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In this accessible and comprehensive work, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins cover the entire history of philosophy–ancient, medieval, and modern, from cultures both East and West–in its broader historical and cultural contexts. Major philosophers and movements are discussed along with less well-known but interesting figures. The authors examine the early Greek, Indic, and Chinese philosophers and the mythological traditions that preceded them, as well as the great religious philosophies, including Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Taoism. Easily understandable to students without specialized knowledge of philosophy, A Short History of Philosophy demonstrates the relevance of philosophy to our times, illuminating the impact of the revolutions wrought by science, industry, colonialism, and sectarian warfare; the two world wars and the Holocaust; and the responses of philosophy in the schools of existentialism, postmodernism, feminism, and multiculturalism. In addition, the authors provide their own twists and interpretations of events, resulting in a broad view of the nature of philosophy as an intellectual discipline and its sometimes odd and dramatic consequences.

https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Philosophy-Robert-Solomon/dp/0195101960/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469406664&sr=1-1&keywords=a+short+history+of+philosophy

How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do!

Are you stressed out, overbooked, and underwhelmed by life? Fed up with pleasing everyone else before you please yourself? It’s time to stop giving a f*ck.

From the author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, a delightful, truly consoling work that proves that philosophy can be a supreme source of help for our most painful everyday problems.

Perhaps only Alain de Botton could uncover practical wisdom in the writings of some of the greatest thinkers of all time. But uncover he does, and the result is an unexpected book of both solace and humor. Dividing his work into six sections — each highlighting a different psychic ailment and the appropriate philosopher — de Botton offers consolation for unpopularity from Socrates, for not having enough money from Epicurus, for frustration from Seneca, for inadequacy from Montaigne, and for a broken heart from Schopenhauer (the darkest of thinkers and yet, paradoxically, the most cheering). Consolation for envy — and, of course, the final word on consolation — comes from Nietzsche: “Not everything which makes us feel better is good for us.”

This wonderfully engaging book will, however, make us feel better in a good way, with equal measures of wit and wisdom.

There is no shortage in our society of messages extolling us to reach for things we don’t need at the cost of our precious time. What we need are messages encouraging us to spend more time with our kids, friends and family and taking better care of our physical and mental health!

Work to be satisfied with having little, because if you do not, when you gain a lot you will still be unsatisfied! Put another way, nothing satisfies the man who is not satisfied with a little. The reason? The essential things in life are obtainable with very little, so simply gaining more, and more, will not increase more of what is essential in life.

The majority of us are simply unable to accurately answer “what will make me happy” and “what will make me healthy.” Is it, Materialism? Money? Respect? Weight-loss? Power? Freedom? Fun? Love? Beer? We can work on these questions here!

When wellness, fitness and nutrition are important to you, you can either follow popular fads, personal hunches, opinions of others or mass marketing invented to part you from your money or you can hire someone who has thought rationally and deeply about the human body for decades while being formally educated and trained within the health and fitness field. Logic and truth over opinion!

The happiness of pleasure can never mean as much as the happiness we derive from the pursuit of excellence! Enlightenment is far more satisfying and enduring than mere entertainment; although they are not always mutually exclusive. Pleasure can never make up for the absence of purpose, direction and real meaning in our lives; the pursuit for self improvement naturally provides these things. Happiness from excellence is enduring; happiness from pleasure is shallow and fleeting.

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

The Obstacle is the Way has become a cult classic, beloved by men and women around the world who apply its wisdom to become more successful at whatever they do.

Its many fans include a former governor and movie star (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a hip hop icon (LL Cool J), an Irish tennis pro (James McGee), an NBC sportscaster (Michele Tafoya), and the coaches and players of winning teams like the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Cubs, and University of Texas men’s basketball team.

The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Ryan Holiday shows us how some of the most successful people in history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their embrace of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck.

If you’re feeling frustrated, demoralized, or stuck in a rut, this book can help you turn your problems into your biggest advantages. And along the way it will inspire you with dozens of true stories of the greats from every age and era.

Renowned media scholar Sherry Turkle investigates how a flight from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity—and why reclaiming face-to-face conversation can help us regain lost ground.

We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.

Preeminent author and researcher Sherry Turkle has been studying digital culture for over thirty years. Long an enthusiast for its possibilities, here she investigates a troubling consequence: at work, at home, in politics, and in love, we find ways around conversation, tempted by the possibilities of a text or an email in which we don’t have to look, listen, or reveal ourselves.

We develop a taste for what mere connection offers. The dinner table falls silent as children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones. At work, we retreat to our screens although it is conversation at the water cooler that increases not only productivity but commitment to work. Online, we only want to share opinions that our followers will agree with – a politics that shies away from the real conflicts and solutions of the public square.

The case for conversation begins with the necessary conversations of solitude and self-reflection. They are endangered: these days, always connected, we see loneliness as a problem that technology should solve. Afraid of being alone, we rely on other people to give us a sense of ourselves, and our capacity for empathy and relationship suffers. We see the costs of the flight from conversation everywhere: conversation is the cornerstone for democracy and in business it is good for the bottom line. In the private sphere, it builds empathy, friendship, love, learning, and productivity.

But there is good news: we are resilient. Conversation cures.

Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do.

The virtues of person-to-person conversation are timeless, and our most basic technology, talk, responds to our modern challenges. We have everything we need to start, we have each other.

https://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Conversation-Power-Talk-Digital/dp/1594205558/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468126592&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=recliaminbg+conversations

Just returned from Mountain Biking in MOAB and PARK CITY, Utah, The REDWOODS and YOSEMITE in California and SAN JUAN ISLANDS, Washington State! I won’t bore you with all the pictures; they wouldn’t do the experience justice anyway! Stay active and engaged!

What’s the formula for a happy life?

Neil Pasricha is a Harvard MBA, a Walmart executive, a New York Times–bestselling author, and a husband and dad. After selling more than a million copies of his Book of Awesome series, he now shifts his focus from observation to application.

In The Happiness Equation, Pasricha illustrates how to want nothing, do anything, and have everything. If that sounds like a contradiction, you simply haven’t unlocked the 9 Secrets to Happiness.

Each secret takes a common ideal, flips it on its head, and casts it in a completely new light. Pasricha then goes a step further by providing step-by-step guidelines and hand-drawn scribbles that illustrate exactly how to apply each secret to live a happier life today.

Controversial? Maybe. Counterintuitive? Definitely.

The Happiness Equation will teach you such principles as:
· Why success doesn’t lead to happiness
· How to make more money than a Harvard MBA
· Why multitasking is a myth
· How eliminating options leads to more choice

The Happiness Equation is a book that will change how you think about everything—your time, your career, your relationships, your family, and, ultimately, of course, your happiness.

https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Equation-Nothing-Anything-Everything/dp/0399169474/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468112382&sr=8-1&keywords=happiness+equation