What's It All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life

Baggini has re-established here a meaningful relation between philosophy and everyday life. This is a relation philosophers lost a long time ago. This book presents a plurality of issues which concern every individual. It presents surface aspects that read easily and naturally. The good news here is that these surface aspects have deep roots. And the reader can trace these roots to her own deep satisfaction. Baggini is clear and honest about his approach. The approach is rationalist and humanist. He has crafted an outstanding presentation.

If you ever wondered what is the meaning of life, or simply like philosophy, I think you'll like this book. It discusses many views on the subject in a interesting manner (playing the devil's advocate). I like the feeling of "I would never have thought of that!" that the book gives. Also, even if you don't find the meaning of life, you can find known ways of having a frustrated life (and maybe avoid them).

This is an fast paced overview of various philosophies that takes a fun approach to debunking many of the accepted purposes for our existance. If you majored in philosophy, this one will be a bit simplistic, but for the rest of us, it makes for an easy comparison of the various "isms". No, it doesn't really give us the definative answer(s), but great food for thought. Does give short shrift to New Age and Eastern religions due to the author's admitted lack of knowledge in these areas, but still well worth the read.

I once thought that perhaps Will Durant's book was the best introduction to philosophy, and then I thought "Sophie's World" was. Now both of those books are well worth your time if you intend to get a peek at the Western philosophical tradition. However, I think this is the best introduction to philosophy, not merely as what philosophers think about, but as thought about meaningful stuff. Baggini's arguments are concise to the point of dismissive, so anytime you disagree you'll long for a consideration of your objections, but he moves along briskly from one issue to the next. Even though I disagree with about 1/4 of his opinions, so I understand the feeling, I think he's got the picture in sharp focus; someone who believes (like, say, Cottingham) that religion is key to meaningful life will probably be too frustrated by this book to finish it. For a longer consideration and rejection of the theistic POV, I suppose you've got to go to Sartre. Anyway, the point of my review is that, if you're a layperson (like me) who's interested in thinking about the meaning of life (and stuff) (like me) then this is a very good book for you. Even if you disagree with his conclusion, everyone recommends the process of thinking through your adversaries' positions. Baggini and I both went through Cottingham, and he through several others as well, for instance. Another good feature of the text is that if you move on to other modern philosophy books, directed at the philosophy crowd rather than at laypeople, you'll find that this book has prepared you for the arguments you encounter. A difficulty of reviewing this book is that, frankly, it has to be read to be appreciated. No concise summary is possible. Except, the meaning of life is, like, to live. You want to see it discussed intelligently? Then I highly recommend this book.

I found this to be a wonderful book for someone both interested in and open to thinking about the meaning of life. The analysis is from a rationalist and humanist perspective. It proceeds step by step though the most common answers to the meaning of life question exmining them in a very direct and informative manner. In the end it leaves one with a framework to construct one's own meaning of life for oneself, one that is personal, meaningful, and moral. Highly recommended.