Shortlisted for the 2019 British Academy Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding.
“Terrific. The intellectual and spiritual generosity of this book makes it an essential text for our fractious and dangerously divided era.” Richard Holloway
“Always intriguing and often illuminating.” Simon Blackburn. Literary Review
“Eye-opening.” Prospect Books of the Year
“Engaging, urbane and humane. … In our embattled age, Baggini’s self-awareness, acuity and willingness to listen and learn point valuably away from parochial myopia and towards productive dialogue.” Tim Whitmarsh, the Guardian
“This bold, fascinating book seeks to inhabit other philosophical traditions, with humility but without patronisingly exempting them from the critique he applies to ours.” Jane O’Grady, Financial Times
“Julian Baggini’s new book is so timely and so important. … This, I would say, is his best to date.” Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday
“Enlightening, perspective-shifting, mind-expanding – a superb tour through world philosophies with an erudite and friendly guide.” Sarah Bakewell
“A marvellous and original introduction to a complex field, highly personal, entertaining, fact-filled, and even entertaining. Worth reading and re-reading.” Marina Vaizey, theartsdesk
“An entertaining (if not entirely impartial) journey through some of the world’s philosophies that should endear it to the general reader, while philosophers weary of western parochialism will find much of interest, too.” Lloyd Strickland, Times Higher Education Supplement
“A book that is as ambitious as it is accessible.” Trouw (review of Dutch translation)
“There to fill the Sapiens-size hole in your life. ” The Observer
In this global overview of philosophy, Julian Baggini travels the world to provide a wide-ranging map of human thought, exploring the philosophies of Japan, India, China and the Muslim world, as well as the lesser-known oral traditions of Africa and Australia’s first peoples. Interviewing thinkers from around the globe, Baggini asks questions such as: why is the West is more individualistic than the East? What makes secularism a less powerful force in the Islamic world than in Europe? And how has China resisted pressures for greater political freedom? Offering deep insights into how different regions operate, and paying as much attention to commonalities as to differences, Baggini shows that by gaining greater knowledge of how others think we take the first step to a greater understanding of ourselves.
A video of a talk about the book in the Radboud Reflects series in the Netherlands
Also discussed on Tim Haigh’s Book’s Podcast, Newstalk’s Talking Books with Susan Cahill, The Institute of Art and Ideas Philosophy for Our Times podcast (Soundcloud or iTunes) and Meet the Macs with Fief Macrander .
Buy from your local bookseller, Waterstones, Foyles, Blackwell’s or Amazon
