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erikars's review against another edition
1.0
The Importance of Living is a number of essays about the importance of enjoying life and ways to do so. In some ways, the author's ideas are kind of silly, but they are presented in such a non-pushy way that they the unpleasant ideas are easy to forget. However, his attitudes towards women are infuriating. At one point the author talks about how it is best for people to be natural... and women require lipstick to be natural. At another point, he makes this statement
This book may have been first published in 1937, but I still find the attitude towards women in this book excessively condescending.
Still, the general message of the book was nice, although not particularly noteworthy or inspiring. I agree that it is good to take things easily and to notice the world around us and appreciate nature and each other. It is good to make sure one's truths are consistent with human nature as well as with logic.
Is it merely because woman is more charming and more graceful in a chiffon dress than in a business jacket, or is it merely my imagination? The gist of the matter seems to lie in the fact that women at home are like fish in water. Clothe women in business jackets and men will regard them as coworkers with the right to criticize, but let them float about in georgette or chiffon one out of the seven office hours in the day and men will give up any idea of competing with them, and will merely sit back and wonder and gasp.
This book may have been first published in 1937, but I still find the attitude towards women in this book excessively condescending.
Still, the general message of the book was nice, although not particularly noteworthy or inspiring. I agree that it is good to take things easily and to notice the world around us and appreciate nature and each other. It is good to make sure one's truths are consistent with human nature as well as with logic.
danjewett's review against another edition
4.0
If you are trying to embrace simplicity this book will help.
Some may find the chapter on home life, particularly the role of women in it, to be "of its time (1937.)"
Some may find the chapter on home life, particularly the role of women in it, to be "of its time (1937.)"
frankie_s's review against another edition
4.0
Read this when I was a teenager, rated for my memory of it as a kind of comfort food. I think I reread in my early 20s and didn’t love it so much. Was reminded of it while reading Walden. Dudes advocating doing nothing.
shannonrkline's review against another edition
3.0
I have very mixed feelings about this book. It contains some delightful gems of wisdom, but is outdated in many ways. Yutang had me wrapped around his little finger while discussing the joys of leisure, but lost me when he started discussing basically anything related to women.
strath's review
5.0
I regard the discovery of one’s favorite author as the most critical event in one’s intellectual development.
-Lin Yutang
My exposure to Chinese culture and philosophy comes, these days, through my experiences with Tai Chi Chuan and various other martial arts and Qigong. This study brings me close to many Chinese and Taiwanese people. None are more gracious, accepting, and friendly. I appreciate how their culture blends into ours so seamlessly.
Lin Yutang’s The Importance of Living is, to me, the best exploration of this blending and this contrast between our two peoples.
He is an essayist, writer, philosopher, linguist, and a cultural critic, among other many talents. And, The Importance of Living deserves to be on your bookshelf. From his table of contents get a quick feel of what you will experience: Approach to Life, Spirit and Flesh, On Being Mortal, On Having a Mind, On Human Dignity, On the Sense of Humor, How About Human Pleasure, On Growing Old Gracefully, On Conversation, The Art of Reading, The Art of Writing, and last but not least, The Return to Common Sense…
The best peek at this work is the blurb on the book’s cover:
‘The Classic Bestseller that Introduced Millions to the Noble Art of Leaving Things Undone.’
You will laugh. You will cry. You will wonder what in the heck you have done with your life.
drx's review
3.0
This book is like sitting around with your grandfather while he shares his thoughts about everything under the sun, so long as your father is a witty, erudite, philosophically inclined Chinese man. I received this book as a gift. It has an irresistible table of contents, with chapter headings like On Having a Stomach, On Being Wayward and Incalculable, The Problem of Happiness, The Cult of the Idle Life, Celibacy a Freak of Civilization, On Lying in Bed, On Sitting in Chairs, On Rocks and Trees, On Going About and Seeing Things, The Art of Reading, Why I am a Pagan, and Be Reasonable. How could you resist that?
Parts of the book are highly engaging, funny, and thought-provoking. Much of the book focuses on differences between Chinese and Western thought and customs, and many of the themes will be very familiar to people who have read other books on similar topics. The rest of the book is highly personal, and Yutang provides prescriptions for a life well-lived, prescriptions that cover virtually everything you could imagine, as the small subset of chapter headings above suggests.
So, why only 3 stars? I didn't love this book as much as I anticipated from the chapters, and even when I did enjoy it, it often seemed long-winded. My book isn't the paperback copy suggested by this entry, but an old hardback that clocks in at 459 pages. This from the guy who, at the end of the book, chides Westerners from relying too much on words and who quotes Chinese scholars who say that sages never speak.
I read this book in little bits over a long period of time (and the book is perfectly suitable for that). Parts I loved, and parts were just ok. Obviously, each person will find some aspects of the book that really resonate (Yes, you should lie about in bed!), and other parts that seem less agreeable (Do you really mean to say that about women? About having children?) If you come across the book, why not pick it up? It will look great on your shelf, and you can pick it up occasionally and read the chapters that sound appealing.
Parts of the book are highly engaging, funny, and thought-provoking. Much of the book focuses on differences between Chinese and Western thought and customs, and many of the themes will be very familiar to people who have read other books on similar topics. The rest of the book is highly personal, and Yutang provides prescriptions for a life well-lived, prescriptions that cover virtually everything you could imagine, as the small subset of chapter headings above suggests.
So, why only 3 stars? I didn't love this book as much as I anticipated from the chapters, and even when I did enjoy it, it often seemed long-winded. My book isn't the paperback copy suggested by this entry, but an old hardback that clocks in at 459 pages. This from the guy who, at the end of the book, chides Westerners from relying too much on words and who quotes Chinese scholars who say that sages never speak.
I read this book in little bits over a long period of time (and the book is perfectly suitable for that). Parts I loved, and parts were just ok. Obviously, each person will find some aspects of the book that really resonate (Yes, you should lie about in bed!), and other parts that seem less agreeable (Do you really mean to say that about women? About having children?) If you come across the book, why not pick it up? It will look great on your shelf, and you can pick it up occasionally and read the chapters that sound appealing.
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