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A review by katmackie
How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer by Sarah Bakewell
4.0
Comprehensive and dense, but in a flourless chocolate cake kind of way. This is a fascinating and somehow fun read through the life and times (and beyond) of the writer, accidental philosopher, and “First modern man” Montaigne.
Dare you question my use of the word fun? Let’s play a game of two truths and a lie: Montaigne edition, and I’ll show you why:
1) Montaigne’s father believed it was unhealthy to wake up children abruptly, so he hired a musician to soothe him awake every morning.
2) His first language was Latin, even though neither of his parents spoke the language.
3) He freely admitted to having a small penis (in the sixteenth century).
If you actually guessed something, you’re wrong because each fact is true. And there’s much more to be discovered. Fun!
I was most captivated by the chapters on his interest in Hellenistic philosophy - I could have read dozens more. Less interesting to me were the bits on the drama surrounding editions of his Essays after his death. Centuries of people have found joy and disdain through his writing, and they continue to today. Sarah Bakewell paints a vivid and inspiring portrait of one of the most influential writers to walk the earth. Oh, and he was a cat person.
Dare you question my use of the word fun? Let’s play a game of two truths and a lie: Montaigne edition, and I’ll show you why:
1) Montaigne’s father believed it was unhealthy to wake up children abruptly, so he hired a musician to soothe him awake every morning.
2) His first language was Latin, even though neither of his parents spoke the language.
3) He freely admitted to having a small penis (in the sixteenth century).
If you actually guessed something, you’re wrong because each fact is true. And there’s much more to be discovered. Fun!
I was most captivated by the chapters on his interest in Hellenistic philosophy - I could have read dozens more. Less interesting to me were the bits on the drama surrounding editions of his Essays after his death. Centuries of people have found joy and disdain through his writing, and they continue to today. Sarah Bakewell paints a vivid and inspiring portrait of one of the most influential writers to walk the earth. Oh, and he was a cat person.