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Life Is Hard
- How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way
- Narrated by: Kieran Setiya
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Pain, loneliness, grief, injustice...hope?
Life is hard—as the past few years have made painfully clear. From personal trauma to the injustice and absurdity of the world, sometimes simply going on can feel too much.
But could there be solace—and even hope—in acknowledging the hardships of the human condition? Might doing so free us from the tyranny of striving for our "best lives" and help us find warmth, humanity and humour in the lives we actually have? Could it inspire in us the desire for a better world?
In this profound and personal book, Kieran Setiya shows how philosophy can help us find our way. He shares his own experience with chronic pain and the consolation that comes from making sense of it. He asks what we can learn from loneliness and loss about the value of human life. And he explores how we can fail with grace, confront injustice and search for meaning in the face of despair. Drawing on ancient and modern philosophy, as well as fiction, comedy, social science and personal essay, Life Is Hard is a book for this moment—a work of solace and compassion. It draws us towards justice, for ourselves and others, by acknowledging what it means to be alive.
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What listeners say about Life Is Hard
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sophia Yang
- 30-01-2023
One of the best books in 2022 as per the Economicst
A little bit dry but not too long and I could still focus on listening and not get distracted.
Certain points do make me think and lost in my mind.
Will need to re-listen again at some point as I don't remember all I have just listened
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