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On Solitude (Penguin Great Ideas) (2009)

by Michel de Montaigne(Favorite Author)

3.7 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0141043857 (ISBN13: 9780141043852)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Penguin Books

review 1: This is a great little book, and an excellent 'user friendly' introduction to modern philosophy. Michel de Montaigne is famous for pioneering what we now call the essay, however I deem him worthy of new fame: making philosophy accessible, funny, and functional. In 'On Solitude' he reflects on all sorts of odd and every-day facets, such as why we laugh and cry at the same time, why reading brings joy, why fear is the most powerful emotion of all, and (of course) what solitude is. Check this book out if you're in for a quick-ish read but wants something you can scan over a second or third time to extract extra cool insights.
review 2: “I get others to say what I cannot put so well myself, sometimes because of the weakness of my language and sometimes because of... more the weakness of my intellect.” — Michel de Montaigne, On BooksI’ve never read de Montaigne before this. Wow, what a loss! The man is incredibly intelligent, astute and modern. If you hadn’t told me when he had lived, I would’ve guessed he had lived end of the 19th century. I can’t believe he actually lived at the end of the 16th century.My copy is a selection of thirteen essays. My personal favourites were On Solitude, On Books, On Fear and On Sadness. I thoroughly enjoyed all the other ones as well, though On Virtue was kind of strange and I didn’t feel like it properly discussed virtue, exactly. But most of the essays were very illuminating and interesting, his style elegant but straightforward. I can’t wait to read more by him. less

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