruism), each contributor offers a lively, personal account of how they find meaning in the practice of their chosen philosophical tradition.Together, the pieces in How to Live a Good Life provide not only a beginner's guide to choosing a life philosophy but also a timely portrait of what it means to live an examined life in the twenty-first century.
How to Live at the End of the World: Theory, Art, and Politics for the Anthropocene
by Travis HollowayAssessing the dawn of the Anthropocene era, a poet and philosopher asks: How do we live at the end of the world? The end of the Holocene era is marked not just by melting glaciers or epic droughts, but by the near universal disappearance of shared social enterprise: the ruling class builds walls and lunar shuttles, while the rest of us contend with the atrophy of institutional integrity and the utter abdication of providing even minimal shelter from looming disaster. The irony of the Anthropocene era is that, in a neoliberal culture of the self, it is forcing us to consider ourselves as a collective again. For those of us who are not wealthy enough to start a colony on Mars or isolate ourselves from the world, the Anthropocene ends the fantasy of sheer individualism and worldlessness once and for all. It introduces a profound sense of time and events after the so-called "end of history" and an entirely new approach to solidarity. How to Live at the End of the World is a hopeful exploration of how we might inherit the name "Anthropocene," renarrate it, and revise our way of life or thought in view of it. A book on time, art, and politics in an era of escalating climate change, Holloway takes up difficult, unanswered questions in recent work by Donna Haraway, Kathryn Yusoff, Bruno Latour, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and Isabelle Stengers, sketching a path toward a radical form of democracy – a zoocracy, or, a rule of all of the living.
