The Socrates Express

A lovely book about life and the best way to live it. It is philosophy in the original, and in my opinion, best sense of the word. Eric Weiner is not a philosopher, he's a journalist. He, like the rest of us, is trying to make sense of life, trying to find meaning, trying to find tools to help him cope with the routine difficulties and disappointments that show up in all our lives.

In this book, Weiner goes on a quest to find answers. He takes us on a journey from Marcus Aurelius to Henry David Thoreau to Epictetus, Montaigne, Sei Shonagun, Gandhi, Confucius and more. Each of them had a philosophy of life, thoughts about what makes a good life, how to face down our fears, find joy, retain our sense of wonder, be graceful when faced with life's challenges, and more.

Weiner travels to the places where these people lived, and he writes about their lives and choices in a way that makes their ideas more relatable. He thinks about the ways in which those ideas might be applied to his own life. He asks questions, the kind that a layman would, and he often arrives at very reasonable answers.

Weiner is a cynic, (it's hard to be journalist and not be cynical), but he approaches his quest with curiosity and openness. He may be sceptical of some ideas, but he'll hear them out, and think his way through them. He's an excellent storyteller, and he's done a wonderful job of writing about  the people and the ideas that he's chosen to feature in this book.