Short Synopsis
In this self-help book with a difference, Kieran Setiya confronts the inevitable challenges of adulthood and middle age, showing how philosophy can help you thrive.

Full Synopsis
Philosophical wisdom and practical advice for overcoming the problems of middle age.

How can you reconcile yourself with the lives you will never lead, with possibilities foreclosed, and with nostalgia for lost youth? How can you accept the failings of the past, the sense of futility in the tasks that consume the present, and the prospect of death that blights the future? In this self-help book with a difference, Kieran Setiya confronts the inevitable challenges of adulthood and middle age, showing how philosophy can help you thrive.

You will learn why missing out might be a good thing, how options are overrated, and when you should be glad you made a mistake. You will be introduced to philosophical consolations for mortality. And you will learn what it would mean to live in the present, how it could solve your midlife crisis, and why meditation helps.

Ranging from Aristotle, Schopenhauer, and John Stuart Mill to Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as drawing on Setiya's own experience, Midlife combines imaginative ideas, surprising insights, and practical advice. Writing with wisdom and wit, Setiya makes a wry but passionate case for philosophy as a guide to life.

"Stephen Thorne narrates this lively guide to midlife's dilemmas with the color and verve of an expert storyteller." ---AudioFile

"A delightful amalgam of self-help and intellectual inquiry." ---The Economist

"Setiya serves as an engaging companion for those in the throes of the dreaded midlife crisis, as he brings the wisdom of the ages to bear on the contemporary malaise. A self-help book with a strong--but not heavy-handed--philosophical foundation." ---Kirkus

AudioFile Earphones Award Winner