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How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer Paperback – September 20, 2011

by Sarah Bakewell (Author)

148 customer reviews

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Winner of the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography

How to get along with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love—such questions arise in most people’s lives. They are all versions of a bigger question: How do you live? This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, considered by many to be the first truly modern individual. He wrote free-roaming explorations of his thoughts and experience, unlike anything written before. More than four hundred years later, Montaigne’s honesty and charm still draw people to him. Readers come to him in search of companionship, wisdom, and entertainment —and in search of themselves. Just as they will to this spirited and singular biography.

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Product Details

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Other Press; Reprint edition (September 20, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590514831
ISBN-13: 978-1590514832
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.1 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (148 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Regional & Cultural > European > French
- #12 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Philosophers
- #57 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > History & Surveys

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148

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2 star		3%
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

216 of 224 people found the following review helpful

A life of the Essays

By J. W. Kennedy on September 15, 2010

Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )

This is not so much a biography of Michel de Montaigne as it is a biography of his book ... which is a legitimate approach since Montaigne himself described the Essays as a portrait of himself, a model of the author in text form. So, Ms. Bakewell has given us many facts about Montaigne's life as well as chronicling the fortunes of the Essays during his life as well as the endless revisions and re-interpretations that occurred after his death. The story is told in true Montaignian fashion, out of chronological order and with numerous digressions, with chapter headings that consist of twenty hypothetical answers to the book's central question: "How to live?" Unlike Montaigne, the content of each chapter stays (mostly) relevant to the subject in its heading. The back of the book contains a brief timeline, an index, and a list of notes. (Strangely these numbered notes are not indicated in the text, making them essentially useless; but that may just be an idiosyncrasy of the Uncorrected Proof copy which I read.)

I first discovered Montaigne when I happened upon the Essays in the History section of the bookstore. I knew nothing about him, but the dust-jacket blurb described him as the inventor of the essay, literature's first "modern" writer, an affable gentleman who good-naturedly natters on at length about any topic that catches his fancy (his favorite subject being himself). His mind wanders and his pen follows it wherever it happens to go. I bought the book, expecting nothing more than to be entertained, and was amazed to discover how emotionally uplifting it was. Montaigne apparently did not wish to consider himself a "philosopher" yet that's what he seemed to be. Here's an educated, well-read guy with an agreeable, easygoing manner ..Read more ›

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112 of 116 people found the following review helpful

More Than Just a Biography

By Ken C. TOP 1000 REVIEWER on November 18, 2010

Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )

You've heard of hybrid cars? Get ready for the hybrid biography. Sarah Bakewell's luminous HOW TO LIVE is just that -- an inspired collision of biography, philosophy, history, rhetoric, and literary criticism, all sprinkled with a dollop of self-help. That's right, Bakewell shows how seamlessly Michel Eyquem de Montaigne can enter the 21st century and offer advice to the harried reader. Montaigne, after all, was anything BUT harried. Calm, cool, collected, stoic. That was our man in France.

Now most readers undertake a biography because they are interested in the subject. I was more intrigued by the critical buzz Bakewell's book garnered in the press. And so it was that I got to know Montaigne, famous author of the ESSAYS, through Bakewell's unique design of 20 chapters all based on the question "How to Live?" with a different answer. They are, in order, "Don't Worry About Death," "Pay Attention," "Be Born" (Editor's Note: Very funny), "Read A Lot, Forget Most of What You Read, and Be Slow-Witted," "Survive Love and Loss," "Use Little Tricks," "Question Everything," "Keep a Private Room Behind the Shop," "Be Convivial: Live With Others," "Wake From the Sleep of Habit," "Live Temperately," "Do Something No One Has Done Before," "Do a Good Job, But Not TOO Good a Job," "Philosophize Only by Accident," "Reflect on Everything; Regret Nothing," "Be Ordinary and Imperfect" (Editor's Note: Easy!), "Give Up Control," and "Let Life Be Its Own Answer." If those topics intrigue you in any way, so will this book.

What did I learn? Of course, as expected, a lot about Montaigne's life as that is the main thread.Read more ›

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55 of 58 people found the following review helpful

The 16th Century is Closer Than We Thought

By JMB1014 on November 11, 2010

Format: Hardcover

Sarah Bakewell's book on Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) is worthwhile in large part because Montaigne is not as widely read as he deserves to be; her work may help redress that situation. Wisely, she gives readers to understand that they may see themselves in Montaigne's Essays: She understands the narcissism that pervades our culture. It is fascinating - and rather suggestive - that so many people claim to see themselves in the writings of a thoroughgoing skeptic.

Her theme is "how to live" - a subject on which Montaigne is full of insights, though he never presumes to offer advice. In 20 chapters, Ms. Bakewell explores approaches to life derived from Montaigne, such as "Be ordinary and imperfect," "See the world," "Guard your humanity," "Wake from the sleep of habit," "Let life be its own answer," and perhaps most characteristically for Montaigne, "Question everything." If this smacks of the self-help book, don't be deceived. Montaigne is talking about his life, not yours. If you look in his Essays for tips on living, you will not be alone, though his purpose is to describe, not prescribe.

I will not attempt a discussion of Montaigne's Essays here. They have been well reviewed elsewhere. Suffice it to say that he was a learned and yet highly sympathetic member of the French nobility and man of affairs who gave up his public life and duties to think, read, and write. He is the author of insightful, often delightful, essays on all kinds of things - even cannibals.

Ms. Bakewell is more than a casual student of Montaigne and her lively study is more than just a history of his collection of essays. She offers a clear-eyed though necessarily incomplete view of Montaigne's personality, to the extent it can be made out from this remove.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

nice intro to Montaigne and his philosophy

This book is quite nice. Good pace, smooth writing, interesting discussion. I would not call it a biography. Read more

Published 17 days ago by foolish

Not as interesting

Published 24 days ago by Taylor C

The First Blogger (Well... if he had a MAC)

Review via http://masculinebooks.com/2015/06/18/how-to-live-by-sarah-bakewell/

How to Live by Sarah Bakewell is a fascinating look at the life of one of the... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Seth

Can hardly wait

I can hardly wait to dive into the essays. I am not one for any ism, but I am always interested in how to live. This book provided a great understanding of the man behind the work. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Trollac

An amazing tour de force!

The five years Sarah Bakewell spent researching and writing this book were very well spent. Extremely readable and engaging, I enjoyed it immensely. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Willow Wolf

Hey Bakewell, psychoanalyze yourself before you write another book.

Positive (For the non-expert Montaigne reader): Relates many key biographical points on Montaigne's life to readers who would never have even attempted to read Montaigne; which... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Michael J. Moore

What's New in the Human Condition?

This is one of the greatest books that I have read in years; I've given numerous copies to friends. It's an excellent introduction of Montaigne and his times, for our time.

Published 5 months ago by Steve H. in Austin

Exceptional

Mrs Bakewell has created a well researched and exceptionally well written masterpiece. Now... On to the actual essays armed with my new-found knowledge.

Published 5 months ago by S. Mohammed

An invitation to personal philosophy. Great mix of biography,...

I like my philosophy German and grumpy. But for reading about the good life I've turned to Montaigne and his essays. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Dennis Mitton

Chatty, but very good for most readers.

It is a bit chatty, but pitched perfectly, especially if you have no acquaintance with the essays. The kindle version was adequate, though you might want a paper copy, because the... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Da Ba Ba

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