"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...

**THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERFrom one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, Religion for Atheists and The School of Life -** Alain de Botton sets out to understand our universal fear of failure - and how we might change it'De Botton's gift is to prompt us to think about how we live and how we might change things' The TimesWe all w...

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...

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of Rousseau in just one hour.In Rousseau we encounter a walking ego, a naked sensibility – his arguments are both deeply stirring and deeply inconsistent. Yet whilst his contemporaries Kant and Hume may have been superior academic philosophers, the sheer power of Rousseau’s ideas was unequalled in his time. It was he who encouraged the introduction of both liberty and irrationality into the public domain, lamenti...

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...

This is a guide to France intended for the traveller who wants to get to know French people as individuals, for the negotiating businessman and for students who wishes to discover in-depth aspects of their lives. It looks at what makes up the national character of France.