Humanly Possible
Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope
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THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER o One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2023 o A New York Times Notable Book o The bestselling author of How to Live and At the Existentialist Café explores seven hundred years of writers, thinkers, scientists, and artists, all seeking to understand what it means to be truly human.
"A book of big and bold ideas, Humanly Possible is humane in approach and, more important, readable and worth reading. . . Bakewell is wide-ranging, witty and compassionate." --Wall Street Journal
"Sweeping . . . linking philosophical reflections with vibrant anecdotes." --The New York Times
If you are reading this, it's likely you already have some affinity with humanism, even if you don't think of yourself in those terms. You may be drawn to literature and the humanities. You may prefer to base your moral choices on fellow-feeling and responsibility to others rather than on religious commandments. Or you may simply believe that individual lives are more important than grand political visions or dogmas.
If any of these apply, you are part of a long tradition of humanist thought, and you share that tradition with many extraordinary individuals through history who have put rational enquiry, cultural richness, freedom of thought and a sense of hope at the heart of their lives.
Humanly Possible introduces us to some of these people, as it asks what humanism is and why it has flourished for so long, despite opposition from fanatics, mystics and tyrants. It is a book brimming with ideas, personalities and experiments in living - from the literary enthusiasts of the fourteenth century to the secular campaigners of our own time, from Erasmus to Esperanto, from anatomists to agnostics, from Christine de Pizan to Bertrand Russell, and from Voltaire to Zora Neale Hurston. It takes us on an irresistible journey, and joyfully celebrates open-mindedness, optimism, freedom and the power of the here and now--humanist values which have helped steer us through dark times in the past, and which are just as urgently needed in our world today.
The bestselling, prizewinning author of How to Live and At the Existentialist Café explores 700 years of writers, thinkers, scientists and artists, all trying to understand what it means to be truly human.
About this Author
SARAH BAKEWELL had a wandering childhood, growing up on the "hippie trail" through Asia and in Australia. She studied philosophy at the University of Essex, and worked for many years as a curator of early printed books at the Wellcome Library, London, before becoming a full-time writer. Her books include How to Live: a life of Montaigne, which won the Duff Cooper Prize and the US National Book Critics Circle Prize, and At the Existentialist Café, one of the New York Times's Ten Best Books of 2016. She was also among the winners of the 2018 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. She still has a tendency to wander, but is mostly to be found either in London or in Italy with her wife and their family of dogs and chickens.
www.sarahbakewell.com
Reviews
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOKS OF 2023
"A book of big and bold ideas, Humanly Possible is humane in approach and, more important, readable and worth reading. . . . Bakewell is wide-ranging, witty and compassionate." --The Wall Street Journal
"Bakewell is so deft, so engaging, and has such an eye for detail. . . . [Humanly Possible is] a pleasure." --The New York Times
"Witty and warm-hearted. . . . [Humanly Possible is] an epic, spine-tingling and persuasive work of history . . . trac[ing] seven-hundred years of humanism." --The Telegraph
"A chatty, discursive survey of way more than the 'seven hundred years' of 'freethinking, inquiry and hope' that [its] subtitle promises. . . . [Humanly Possible is a] terrific invitation to argument, to conversation." --The Washington Post
"Bakewell brilliantly tracks the development of humanism over seven centuries of intellectual history. . . . Erudite and accessible, Bakewell's survey pulls together diverse historical threads without sacrificing the up-close details that give this work its spark. Even those who already consider themselves humanists will be enlightened." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Bakewell exemplifies the thirst for life and learning of humanism at its best." --Literary Review
"Exhilarating." --The Times (UK)
"Engagingly written as well as richly informative. . . . Every thinker, every book, every movement is located lightly and precisely in relation to its past and its influence on the present day. I can't imagine a better history of humanism, nor one that is so vividly persuasive. Bakewell is a wonderful writer." --Philip Pullman
"Sarah Bakewell's books are always a joyous education. . . . She combines a keen intellect with a lightness of touch and one always feels that she delights in sharing what she has learned. That delight is contagious . . . the world looked different when I finished this book." --Robin Ince, co-host of The Infinite Monkey Cage and author of The Importance of Being Interested
"Lively. . . . [Bakewell's] new book is filled with her characteristic wit and clarity; she manages to wrangle seven centuries of humanist thought into a brisk narrative, resisting the traps of windy abstraction and glib oversimplification. . . . She puts her entire self into this book, linking philosophical reflections with vibrant anecdotes. She delights in the paradoxical and the particular, reminding us that every human being contains multitudes." --Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
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