How to Be
Life Lessons from the Early Greeks
Format:Paperback
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers
Published:4th Jan '24
Should be back in stock very soon
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£25.00(9780008490782)
This book explores the origins of Western thought through ancient philosophical inquiries, particularly focusing on identity and justice in society.
In How to Be, Adam Nicolson delves into the profound questions that have shaped human thought for millennia. He begins by exploring the nature of existence and the importance of personal agency in navigating the world. The text poses critical inquiries such as: What is justice? How can one remain true to oneself? These questions reflect a fundamental desire to understand our place in the universe and how we relate to each other in society.
The narrative takes the reader back 2,500 years to the ancient eastern Mediterranean, where the seeds of Western philosophy were sown. Nicolson highlights the contributions of early thinkers like Heraclitus, who pondered the interconnectedness of all things, and Sappho, who contemplated authenticity and self-expression. These figures emerged during a time when traditional beliefs were being challenged, leading to a flourishing of new ideas that continue to influence contemporary thought.
As Nicolson journeys through this transformative era, he illustrates how the legacy of these ancient philosophers has shaped our understanding of self, community, and the cosmos. How to Be is not just a historical account; it is a reflective exploration of enduring questions about identity and morality, inviting readers to engage with the philosophical roots of their own beliefs and values.
A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘What links all Nicolson’s writing, though, is a tireless and tigerish sense of wonder and curiosity; a bounding willingness to immerse himself and his reader deeply in his subject: life… I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that marries such profundity with such a sense of fun. How to Be delivers wholeheartedly on the promise of its vaunting title. It is like a net strung between the deep past and the present, a blueprint for a life well lived’
OBSERVER
‘This eminently readable tour of Greek philosophy from approximately 650 to 450 B.C. brings the ‘sea-and-city world’ of Heraclitus and Homer to life . . . [He shows] the early Greeks developed intellectual habits, chief among them the use of questioning as the basis of knowing, which laid the groundwork for Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and for how we reason today’
NEW YORKER
‘Wise, elegant . . . richer and more unusual than [the self-help genre], an exploration of the origins of Western subjectivity’
WASHINGTON POST
'Seductive… a poetic tour of philosophical thought’
SPECTATOR
‘Passionate, poetic, and hauntingly beautiful, Adam Nicolson’s account of the west’s earliest philosophers brings vividly alive the mercantile hustle and bustle of ideas traded and transformed in a web of maritime Greek cities.. In this life-affirming, vital book, those ideas sing with the excitement of a new discovery’ David Stuttard
‘It’s hard not to be dazzled by this book … No one else writes with the originality, energy and persuasiveness of Adam Nicolson. It’s like encountering the Greek sea. It takes your breath away’ Laura Beatty, bestselling author of Lost Property
ISBN: 9780008490829
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 34mm
Weight: 340g
384 pages