Product Review

In our era of email, smartphones, and wild consumerism, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important. Few know this better than Haris Dimitriadis, an ex-corporate climber who one day realized that, although he had all the hallmarks of success—money, a good job, the respect of his peers—he wasn’t happy. In fact, he felt hollow, dissatisfied, and anxious. Thankfully, he discovered Epicurus.
In this pioneering thinker, Dimitriadis found a teacher whose ideas seemed specifically designed to cure our uniquely modern ache. Indeed, few classical philosophers remain as relevant and practical today; Epicurus’ worldview is rooted in our senses, feelings, and natural dispositions. Sweeping aside our modern assumption that the acquisition of happiness is necessarily painful and regimented—think of our love for strict workouts, diets, hard work, and other ascetic practices—Epicurus declared that finding happiness is easy: we simply need to embrace our natural desires.
With wit, rigor, and in simple, easy-to-understand language, Epicurus and the Pleasant Life joyfully brings Epicurus singing into the twenty-first century. Leading the reader through the worlds of philosophy, religion, neuroscience, psychology, and astrophysics, Dimitriadis and Epicurus present a great, self-affirming truth: that you too can lead a blissfully happy life, if you only learn how to reach out and take it.