A clear and well-curated discussion for readers new to philosophy.
An exploration of various philosophical approaches and how they may be used to approach modern challenges.
In this introductory work, entrepreneur, teacher, and consultant Kian, author of What Is Water?: How Young Leaders Can Thrive In an Uncertain World (2019), presents snippets of “the hard-fought experience, lessons, and thoughts of philosophers who did their best before you over the past millennia” and extrapolates applications for 21st-century readers. His aim is for his audience to learn different ways of thinking and choose the best ones to apply in their own lives. It addresses such broad concepts as overcoming everyday challenges, coping with change, building one’s character, and staying connected to reality, and regarding these subjects, Kian refers to many ancient philosophers, including Cleobulus, Aristotle, Socrates, and Heraclitus, as well as more recent theorists, such as William of Ockham, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Immanuel Kant. The section “Bruce Lee Can Help You Adapt and Overcome Obstacles” discusses the martial artist’s ambition to be “like water”—adaptable and continually seeking the best path. Some sections offer opportunities for self-analysis, including questions for identifying and assessing one’s values and virtues. Kian also encourages journaling to find patterns in one’s life and experiencing environments by using all of one’s senses. The book has a simple, accessible structure that’s easy to follow. However, by devoting chapters to individual philosophers instead of overarching themes, there’s some unnecessary repetition of ideas. However, this aspect of the text may be appreciated by philosophy novices. It’s also quite clear that Kian wants readers to engage with the text as much as possible, and to that end, he leaves room for notes at the end of each section.
A clear and well-curated discussion for readers new to philosophy.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5445-2438-2
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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