The Socrates Express
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The New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the footsteps of history’s greatest thinkers and showing us how each—from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir—offers practical and spiritual lessons for today’s unsettled times. We turn to philosophy for the same reasons we travel: to see the world from a different perspective, to unearth hidden beauty, and to find new ways of being. We want to learn how to embrace wonder. Face regrets. Sustain hope. Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and global travel in a pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to reconnect with philosophy’s original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives. From Socrates and ancient Athens to Simone de Beauvoir and twentieth-century Paris, Weiner’s chosen philosophers and places provide important signposts as we navigate today’s chaotic times. In The Socrates Express, Weiner invites us to voyage alongside him on his life-changing pursuit of wisdom and discovery as he attempts to find answers to our most vital questions.
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Eric Weiner travels by train to sites where the great philosophers formulated their ideas and shares the life lessons of each that he discovers on his pilgrimages. Which philosophers does he explore? Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, Rousseau, Thoreau, Schopenhauer, Epicurus, Simone Weil, Gandhi, Confucius, Sei Shonagon, Nietzsche, Epictetus, Beauvoir, and Montaigne. What new things did I learn? Stoics aren't really stoic and Epicureans aren't really obsessed with pleasure. Nietzsche's thoughts were used by his sister for the furthering of the Nazi state, but he was not an anti-Semite. Rousseau was very pessimistic about the world. The Pillow Book is composed of lots of observations, some of which are lists.
I always enjoy the humor, the easy explanations of difficult thoughts of Eric Weiner books, but the parts he shares about his daughter were distracting for me. But reading this book makes me want to find out more about these thinkers, especially Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Epictetus, and Epicurus.
