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Children are, in many ways, born philosophers. Without prompting, they ask some of the largest questions about time, mortality, happiness and the meaning of it all. Yet too often this inborn curiosity is not developed and, with age, the questions fall away. This is a book designe...
In A summer with Montaigne, Compagnon invites his readers to join him as he strolls through Montaigne's key contributions to our understanding of what is good and worthwhile in life. This book, then, serves as both an introduction to Montaigne for readers unfamiliar with his work...
"The perennial question asked of all authors is How do you write? What do they require of their room or desk? Do they have favourite pens, paper or typewriters? And have they found the perfect daily routine to channel their creativity? Crossing centuries, continents and genres, A...
"For more than four hundred years the personal essay has been one of the richest and most vibrant of all literary forms. The Art of the Personal Essay is the first anthology to celebrate this lively, fertile genre. Distinguished from the formal essay by its friendly, conversation...
Dale Carnegie was raised on a poverty-stricken farm in back woods Missouri, twelve miles from the nearest railroad. Yet this farm boy became one of the best-known men of our time -- a success in business, teacher of millions, famous author. How did he do it? Though beset by feeli...
"From his first time riding at age ten, William Shatner has felt a deep love for horses. Whether riding them, communicating with them, or simply appreciating their beauty, he has been enthralled by horses ever since he was a child. And for decades, he has sought to bring that joy...
Essayism is a book about essays and essayists, a study of melancholy and depression, a love letter to belle-lettrists, and an account of the indispensable lifelines of reading and writing. Brian Dillon's style incorporates diverse features of the essay. By turns agglomerative, as...
Considered the inventor of the essay itself, Michel de Montaigne published Essays (Essais, literally "Attempts") in 1850. Known for his skill at merging serious intellectual debate with personal anecdotes, his vast work collects together some of the most influential essays the ...
"From the author of Hidden Gardens of Paris, The Streets of Paris is Susan Cahill's wonderfully unique guide to present-day Paris following in the footsteps of famous Parisians through the last 800 years. For hundreds of years, the City of Light has set the stage for larger-than-...
""This is a book about humanists, but even humanists cannot agree on what a humanist is," declares Sarah Bakewell. Indeed, for centuries now, thinkers, writers, scholars, politicians, activists, artists, and countless others have been searching for and refining a philosophy of th...
"Bereft after the death of his ailing wife, a retired professor has resumed his life's work -- a book that will stand as a towering cathedral to Michel de Montaigne, reframing the inventor of the essay for the modern age. The challenge is the litany of intrusions that bar his way...
Friends are a constant feature of our lives, yet friendship itself is difficult to define. Even Michel de Montaigne, author of the seminal essay "Of Friendship," found it nearly impossible to account for the great friendship of his life. Why is something so commonplace and univer...
"In this year's highly anticipated Massey Lectures, internationally acclaimed historian Margaret MacMillan gives her own personal selection of the great figures of the past, women and men, who have changed the course of history and even directed the currents of their times--and s...
"When we lose someone we love, when we suffer loss or defeat, when catastrophe strikes-war, famine, pandemic-we go in search of consolation. Once the province of priests and philosophers, the language of consolation has largely vanished from our modern vocabulary, and the places ...
"Jan Morris, one of 'Britain's greatest living writers' (Times, UK), returns with this whimsical yet deeply affecting volume on life as a redoubtable nonagenarian. The irrepressible Jan Morris-author of such classics as Venice and Trieste-is at it again: offering a vibrant set of...