The Single Philosophy Book That Changed My Life

Lasting inspiration from a 20th-century classic

Photo by Hannah Grace on Unsplash

I believe there comes a point in all of our lives when we begin to wonder exactly what we’re supposed to be doing here.

I remember being about fifteen years old and walking around the suburban neighbourhood where I grew up, looking at the waxed cars on the driveways and the neatly mowed lawns with flawlessly trimmed hedges.

And I remember being overcome with a deep sense of confusion — as well as hostility. Was this it? — my fifteen-year-old self asked. Was this my life’s purpose? To own a shiny car and cut my grass at the weekends?

Not long after, I ventured into the philosophy section of my school library for the first time. I say “section” but it really only consisted of a single shelf of books. Not knowing anything about philosophy, I chose something from the Greek portion of the shelf, something about logic and morality.

I felt pleased with myself for opening the pages of a genuine philosophy book, but if truth be told, the exact meaning of the text completely eluded me. I had to wait at least another three or four years before I came upon a philosophy book that actually spoke to me, that made me think differently about the world and my place in it, that — and I don’t mean to…