The Socrates Express
In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers
1st Edition
Published on 25. August 2020
352 pages
978-1-5011-2903-2 (ISBN)
Description
The New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the footsteps of history's greatest thinkers and showing us how each?from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir?offers practical and spiritual lessons for today's unsettled times.
We turn to philosophy for the same reasons we travel: to see the world from a different perspective, to unearth hidden beauty, and to find new ways of being. We want to learn how to embrace wonder. Face regrets. Sustain hope.
In The Socrates Express, Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and travel in a globe-trotting pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to reconnect with philosophy's original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives. From Socrates and ancient Athens to Beauvoir and 20th-century Paris, Weiner's chosen philosophers and places provide important practical and spiritual lessons as we navigate today's chaotic times.
In a "delightful" odyssey that "will take you places intellectually and humorously" (San Francisco Book Review), Weiner invites us to voyage alongside him on his life-changing pursuit of wisdom and discovery as he attempts to find answers to our most vital questions. Both accessible and deeply insightful, The Socrates Express is "full of valuable lessons…a fun, sharp book that draws readers in with its apparent simplicity and bubble-gum philosophy approach and gradually pulls them in deeper and deeper" (NPR).
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Person
Eric Weiner is author of the New York Times bestsellers The Geography of Bliss (now a docu-series featuring Rainn Wilson) and The Geography of Genius, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God and The Socrates Express. A former international correspondent for NPR, his work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the anthology Best American Travel Writing. He lives with his family and a menagerie of animals in the Washington, DC, area. For more information, visit: EricWeinerBooks.com.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Introduction: Departure
- Part One: Dawn
- Chapter 1: How to Get Out of Bed like Marcus Aurelius
- Chapter 2: How to Wonder like Socrates
- Chapter 3: How to Walk like Rousseau
- Chapter 4: How to See like Thoreau
- Chapter 5: How to Listen like Schopenhauer
- Part Two: Noon
- Chapter 6: How to Enjoy like Epicurus
- Chapter 7: How to Pay Attention like Simone Weil
- Chapter 8: How to Fight like Gandhi
- Chapter 9: How to Be Kind like Confucius
- Chapter 10: How to Appreciate the Small Things like Sei Shonagon
- Part Three: Dusk
- Chapter 11: How to Have No Regrets like Nietzsche
- Chapter 12: How to Cope like Epictetus
- Chapter 13: How to Grow Old like Beauvoir
- Chapter 14: How to Die like Montaigne
- Epilogue: Arrival
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography and Further Reading
- Index
- Copyright
