A brief though well-considered guide to a wide range of the many schools of thought regarding contentment, joy and happiness.
A philosopher’s exploration of all the angles of happiness.
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Those are the unalienable rights of all Americans, but we don’t have a monopoly on the elusive hunt for happiness. Thinkers have long found the subject to be a difficult one to consider, French philosopher Lenoir (The Oracle of the Moon, 2014, etc.) notes in the prologue, and while many modern books proclaim to bequeath the recipe for happiness, it’s rarely that simple. Cynics may raise their eyebrows at the author’s slim entry into the canon, but as a guide to various approaches taken by philosophical and religious figures, it serves ably. Lenoir considers Voltaire, Socrates, Schopenhauer and others alongside their (often contradictory) views on happiness, which leads into further questioning and reflection: Do all people wish to be happy? Is there truth for anybody except the wealthy that money cannot buy happiness? As social creatures, is it possible to attain happiness without other people in our lives or despite those other people? What can be done, Lenoir asserts, to increase our capacity for happiness is to sharpen our attention toward the happiness we experience in day-to-day life. One can also keep various sociological studies in mind, with research indicating that our aptitude for happiness is 50 percent genetics, 40 percent from our personal efforts toward increasing our happiness, and a mere 10 percent from our surroundings and other external factors. Lenoir also explores disciplines beyond philosophy and religion, taking into account the benefits of cognitive behavioral therapy, the essays of Michel de Montaigne and the fiction of Michel Houellebecq. Throughout the book, Lenoir writes economically, devoting only enough words to particular thoughts and approaches as are necessary to stir questions in the minds of readers.
A brief though well-considered guide to a wide range of the many schools of thought regarding contentment, joy and happiness.Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61219-439-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Melville House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.
A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.
“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.
A lightweight collection of self-help snippets from the bestselling author.
What makes a quote a quote? Does it have to be quoted by someone other than the original author? Apparently not, if we take Strayed’s collection of truisms as an example. The well-known memoirist (Wild), novelist (Torch), and radio-show host (“Dear Sugar”) pulls lines from her previous pages and delivers them one at a time in this small, gift-sized book. No excerpt exceeds one page in length, and some are only one line long. Strayed doesn’t reference the books she’s drawing from, so the quotes stand without context and are strung together without apparent attention to structure or narrative flow. Thus, we move back and forth from first-person tales from the Pacific Crest Trail to conversational tidbits to meditations on grief. Some are astoundingly simple, such as Strayed’s declaration that “Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard.” Others call on the author’s unique observations—people who regret what they haven’t done, she writes, end up “mingy, addled, shrink-wrapped versions” of themselves—and offer a reward for wading through obvious advice like “Trust your gut.” Other quotes sound familiar—not necessarily because you’ve read Strayed’s other work, but likely due to the influence of other authors on her writing. When she writes about blooming into your own authenticity, for instance, one is immediately reminded of Anaïs Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Strayed’s true blossoming happens in her longer works; while this collection might brighten someone’s day—and is sure to sell plenty of copies during the holidays—it’s no substitute for the real thing.
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-101-946909
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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