"Life has this extraordinary thing about it that it can put anyone in any place"... Aphorism ? It's isn't just a last vitriolic painting of the ravages of provincialism, based on ten years of observation and the testimonies of repentant enarques : a small essay on moral physiognomy for use by prime ministers of all kinds. The main problem is that there are too many provincials in Paris... But publishing one last little paper book, at least in France, is unlikely to be of sufficiently subst...

A detailed satire of great lucidity and therefore of particular cruelty on the world of doctors of all kinds : English excerpts from the bilingual version of "Devil in Showbiz", issue 21 of the biennial publication "Singuliers", ISSN 0992-2881, founded in Paris in 1988.

It was Claridge's Hotel in London that inspired this new edition of a satire of grand hotels in Europe, a small guide in which we also find rare hotels still respectable according to this criterion: money is not luxury, even if they are increasingly confused... it also talks a little about LVMH and even about a Trump in particular.

This book explores ideas around minimalism, simplicity and how to live comfortably with less.The modern world can be a complicated, frenzied, and noisy place, filled with too many options, products, ideas and opinions. That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful, and focused on the essentials.But finding simplicity is not always easy; it isn’t just a case of emptying out our closets or trimming back...

This is a collection of some of the most important ideas of Eastern and Western culture – drawn from the works of those philosophers, political theorists, sociologists, artists and novelists whom we believe have the most to offer to us today. We’ve worked hard to make the thinkers in this book clear, relevant and charming, mining the history of knowledge to bring you the ideas we think have the greatest importance to our times. This book contains the canon of The School of Life, the galler...

This title in the popular 100 Words series is an informative and entertaining resource that can help anyone be right on the money when looking for words that will make a point, seal the deal, or just keep folks listening. Chosen by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, these words will appeal to anyone who wants to be a more compelling communicator—as a worker, consumer, advocate, friend, dinner companion, or even as a romantic prospect. The book includes a colorful variety of...

What is it to be a human being? Why do I behave as I do? Montaigne did not flinch from these essential questions. His insights into the way we live are as relevant for today as they were in the 16th century. Sarah Bakewells seven-part ebook tackles the brilliance of Montaigne, philosopher of life, and asks what we can learn from his remarkable thinking.The How to Believe series of ebooks explores the teachings, philosophies and beliefs of major thinkers and religious texts. In a short, eas...

Praised as a “revelatory” book by The Wall Street Journal, this is the last and most personal work of Pulitzer Prize–winning author and historian Will Durant, discovered thirty-two years after his death.The culmination of Will Durant’s sixty-plus years spent researching the philosophies, religions, arts, sciences, and civilizations from across the world, Fallen Leaves is the distilled wisdom of one of the world’s greatest minds, a man with a renow...

Now in a new translation, a classic nineteenth-century defense for the cause of idleness by a revolutionary writer and activist (and Karl Marx's son-in law) that reshaped European ideas of labor and production.Exuberant, provocative, and as controversial as when it first appeared in 1880, Paul Lafargue’s The Right to Be Lazy is a call for the workers of the world to unite—and stop working so much! Lafargue, Karl Marx’s son-in-law (about whom Marx once said...

Let us begin by trying to be clear as to what we mean by “free thought.” This expression has two senses. In its narrower sense it means thought which does not accept the dogmas of traditional religion. In this sense a man is a “free thinker” if he is not a Christian or a Mussulman or a Buddhist or a Shintoist or a member of any of the other bodies of men who accept some inherited orthodoxy. In Christian countries a man is called a “free thinker” if he does not decidedly believe in God, tho...

America Needs Reactionaries!Never have the American people been lonelier, unhappier, or more in need of a swift reactionary kick in the pants.There is a better way to live—a way tested by history, a way that fulfills the deepest needs of the human spirit, and a way that promotes the pursuit of true happiness.That way is the reactionary way. In this irrepressibly provocative book, Michael Warren Davis shows you how to unleash your inner reactionary a...

Loafers, loungers, and malingers of the world, this is your manifesto. Though it may sound like little more than a slacker's bill of rights, Paul Lafargue's The Right to Be Lazy is actually a carefully considered philosophical defense of a life free of the demands of labor that is carried out purely in the service of capitalism. The thinker was true to his belief system, dying in a joint suicide pact with his wife (who happened to be Karl Marx's daughter) at the age of 69 to avoid burdenin...