How to Live a Good Life: A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy

"How to Live a Good Life is a fantastic book. I dare anyone not to do something differently in their daily life at least once after reading it. There are 15 chapters, each devoted to a different philosophy , and written by a scholar who is a specialist in that field. It goes from “Ancient Philosophies from the East” (Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism) over to “Ancient Philosophies from the West” (Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Epicureanism) through to “Religious Traditions” (Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Progressive Islam, Ethical Culture), and, finally, “Modern Philosophies” (existentialism, pragmatism, effective altruism and secular humanism). It’s a wonderful summary of the collected wisdom of humanity in a highly readable book of less than 300 pages. You can dip in and out of it when the mood takes you. Also, it’s written by scholars, so while these are obviously summaries, none offer glib advice on how [insert philosophy] can change your life, though I expect some of them maybe can. For other philosophy books, here’s our philosophy editor Nigel Warburton’s personal selection of the best philosophy books of 2020."

"An antidote to Rand’s is How to Live a Good Life , which is a collection of fifteen essays about practical moral philosophy from Buddhism to humanism, taking in Stoicism , Christian ethics, Pragmatism , Existentialism and other schools along the way. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter"