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Driving With Plato: The Meaning of Life's Milestones

Driving With Plato: The Meaning of Life's Milestones

by RobertRowlandSmith (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2012

    $3.56

  • Used

    Hardcover 2011

    $3.40
Synopsis

If life is meaningless as Sartre suggests, what is the point of being born? What does Freud have to say about losing one's virginity or Nietzsche about having a mid-life crisis? From birth to death (and beyond), the best brains in history have thought long and hard about the meaning behind the landmarks that shape our lives - and now acclaimed popular philosopher Robert Rowland Smith brings their genius together for the first time in this smart, witty and accessible journey through life's ups and downs. Drawing on philosophy, art, literature and psychology, Driving with Plato explores the real meaning of the hoops we all have to jump through. You'll hear from Aristotle on starting school, learn from St Paul about falling in love, and get tips from Cicero on becoming wise in your old age. Whether you are learning to drive or about to get married, Driving with Plato is certain to enlighten and entertain.

$3.56

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 224
 Publisher: Profile Books
Published: 16 Feb 2012
ISBN 10: 1846683068
ISBN 13: 9781846683060
Book Overview: Everything you'll need to know about history's greatest thinkers on life's big moments

Media Reviews
I am often asked to recommend a good introduction to philosophy - now I've discovered one ... Smith's work is witty, inventive and intelligent * THES *
I'll never drive the same way again. Or have a midlife crisis the same way again, for that matter. This book is elegant proof that philosophy doesn't have to be fusty and musty. -- A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
Take a seat and become thoroughly absorbed in this fascinating journey. Great stuff. -- Frank Furedi
...fascinating and deeply impressive book. * Daily Mail *
...not only will this book entertain you, educate you and amuse you, it may very well help you stay younger... * Bookbag *
A friendly guide to the meaning of life's milestones. * The Guardian *
Smith has the suave wit of the professional intellectual. * The Financial Times *
A remarkably varied and eclectic introduction to the great philosophers and a defense of their continuing relevance... * Publishers Weekly *
Apart from his genial, translucently beautiful writing - a treat in itself - Smith (a Former Prize fellow of All Souls College, Oxford) reconnects us to the ancients and not so ancients whose sagacity is too often relegated to dusty university libraries. * SA Jewish Report *
There are no ivory tower views. The author draws from many sources as well as making his own acute observations and reflections [...] The range of sources, both serious and trivial, is breathtaking. * Oxford Times *
This is a fascinating and deeply impressive book. -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail *
As with the companion book (they can be read alone or together) Driving With Plato has a clever structure. But it's not just the overall structure that makes this book so good. Roland Smith is a gifted communicator and each chapter is perfectly balanced, and several times my mind was asking 'yes, but what about...?' only to have Roland Smith anticipate this and provide answers in the very next paragraph. * Bookbag *
Here is food for the mind and the soul, in a book leavened with many witty anecdotes, leaving one refreshed and entertained. -- Mary Ann Elliot * Toowoomba Chronicle *
Author Bio
Robert Rowland Smith was for seven years a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, where his work on philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis was described by Jacques Derrida as 'superbe'. He now advises blue-chip companies and government departments, teaches at London's School of Life, and writes, among other things, a column on 'life lessons' in the Evening Standard and a regular column in the Sunday Times. He contributes to the Philosophy Bites podcast series and speaks regularly on BBC radio. His first book, Breakfast with Socrates [9781846682377] is also published by Profile and has been translated into sixteen languages.