The Best Things in Life [Paperback]

Peter Kreeft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 12, 1984

What are the best things in life? Questions like that may boggle your mind. But they don't boggle Socrates. The indomitable old Greek brings his unending questions to Desperate State University. With him come the same mind-opening and spirit-stretching challenge that disrupted ancient Athens.

• What is the purpose of education?
• Why do we make love?
• What good is money?
• Can computers think like people?
• Is there a difference between Capitalism and Communism?
• What is the greatest good?
• Is belief in God like belief in Santa Claus?

In twelve short, Socratic dialogues Peter Kreeft explodes contemporary values like success, power and pleasure. And he bursts the modern bubbles of agnosticism and subjectivism. He leaves you richer, wiser and more able to discern what the best things in life actually are.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kreeft has succeeded admirably in his revival of Socrates. . . . Kreeft's Socrates [is] recognizably the gadfly moralist, irreverent and reverent about just the right things." (The Reformed Journal )

"Any reader sitting down to persue these dialogues . . . [will] find himself roused, amused, entertained and instructed. Peter Kreeft does what all great teachers do: he returns us, again and again and again, to what T. S. Eliot called 'the permanent things.' " (Thomas Howard )

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books (July 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877849226
• ISBN-13: 978-0877849223
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Ethics

More About the Author

Peter J. Kreeft (Ph.D., Fordham University) is professor of philosophy at Boston College where he has taught since 1965. A popular lecturer, he has also taught at many other colleges, seminaries and educational institutions in the eastern United States. Kreeft has written more than sixty-seven books, including The Best Things in Life, Christianity for Modern Pagans, Fundamentals of the Faith and The Handbook of Christian Apologetics.

Dr. Kreeft's MP3 audio lectures can be purchased on Amazon, such as
"Christianity in Lord of the Rings".

Free articles, audio lectures, the speaking schedule and more info from Dr. Peter Kreeft can be found at his popular web site:
http://www.peterkreeft.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, Entertaining Philosophy, January 25, 1999

By 

Chu H. Choi (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best Things in Life (Paperback)

I read this book while taking a Socratic Dialogue Class with Dr. Kreeft at Boston College. "The Best Things in Life" is one of my favorite Kreeft books. It is a real page-turner, and poses simple yet perplexing philosophy throughout the dialogue. Kreeft's humor is a little corny, but his presentation of questions and conclusions are winning and convincing.

Highly recommended for young readers.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Things in Life, November 12, 2000

By 

Lisa C. Sharpe (Fayetteville, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Things in Life (Paperback)

I read this book because I teach logic and public policy debate to high school home schoolers. Peter Kreeft harpoons sacred cows, political correctness, philosophy and lazy thinking with humor and razor sharp logic. What a delight! Like all of Kreeft's work, this is not a quick read, but a trememndously valuable one. I'll be introduing this book during second semester. I am buying it for a high school student for Christmas, as well as a personal shelf copy.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine Socratic Dialogue, April 6, 1998

By 

David Graham (Shell, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best Things in Life (Paperback)

What would happen if Socrates returned to the present, showing up on a college campus over 2,000 years later? What sorts of things would interest him and what would he think about the modern world? With fine imagination, Peter Kreeft explores these questions in a book that discusses issues pertinent to the modern reader's life. Entertaining and instructive, this book is good for stimulating ethical and moral reflection.