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Daniel Klein "Travels with Epicurus : Meditations from a Greek Island on the Pleasures of Old Age" (Oneworld)
The title says it all. These are meditations on how to live a good life and to grow old gracefully.
My brother gave me this book after he had read it. I guess it pertained to him more than me but after reading the paperback it can apply to anybody.
This book proved to be delightful. It focuses the mind on what it is to lead a good life and so, by extension, what it is to lead a good old age s well. Similar to Sarah Bakewell's book on Montaigne ,"How To Live : A Life of Montaigne", which i read over a year ago now, it is more than just a "how to" manual but a superb evocation of the human condition.
I love the idea of Daniel Klein's philosophy of accepting advancing age gracefully. So what if one walks a little more slowly and that life is slowing down? There are plenty of gentle pleasures still: after a little chat with friends it is delightful to sit and watch the butterflies, maybe sip a glass of wine, and feel lucky to be able to sit and read quite often without a scintilla of guilt.
His book is an account of what he has learnt, both from his observations and from the philosophy books he has brought with him, about a happy old age. Epicurus figures a lot, but Klein goes far beyond what you can find in Epicurus. He distinguishes between the pleasure of “doing nothing much” on the one hand and boredom on the other hand.
Also, a short book that is a page turner. Highly recommended.
The title says it all. These are meditations on how to live a good life and to grow old gracefully.
My brother gave me this book after he had read it. I guess it pertained to him more than me but after reading the paperback it can apply to anybody.
This book proved to be delightful. It focuses the mind on what it is to lead a good life and so, by extension, what it is to lead a good old age s well. Similar to Sarah Bakewell's book on Montaigne ,"How To Live : A Life of Montaigne", which i read over a year ago now, it is more than just a "how to" manual but a superb evocation of the human condition.
I love the idea of Daniel Klein's philosophy of accepting advancing age gracefully. So what if one walks a little more slowly and that life is slowing down? There are plenty of gentle pleasures still: after a little chat with friends it is delightful to sit and watch the butterflies, maybe sip a glass of wine, and feel lucky to be able to sit and read quite often without a scintilla of guilt.
His book is an account of what he has learnt, both from his observations and from the philosophy books he has brought with him, about a happy old age. Epicurus figures a lot, but Klein goes far beyond what you can find in Epicurus. He distinguishes between the pleasure of “doing nothing much” on the one hand and boredom on the other hand.
Also, a short book that is a page turner. Highly recommended.
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