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The Life You Want
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Expected 31 Mar 26From acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, a meditation on how to achieve the lives we want
Where do we get ideas about the lives we want? And, what do we do – and fail to do – about actually getting them?
In The Life You Want Adam Phillips uses psychoanalytic and literary approaches to show that we are obsessed by the idea of our lives being ones we want and enjoy rather than merely endure, tolerate or make the most of.
Through a series of interlinked essays, Phillips explores the difficulties we have around the whole idea of enjoying – and fashioning – our lives in cultures that insistently promote enjoyment while making it very difficult for so many people. Exploring the personal and political overlap in the issue of our lives, The Life You Want is a profound examination of our ambivalence about enjoyment, and indeed, wanting.
'One of the finest prose stylists in the language, an Emerson of our time' John Banville
Where do we get ideas about the lives we want? And, what do we do – and fail to do – about actually getting them?
In The Life You Want Adam Phillips uses psychoanalytic and literary approaches to show that we are obsessed by the idea of our lives being ones we want and enjoy rather than merely endure, tolerate or make the most of.
Through a series of interlinked essays, Phillips explores the difficulties we have around the whole idea of enjoying – and fashioning – our lives in cultures that insistently promote enjoyment while making it very difficult for so many people. Exploring the personal and political overlap in the issue of our lives, The Life You Want is a profound examination of our ambivalence about enjoyment, and indeed, wanting.
'One of the finest prose stylists in the language, an Emerson of our time' John Banville
160 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication March 31, 2026
301 people want to read
About the author
Adam Phillips
130 books703 followersAdam Phillips is a British psychotherapist and essayist.
Since 2003 he has been the general editor of the new Penguin Modern Classics translations of Sigmund Freud. He is also a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.
Phillips was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1954, the child of second-generation Polish Jews. He grew up as part of an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins and describes his parents as "very consciously Jewish but not believing". As a child, his first interest was the study of tropical birds and it was not until adolescence that he developed an interest in literature. He went on to study English at St John's College, Oxford, graduating with a third class degree. His defining influences are literary – he was inspired to become a psychoanalyst after reading Carl Jung's autobiography and he has always believed psychoanalysis to be closer to poetry than medicine.
Adapted from Wikipedia.
Phillips is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books. He has been described by The Times as "the Martin Amis of British psychoanalysis" for his "brilliantly amusing and often profoundly unsettling" work; and by John Banville as "one of the finest prose stylists in the language, an Emerson of our time."
Since 2003 he has been the general editor of the new Penguin Modern Classics translations of Sigmund Freud. He is also a regular contributor to the London Review of Books.
Phillips was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1954, the child of second-generation Polish Jews. He grew up as part of an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins and describes his parents as "very consciously Jewish but not believing". As a child, his first interest was the study of tropical birds and it was not until adolescence that he developed an interest in literature. He went on to study English at St John's College, Oxford, graduating with a third class degree. His defining influences are literary – he was inspired to become a psychoanalyst after reading Carl Jung's autobiography and he has always believed psychoanalysis to be closer to poetry than medicine.
Adapted from Wikipedia.
Phillips is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books. He has been described by The Times as "the Martin Amis of British psychoanalysis" for his "brilliantly amusing and often profoundly unsettling" work; and by John Banville as "one of the finest prose stylists in the language, an Emerson of our time."
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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March 9, 2026Definitely not what I thought this was going to tackle but the read was nonetheless very interesting.
It gave me some nice insights about psychoanalysis which I find fascinating.
But I must say, it's noooo easy read at all, especially in English as it's not my native language.
It gave me some nice insights about psychoanalysis which I find fascinating.
But I must say, it's noooo easy read at all, especially in English as it's not my native language.
February 23, 2026
I enjoyed very much the first half of the book. Then it got quite complex and difficult to get through. Sometimes Adam Phillips can become quite a bit dense as an author, with good reason, because it often comes with a lot of concentration of knowledge and reflexion. However, in the final paragraph on Resistances, for me the penny dropped. It collected the input from the rest of the book in such a way that has made a really massive difference on a personal level. I think this book has not only taught me a lot about a debate that I hadn't thought about, about what it means to want a life or how can you know what life you want or what does wanting a life mean, but also how that affects me. This book for me is a 5 out of 5 mostly because of its impact on me.
March 8, 2026
I really loved this - found it very prescient, accessibly written, really important for me to have read. I just wish it had had more of an “ending” - appreciate that this began, in part, as essays published elsewhere, but think it could’ve benefited from something to pull it all together a bit more.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews