Ideas to Save Your Life

This book is about the quest for order in a perplexing world.

Following his much-admired Books that Saved My Life, McGirr's now shares his love of philosophy, focusing on the works of twenty-plus eminent thinkers across history.

It is animated by two related questions: from where do we draw a sense of life's purpose? And how can philosophy make life better? It ranges widely across subjects — from solitude to community, language to order, experience to ecstasy, the idea of good to that of a good idea.

McGirr's approach is warm and inviting. Drawing on his many years of teaching philosophy to teenagers, he shares stories from his life and the lives of others. Ideas to Save Your Life is often funny, but it is always serious about the task of philosophy. It makes the impenetrable accessible, the indescribable palpable, and invites you to change how you see the world.

‘McGirr's essays are often like good sermons, with their small bits of wisdom expressed simply.' THE AGE

‘Michael McGirr is a bit of a twenty-first century alchemist with words: nothing is too deep to be made understandable, his aim is consolation and kindness always, and the result is often magic.' GERALDINE DOOGUE

‘His anecdotes will make you laugh out loud. If you haven't read any books by him before, seek them out.' GOOD READING MAGAZINE