If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Have you ever wondered why we feel so much pressure to find a 'calling' at work, and how did our ancestors view their daily labor differently?
- Did you know that our modern obsession with finding a 'soulmate' is actually a historical anomaly that could be sabotaging your relationships?
- What if the secret to a more meaningful life isn’t in the latest self-help trend, but in the forgotten wisdom of how people lived centuries ago?
Listen to How Should We Live? — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from How Should We Live?
- Discover how studying the everyday lives of ordinary people from history provides valuable templates for navigating our fast-paced modern world.
- Understand why the modern romantic expectation of a single soulmate is historically flawed, and learn to fulfill your diverse emotional needs using the six ancient Greek forms of love.
- Uncover the surprising historical roots behind modern domestic struggles, from the post-Industrial division of gendered housework to the cultural habits that silence family dinners.
- Realize that humans are intrinsically empathetic rather than naturally selfish, backed by scientific evidence showing how empathy helped our ancestors build surviving communities.
- Learn how to actively broaden your horizons and cultivate deep empathy by applying the historical templates of immersive experience, meaningful conversation, and social action.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from How Should We Live?
Mind Map
How Should We Live?
Relationships & Connection+
Work & Creativity+
Time & Money+
Experiencing the World+
Mindset & Mortality+
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 10
According to the ancient Greeks, what is the most effective approach to fulfilling our emotional needs for love?
Question 2 of 10
What historical event primarily caused the shift away from men and women sharing housework equally?
Question 3 of 10
How does the book counter Thomas Hobbes's pessimistic view that humans are naturally selfish?
Question 4 of 10
While Adam Smith's model of the pin factory drastically increased productivity, what negative consequence did it have on workers?
Question 5 of 10
How did the societal function of the mechanical clock change during the Industrial Revolution?
Question 6 of 10
Before the mid-eighteenth century and the rise of industrialization, what did the term 'consumer' generally refer to?
Question 7 of 10
Why does the text argue that vision became the dominant sense in modern Western society?
Question 8 of 10
What was Thomas Cook's original intention when he organized some of the first group tours in the nineteenth century?
Question 9 of 10
How did the legacy of Renaissance artists like Michelangelo negatively impact modern views on creativity?
Question 10 of 10
According to historian Philippe Ariès, what was a consequence of people in the Middle Ages being constantly surrounded by the reality of death?
How Should We Live? — Full Chapter Overview
- 1Recommendation
- 21 — The modern Romantic notion of a soul mate is impractical in real life.
- 32 — The challenges facing modern families have deep historical roots.
- 43 — Humans are naturally empathetic, and we can use that to expand our horizons.
- 54 — Despite today’s overwhelming range of career choices, we can still find meaning in our work.
- 65 — Modern people are obsessed with time and ruled by the clock, but it wasn’t always this way.
- 76 — Money may make the world go round, but our attitude toward it is a choice.
- 87 — Our senses shape how we understand the world, but we may have more than the standard five.
- 98 — Travel is a powerful way to learn about yourself and the world, and four travel personas can help.
- 109 — Our relationship with nature has changed greatly over time, but we remain mentally bound to it, if not physically.
- 1110 — Our beliefs are often inherited, but we should be ready to question them.
- 1211 — We mistakenly assume creativity can’t be taught, but it’s an important form of self-expression open to everyone.
- 1312 — Death is taboo today, but it wasn’t in the past – and to truly live, we must embrace it.
- 1413 — Final summary
How Should We Live? Summary & Overview
How Should We Live? (2013) gives a wide-lense view of why we Westerners tend to think the way we do. From love to work to death, it explains how our modern-day views evolved, and offers some age-old advice on how we might improve them.
Who Should Listen to How Should We Live??
- People looking for a historical take on lifestyle advice
- Anyone interested in the roots of our cultural preconceptions
- General-knowledge buffs after a little extra history
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