None
4 stars
I'm interested in Epicurus and would go so far as to say I'm a follower of his philosophy. I've also lived in Greece. Which meant that this whole book was a treat for me, even if I did start skimming the later sections as they started to get repetitive; I also found an unfortunate echo of Jordan Peterson's conservative attitude towards relationships i.e. marriage is always a good idea although he does mention Shulamith Firestone and her opposition to marriage. I suspect that if I'd lived in Greece later on (rather than in my 20s) I might have had more appreciation of the slowness of life, but at the time I found it tiresome and Westerners' attitude towards it rather patronising - see also "The Magus".
No, this isn't a book of deep philosophy, more of playing games with philosophy while strolling around Greece and meditating on the usefulness of …
I'm interested in Epicurus and would go so far as to say I'm a follower of his philosophy. I've also lived in Greece. Which meant that this whole book was a treat for me, even if I did start skimming the later sections as they started to get repetitive; I also found an unfortunate echo of Jordan Peterson's conservative attitude towards relationships i.e. marriage is always a good idea although he does mention Shulamith Firestone and her opposition to marriage. I suspect that if I'd lived in Greece later on (rather than in my 20s) I might have had more appreciation of the slowness of life, but at the time I found it tiresome and Westerners' attitude towards it rather patronising - see also "The Magus".
No, this isn't a book of deep philosophy, more of playing games with philosophy while strolling around Greece and meditating on the usefulness of being older - which boils down to "You're now out of the game - so instead of complaining about it, try benefiting from it." And yes, it is mostly directed at men, but women seem generally to be better at maintaining social networks, and taking care of one another. I was also reminded of the current trend for the 'flaneur' or 'flaneuse' - which is not one who wanders aimlessly ("Not all who wander are lost" - JRR Tolkien) but one who observes, one who slows it down and follows the rivers, discovers the ruins hidden in the woods and the marks left by previous travellers. As TS Eliot said, "Old men should be explorers."
