Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life

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From the celebrated author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, a compelling introduction to the life-affirming philosophy of William James.

In 1895, William James, the father of American philosophy, delivered a lecture entitled 'Is Life Worth Living' It was no theoretical question for James, who had contemplated suicide during an existential crisis as a young man a quarter century earlier. Indeed, as John Kaag writes, 'James's entire philosophy, from beginning to end, was geared to save a life, his life' and that's why it just might be able to save yours, too.

Sick Souls, Healthy Minds is a compelling introduction to James's life and thought that shows why the founder of pragmatism and empirical psychology and an inspiration for Alcoholics Anonymous can still speak so directly and profoundly to anyone struggling to make a life worth living. Kaag tells how James's experiences as one of what he called the 'sick-souled,' those who think that life might be meaningless, drove him to articulate an ideal of 'healthy-mindedness' an attitude toward life that is open, active, and hopeful, but also realistic about its risks. In fact, all of James's pragmatism, resting on the idea that truth should be judged by its practical consequences for our lives, is a response to, and possible antidote for, crises of meaning that threaten to undo many of us at one time or another. Along the way, Kaag also movingly describes how his own life has been endlessly enriched by James.

Eloquent, inspiring, and filled with insight, Sick Souls, Healthy Minds may be the smartest and most important self-help book you'll ever read.

Reviews

"Finalist for the PROSE Award in Philosophy, Association of American Publishers"
"One of Next Big Idea Club's Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of Spring"
"[William] James would have liked this book. [John] Kaag ties Jamess ideas directly to the challenges and puzzles of his own life and his readers lives. . . . Jamess ideas have rippled through the past century more powerfully than those of any other American thinker. Kaags little book reminds us why."---James T. Kloppenberg, Washington Post
"This short book is an excellent introduction to William James and his philosophy."---John Banville, Literary Review
"Characteristically elegant. . . . [Kaag] questioned the meaning of life. William James answered."---John Williams, New York Times Book Review
"Pithy and exacting. . . . Kaag, who by his own admission is not always entirely sold on lifes value, writes with the fervor of on determined to hear lifes higher notes. . . . in these anxiety-inducing times, it may be worth testing the buoyancy of Jamess existential life preserver."---Heller McAlpin, Wall Street Journal
"Earnest, accessible. . . . As [John] Kaag traces [William] Jamess intellectual path away from determinism and depression, he both clarifies thorny academic questions and offers dashes of self-help, showing how todays anxious souls might apply Jamess principles and learn how to 'be not afraid of life'." * New Yorker *

Author Bio

John Kaag is the author of American Philosophy: A Love Story, which was named a New York Times Editors' Choice and an NPR Best Book of the year, and Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are, which was also an NPR Best Book of the year. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Harper's Magazine, and many other publications. He is professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and lives in Carlisle, Massachusetts. Twitter @JohnKaag