In search of approachable, readable philosophy (or philosophy-adjacent) books to help me navigate the world
I've recently found myself reaching for some of my favorite philosophy books as I enter another year of navigating a chaotic, painful world, and navigating my own depression and quest for meaning within it. Exploring philosophy really helps give me the language and mental framework to make sense and meaning out of an existence that often overwhelms me with fear and meaninglessness.
One big problem, though: a lot of philosophy books absolutely suck to read. They're overlong, impenetrably dense, and often awkwardly translated from another language.
TL;DR:
Can anyone recommend approachable, readable philosophy (or philosophy-adjacent) books that can help me navigate the world, find reasons to live, and develop a durable sense of meaning?
Some more background info: The philosophies that have resonated most with me over the years are the works of Camus, the broader world of existentialists and existentialist-adjacent philosophies, stoicism, and utilitarianism. While I recognize that things like logic, epistemology, and religion are important branches of philosophy I'm more interested in things that help me navigate the daily questions of existence such as meaning, suffering, purpose, and so on.
The most impactful philosophical ideas I've ever encountered are those of Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus' conception of the absurd and the challenges of navigating it resonated so deeply with me that it essentially kickstarted my entire interest in philsophy. Before that I had never done any philosophical reading that felt like it really applied to me. Suddenly it felt like Camus had taken what was in my brain and put it on the page. However, I still consider the Myth of Sisyphus not an approachable, readable philosophy book, and not really a good book at all. I found his philosophy impactful despite the fact that it's overly long, often boring, and weighed down by an English translation that may have been good in the 1950s but in the 21st century is extremely stilted and hard to read.
For that reason my favorite philosophy book is At The Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell. It's half biography of Sartre, Beauviour, and Heidigger, and half overview of the wide world of existentialist philosophies. It's an smooth, pleasant read written in plain English that both helped me understand more philosophical concepts than any other single book I've ever read and introduced me to tons of things I want to learn more about. I highly recommend it.
Some other books I've read:
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is tremendous. I know this isn't technically philosophy, but it definitely feels philosophy adjacent to me since it fit the bill of "help me make sense of the world" and as a bonus is a very smooth read. I plan to re-read this soon.
- Man's Search of Meaning by Viktor Frankl was a solid 4/5 for me.
- Being Mortal by Atul Gawande is another philosophy-adjacent book that is a tremendous exploration of how we cope with death. It really impacted how I think about end-of-life issues.
- Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments is a collection of essays meant to make philsophy and ethics approachable for normal people - hence why I picked it up. I read most of it, but the essays were just too hit and miss so I ended up putting it down about 2/3rds of the way through.
- The Stranger by Camus. I did not necessarily enjoy this book (and I have no desire to re-read it) but I do appreciate it for being thought-provoking. Plus it was a way smoother read than The Myth of Sisyphus.
Some I'm considering reading:
- The Rebel by Camus. This is the other Camus text I'm considering picking up given that both his general philosophy and the subject matter here are of interest to me ... but the idea of actually having to sit down to read it is giving me pause, given what a slog The Myth of Sisyphus was.
- How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer by Sarah Bakewell is the second most well-received of her books. I don't know anything about Montaigne but obviously with a title like "How to Live" it's hitting upon exactly the sort of questions I'm asking...
- The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. We have a copy of this lying around and the passages I've read over the years have been both insightful and readable.
I deeply appreciate breadcrumbs anyone can provide as I try to learn how (and why) to keep living in this world and to develop a sense of meaning within it.
If you are open to podcasts, I would recommend "Philosophise This!" by Stephen West. He goes through the history of philosophy basically chronologically from pre-socratic all the way to the multitudes of modern philosophical theories. He explains every author and/or philosophy in understandable terms and builds only on topics that were already covered in previous episodes.
It might take a bit until you get to episodes that cover the branches of philosophy you mentioned, but by then you will have an understanding of most of what came before it, what it meant and how it influenced those branches.
So after studying a lot about religion in younger years, my quest for how most effectively to live has taken me more towards psychology, sociology, anthropology and history than towards philosophy. I have however dabbled in ethics as a branch of philosophy and in stoicism. I have also learned a lot about life from novels and poetry.
If after having explained all that you are still interested, here are some suggestions.
Algorithms to live by by Brian Christian,
Being Wrong Adventures on the Margin of Error,
Bowling Alone,
Man's Search for Meaning,
Flow the psychology of optimal experience by Csikzentmihalyi,
The Bonobo and the Atheist by Frans de Waal
There are many influential novels I could point to.
Best of luck with your quest
Such serendipity! A friend just asked me for a list of interesting and extremely accessible books to explore big philosophical ideas. This is what I sent her:
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Hmmm, I'm not sure I'd come at it by reading philosophy directly, I think I'd look at contemporary books deeply informed by philosophy or that make philosophy exciting by coming at it with a particular angle. Also, I'd definitely watch "The Good Place" from beginning to end, it is literally a philosophy primer and so so fun!
Wow, this is quite the comprehensive list - and one that overlaps with both things I've read and that I've considered reading. I really appreciate this list, and I can't wait to check some of these out.
I'm afraid I don't have many recommendations on this topic for you, and they might only scratch the surface of what you're looking for!
The first one is "Socrates" by Paul Johnson. It's a relatively short biography that delves into the man himself. This book helped me internalize some key concepts from philosophy and understand the spirit of that era by humanizing Socrates as a thinker, teacher, and rebel. It might not be the definitive biography, but its brevity makes it worth a read.
The second recommendation is "The Gay Science" by Nietzsche. Nietzsche's books are often dense and challenging, but I find this one particularly approachable. It's considered a great starting point for delving into Nietzsche's philosophy. On a similar note of "true" philosophy, I also recommend "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius." I personally love this book, and its journal format helps explain the motivations and beliefs behind Stoicism.
The third recommendation is a book I haven't read yet (shame on me!): "Ariadne's Clue" by Anthony Stevens. Lately, I've been exploring topics related to personas and archetypes in the human mind. This book, though I haven't read it yet, seems to approach the subject from a more scientific perspective. It discusses symbology surrounding mankind from a Darwinian viewpoint, exploring their supposed evolutionary origins. I've always been intrigued by how similar beliefs, taboos, and imagery emerge in different civilizations without any means of contact, and this book appears to shed some light on that.
I wish I could have provided more help! By the way, I'm borrowing some of your recommendations to read later! :]
Bataille might be right up your alley! The Accursed Share is something that resonates with the rest of what you’ve read.
Additionally, I would like to gently suggest you not automatically gravitate towards interpretations of works instead of the works themselves. No one is going to suggest you read someone like Derrida without a guide, but there are quite a few philosophers, like Ellul, or Bataille, who don’t really need someone else to tell you what they’re saying.
I definitely do not avoid primary texts. After all, the Baldwin, Camus, and Frankl books I mentioned in the original post are original texts that I picked up, read, and got a lot out of.
I do, however, avoid dense and impenetrable books, which many (but not all!) primary philosophy texts are due to some combination of excessive length, inscrutable writing style, and awkward translation. I picked up and leafed through Heidegger's Being and Time at a book store a few years ago and just reading a few pages of it was enough to show me that I have my limits. I'm fine with a book being challenging - many of my favorite books are - but I don't really care to smash my brain into an incomprehensible brick wall for dozens of hours. It's the difference between a challenging uphill hike and an all out hand-over-foot rock scramble. I can do the former for hours and hours; the latter tires me out very quickly.
I realize in retrospect that my comment about primary texts was not clear: I meant it in reference towards the many recommendations of nonprimary texts being suggested in the comments! Apologies for that.
As for nonprimary recommendations, Heidegger, Derrida, Gautari, Spinoza, even Hegel are those who I think it’s better to walk in with a guide as opposed to confronting them head on, if not explicitly for density than for contextuality. I’m much like yourself in that regard: when I find myself having to reread a passage over and over again to try to winnow out whatever the fuck those words in that order are supposed to mean, that’s when I know I’m pretty far out of my depth.
You might be interested in The Gay Science by Nietzsche. obligatory
You might also be interested in Kierkegaard but he's a bit divisive it seems. Start with Either/Or and see what you think.
More in line with The Fire Next Time, check out *Black Skin, White Masks by Fanon.
Also in the sociology realm, check out some Durkheim. I have only read selections of The Elementary Forms of Religious Life but I read it when I was quite young and moreso than any other book it opened my eyes to the notion that so much of what seems fundamental in our society is, well, socially constructed and can change. Despite the title the book tells you more about society than it does about religion. I don't know how it is regarded by those in the field though, take my recommendation with a grain of salt.
Are the Nietzsche and Kierkegaard texts a smooth-ish read in the 21st century? I suppose to some extent that depends on the age of the translation.
I think it depends on the translation. The Walter Kaufmann translation of the Gay Science is pretty smooth though.
I would like to recommend How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Mike Schur. It focuses on ethics but I found it helpful as a very accessible introduction to different philosophers and also very pertinent to finding meaning in terms of being a better person. I am biased since I loved The Good Place and pretty much all the shows Mike Schur has been behind and his humor is right up my alley but if I was to be unbiased, I would still say that it makes philosophy accessible. Some might find it too simple but as an inteoduction, it's great.
If you like Frankl and Camus, I would also highly recommend checking out Irvin Yalom. Though he is a psychiatrist and not a philosopher per se, his therapeutic practice is one of 'existential psychotherapy' - akin to his well-known contemporary Ernest Becker, and also drawing from the works of Rollo May and Otto Rank. The core of this approach is to examine the role of death, meaning, and freedom in human life, behaviors, anxieties, and relationships, taking the generalized conception developed by existential philosophers and applying it to the lives of specific, individual people.
Yalom's books fall into a few overarching categories. Many, such as Love's Executioner, Momma and the Meaning of Life, and Creatures of a Day are essentially a collection of case studies: each chapter being a description of a real patient, their psychological difficulties, how Yalom analyzed them in existential terms, and how they changed as a result of the therapy. These are all very approachable, and though they aren't very systematic, these real-world examples make it very easy to see how to apply existential ideas to your own life.
Others are more geared towards psychiatrists themselves, such as the aptly-titled Existential Psychotherapy. I found this one to be very readable, albeit painstakingly comprehensive in its treatment of the subject. Of course this ends up unearthing all kinds of fascinating subtopics - such as a discussion of death awareness in young children, or a primer on the clinical manifestations of 'decision avoidance' - things you might not encounter in more pop-sciencey kind of work.
Yalom has also written a good deal of fiction, most of which revolve around depictions of therapy and/or group therapy. Some of these, such as Lying on the Couch and The Schopenhauer Cure have a modern setting, while others, such as When Nietzsche Wept and The Spinoza Problem have a historical setting, imagining the hypothetical psychoanalysis of various historical figures. Though fiction, these latter books provide a unique look at philosophical ideas by hypothesizing (with well-researched justification) about the life experiences that must have led to them.
It’s not a book, but it has greatly informed my idea of the meaning of the universe and my purpose in it: circle of iron.
Both Machiavelli's The Prince and Plato's Republic are actually quite short, yet still utterly seminal pieces of political philosophy.
This is a copy/paste of a reading list I've posted on this website before. They aren't all philosophy, but a lot of them are, and I recommend them all:
Some Books I Like:
Were you able to interpret anything from "Phenomenology of Spirit"? I have tried to read it (both in English and German) but I found it entirely incomprehensible. There's also the joke that nobody reads Hegel, and instead everyone pretends.
Only the parts of it I had to read in my analytical philosophy class. But as my professor said, you could earn a PhD by reading and dissecting 1 page of Hegel for a decade.