Notes on the Art of Life

Notes on the Art of Life is Haim Shapira’s version of Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book – a discursive and intensely personal collection of thoughts on life; a tribute to the importance of the here and now; the value of the moment and of paying attention to it.

This is a personal, cheerful and idiosyncratic tour through the thoughts and experiences of philosophers, artists and academics, finding a path through the contradictions of philosophy and the intractable challenges of life (both existential and mundane). Content includes:

• Exploring a wide range of philosophies, from Aristotle to Zhuang Zhu and Epicurus to Socrates
• Tour the arts and thoughts of Abd al-Rahman III to Tolstoy, via Chekhov and Goethe
• Examine a myriad of essential topics, from silence and regret to happiness and other small things of absolute importance. And arriving finally at love.

This book is like having a chatty and quite excitable friend guide you round a library of good books and different schools of thought. A companion who aims to comfort and reassure you about the complexities and challenges of life and of thinking about life.