![TheAge of Absurdity Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy [Paperback] by Foley, Michael ( Author )](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328707161i/8888573._UY200_.jpg)
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The Age Of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy
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The good news is that the great thinkers from history have proposed the same strategies for happiness and fulfilment. The bad news is that these turn out to be the very things most discouraged by contemporary culture. This knotty dilemma is the subject of The Age of Absurdity - a wry and accessible investigation into how the desirable states of wellbeing and satisfaction a
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I picked this one up in the American Bookstore in Amsterdam to read while on some work travels. I've never laughed out loud like this while reading a book of philosophy. I also have rarely been so moved by the prose of a work of non-fiction.
Foley takes a tour of the things that make us unhappy, shows why we spend much of our time doing the opposite of what might make us happy, and gives a few hints regarding new paths to take if we want to improve our outlook on life and ourselves. It's not a se ...more
Foley takes a tour of the things that make us unhappy, shows why we spend much of our time doing the opposite of what might make us happy, and gives a few hints regarding new paths to take if we want to improve our outlook on life and ourselves. It's not a se ...more
This is about 50% of the greatest self-help book ever written. Only '50%' becaise while Foley is able to nail down - with the support of many a Stoic, Buddhist and psychologist - precisely what makes people unhappy, he stumbles significantly when musing on how to overcome those things.
In short, everything which western civilisation is striving towards is precisely what's making us all so miserable. Americans are apparently the most likely people to suffer from depression, little wonder in a land ...more
In short, everything which western civilisation is striving towards is precisely what's making us all so miserable. Americans are apparently the most likely people to suffer from depression, little wonder in a land ...more
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This is a sharp, witty, highly intelligent and really quite brilliant book. Foley reminds us that our yearning for authenticity is not found only in novelty—a new place, a new lover, a new job: “More effective is to see the familiar with new eyes . . . to smash the crust of habit and see life anew.” He exhorts us to “begin a new job in your current post, enjoy a holiday where you actually live, and most thrillingly, plunge into a tumultuous affair with your own spouse.” (139)
The book is full of ...more
The book is full of ...more
This book is more opinion than fact, and that opinion is that of a grumpy old man.
For a book that ultimately wants to promote happiness, the tone is frighteningly negative.
The few interesting original insights in the book get buried under shallow rants. The author takes his high-brow academic lifestyle as the benchmark for how we all should live and in doing so he judges everyone who has different tastes: e.g. reality TV is both cause and consequence for what's wrong in the world and if we all ...more
For a book that ultimately wants to promote happiness, the tone is frighteningly negative.
The few interesting original insights in the book get buried under shallow rants. The author takes his high-brow academic lifestyle as the benchmark for how we all should live and in doing so he judges everyone who has different tastes: e.g. reality TV is both cause and consequence for what's wrong in the world and if we all ...more
Jan 21, 2012
Bataviaan
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Adolescents, existentially burdened people
Shelves:
interesting
Highly valuable book, with very wise insights, spot-on analyses and laughing out loud humor. A feast of recognition that provides a much needed mirror and suggestions for living better.
Long lasting happiness is elusive and hard to attain. Even more so in our affluent culture where the focus seems to be on the external at the cost of inner emptiness.
I am very happy to have read this book. The author's honest realism helps to reflect on the things that are happening before our eyes everyday. The t ...more
Long lasting happiness is elusive and hard to attain. Even more so in our affluent culture where the focus seems to be on the external at the cost of inner emptiness.
I am very happy to have read this book. The author's honest realism helps to reflect on the things that are happening before our eyes everyday. The t ...more
Good, but not great. Worth reading, but meh :-)
I don't know. On the one hand, Blessed are the Grumpy. It's nice to see somebody shaking a curmudgeonly fist at society and with a bit of style. And it's nice to see a book and ties together a lot of different sources of ideas from Buddhism, literature, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, etc; especially if you have exposure to a subset of the stuff (for example Buddhism and some of the pop psych stuff like the “hedonic treadmill“ from the Paradox ...more
I don't know. On the one hand, Blessed are the Grumpy. It's nice to see somebody shaking a curmudgeonly fist at society and with a bit of style. And it's nice to see a book and ties together a lot of different sources of ideas from Buddhism, literature, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, etc; especially if you have exposure to a subset of the stuff (for example Buddhism and some of the pop psych stuff like the “hedonic treadmill“ from the Paradox ...more
This is a terribly annoying book to read. The first part resembles what I imagine it feels like to have a truck load of quotes dumped on your head. Confusing, painful, but every now and then a useful thought hits you. Is all the namedropping of famous philosophers supposed to cover up that the author has no actual research to back up his assertions?
From the second part on the book gets better. A lot of what is said is thought-provoking, if not right. However, the air with which it is said annoys ...more
From the second part on the book gets better. A lot of what is said is thought-provoking, if not right. However, the air with which it is said annoys ...more
Michael Foley has a few interesting ideas, but what he needs more than anything is an editor.
It was so hard to get through this book. The first 3/4 of it consists of rambling complaints about modern society. It's organized by chapters, but honestly, I was never sure what point he was trying to make because he jumped around so much. The only point he ever really drove home was "Everything is wrong with kids these days. Get off my lawn." It's mostly descriptive, offering anecdotes from famous aut ...more
It was so hard to get through this book. The first 3/4 of it consists of rambling complaints about modern society. It's organized by chapters, but honestly, I was never sure what point he was trying to make because he jumped around so much. The only point he ever really drove home was "Everything is wrong with kids these days. Get off my lawn." It's mostly descriptive, offering anecdotes from famous aut ...more
Like a curmudgeonly old man shouting at clouds Michael Foley has successfully managed to complain about every aspect of modern life without offering any coherent solution.
'Sorry everyone! Things used to be way better, we're living ~20-30 years after the best of times.'
In paraphrased summary: 'Slow down,' 'It's all about the journey.'
I agree with Chris in that some people wouldnt read this book because it would actually expose their own limitations and people dont like to hear that their belief system is rather vapid. There are some great insights in this book and the moments of mocking are delivered with great aplomb. One of my favourite lines in this book is when he is talking about 2nd Life "2nd life is the only place where 2 heterosexual men can have a lesbian affair".
He also shares my views that "difficulty is crucial, ...more
He also shares my views that "difficulty is crucial, ...more
This book has its moments, but here's a summary of the conclusion: try to be more present in the moment and have genuine experiences instead of just cruising life on auto pilot. Also some parts of the book annoyed me because the author was just being an old curmudgeon instead of actually providing insight.
A well written and humourous summary of everything wrong with the state of our lives today
The fact that modern life can make it hard to be happy is undoubtedly true. And nostalgia isn't what it used to be either. Michael Foley has clearly been brooding for some time over the cause(s) of his dissatisfaction with the world, and has produced a comprehensive, convincing, and enjoyably readable, analysis of why he feels it is so.
This is a "practical philosophy" book akin to any one of Alain de Botton's, with almost as many references to Proust, though slightly less pretentious and with ma ...more
This is a "practical philosophy" book akin to any one of Alain de Botton's, with almost as many references to Proust, though slightly less pretentious and with ma ...more
The modern world is all about conformity. A conformity to material trappings, a conformity to rigid norms, a stereotypical conformity with behaviour forming part of the zeitgeist of the age. The very gestalt of life has become a compliance with conformity. This is so very absurd, that it has become fashionable to conform to absurdity itself! Anyone left behind this herd bandwagon is deemed to be an outcast, imbecile, pariah or a social and cultural misfit. Michael Foley in this remarkably entert
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A fascinating, erudite, compelling exploration of the philosophy and science of happiness - whether it's achievable as a sustained state, what brain chemistry tells us about love and infatuation, our biological drive for transcendent states and why they are essentially unsustainable, why variety may be wildly overrated and misunderstood, why the great philosophers all seem to arrive at the same conclusions about man's search for meaning...
I've recommended this book to at least a dozen friends. I ...more
I've recommended this book to at least a dozen friends. I ...more
When I surf the net and read the blogs ..I have the impression that a lot of sites are dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. You can achieve happiness with meditation, diet or sports, by becoming a digital nomad, by keeping your possessions under 50 items, by living smaller, by becoming your own boss etc...the list goes on and on. Never have we been more unhappy in a more affluent society. Michael Foley does a good job in going for the roots and causes of this very difficult and possibly very t
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I really enjoy books which are cross-disciplinary, and this one digs into psychology, philosophy, literature, sociology and religion. The overarching thesis is how this age of plenty in which we live is actually a cause of dissatisfaction and unhappiness, and that in order to find happiness, there are a number of very simple things we should attend to. Mindfulness, striving, dissociation and transcendence were a few of them, but as simple as these things sound, in the age of 24-hour news, social
...more
A wonderfully witty debunking of the false claims of modern life. Foley reasons beautifully for a little more detachment and difficulty in our lives to counter our innate sense of entitlement (itself a logical continuation of the battle for rights in the 1970s and subsequent eschewing of duties). He also outlines the importance of the dying art of gratitude and questions the conformity and passivity induced by organised religion - characterising both Jesus and the Bhudha as activists.
A weird but well written book. It's not a self help book at all. It's about looking at the world as it most likely is, not the way you fantasize.
Enjoyed various quotes and snippets and stories that the author has sprinkled throughout. Well done.
Enjoyed various quotes and snippets and stories that the author has sprinkled throughout. Well done.
Can we be happy in our current western world? Michael Foley tackles here the problem posed by the notion of happiness and what it does imply -from philosophy and religions to psychology and neurosciences- before confronting such approaches to our modern societies.
If he doesn't answer explicitly to the question of happiness being still possible or not (if it ever was!) he paints an humorous, light and relevant enough picture of our times for his wandering thoughts to be entertaining. The thing is ...more
If he doesn't answer explicitly to the question of happiness being still possible or not (if it ever was!) he paints an humorous, light and relevant enough picture of our times for his wandering thoughts to be entertaining. The thing is ...more
If you are below 50, this book is not for you.
I couldn't relate any of this book's ideas to its title. However, that doesn't mean the book is bad, it simply means the book is dedicated for a certain type of readers.
This book is providing the retirees with a methods to look up for happiness, using the author's and some other philosophers and authors' opinions about life and happiness.
Don't waste your time on this book, while there are much meaningful books in the world...
I couldn't relate any of this book's ideas to its title. However, that doesn't mean the book is bad, it simply means the book is dedicated for a certain type of readers.
This book is providing the retirees with a methods to look up for happiness, using the author's and some other philosophers and authors' opinions about life and happiness.
Don't waste your time on this book, while there are much meaningful books in the world...
Any passionate writer taking on the "This is what's wrong with the world today" project is doomed to polarize his readers. Most can agree that every generation sees new trends, beliefs and technologies that are taken too far, but few can agree on the exact point at which "too far" occurs. Bearing that in mind, I was not surprised to find many of Foley's arguments to be absolutely spot-on, while others were too broad-sweeping.
Let's start with his mistakes. Steeped in his own social privilege, he ...more
Let's start with his mistakes. Steeped in his own social privilege, he ...more
This was highly disappointing.
If anything, the book itself seems absurd and the author spends more time complaining with no real talk whatsoever.
The smartest thing about this book is the title.
If anything, the book itself seems absurd and the author spends more time complaining with no real talk whatsoever.
The smartest thing about this book is the title.
I'm afraid I found this a bit of a grumblefest.
It might be because I spotted this in the bookshop of the Whitechapel Gallery that I expected more about art. I thought I was going to learn about Kierkegaard, Kafka, and Camus, and their relation to the modern age. All that is mentioned, but for the most part this book concentrates on a detail of the things which make us unhappy.
Not that he doesn’t do a good job of explaining the difficulties in finding happiness. Just sometimes it felt like it was ...more
It might be because I spotted this in the bookshop of the Whitechapel Gallery that I expected more about art. I thought I was going to learn about Kierkegaard, Kafka, and Camus, and their relation to the modern age. All that is mentioned, but for the most part this book concentrates on a detail of the things which make us unhappy.
Not that he doesn’t do a good job of explaining the difficulties in finding happiness. Just sometimes it felt like it was ...more
This is my second reading of this great critique of modernity. I love the length and breadth of the extensive critique on offer in this book, ranging from love to corporate cultures. Where the narrative drifts is the author's insistence on value of detachment in this very open and crowded modern life of ours. If detachment was so important to human survival than why has its use receded? For I believe that Human beings are only looking to survive in this world in the best possible manner and evol
...more
This i s a treasure of a book. Foley approaches all lifes traps and pitfalls and systematically attacks them.
This book shines a light of skewed or faulty thinking, WHY people think such things and believe other things and gives starling ideas on how to improve ones self without the pat crassness of self help books by using psychology to understand ones nature and philosophy to understand general nature.
This book shines a light of skewed or faulty thinking, WHY people think such things and believe other things and gives starling ideas on how to improve ones self without the pat crassness of self help books by using psychology to understand ones nature and philosophy to understand general nature.
An enjoyable rant at the state of modern life but like a good cranky dinner party. Drawing heavily on his favourite books (Satre, Joyce, Nietzsche) and on much anecdotal evidence, Foley jumps from topic to topic about the absurdness of modern life. Which would be great at a dinner party but after the first chapter is a bit tiring in a book. Smile or Die by Barbara Ehrenreich is a more analytical look at a similar issue.
The book really made me think about modern society and how we exist in it. We're told that today's world prizes individuality, but never have we been more flockish. It's an eye-opener: well written, humorous (without being OTT) and comprehensive. It's encouraged me to explore the areas of existentialism and stoicism further
A great collection of insights and thoughts, accessible and still scientific with amongst others many quotes of and references to great philosophers (Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Kant, Nietzsche, Arendt,...) and authors (Proust, Joyce, Rilke,...)
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Originally from Killavullen, Co Cork, Michael Foley has written Kings of September, winner of the 2007 BoyleSports Irish Sportsbook of the year. He also ghostwrote Harte: Presence Is the Only Thing, the autobiography of Tyrone gaelic football manager Mickey Harte, shortlisted for the 2009 William Hill Irish Sportsbook of the Year.
Winner of the GAA’s McNamee Award in 2008 and shortlisted for Sports ...more
Winner of the GAA’s McNamee Award in 2008 and shortlisted for Sports ...more
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“The talent for self-justification is surely the finest flower of human evolution, the greatest achievement of the human brain. When it comes to justifying actions, every human being acquires the intelligence of an Einstein, the imagination of a Shakespeare, and the subtlety of a Jesuit.”
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“Being constantly the hub of a network of potential interruptions provides the excitement and importance of crisis management. As well as the false sense of efficiency in multitasking, there is the false sense of urgency in multi-interrupt processing.”
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