Okay. Hi, this is Tim and Brian today's book are at this week's book is How to Live by Sarah Bakewell and it's about the philosopher Montaigne or Montaigne going to the audiobook. I think the audiobooks wrong personally because what do they know? Yeah. Correct. This is the School of Life on YouTube calls him montane.
How do you watch the school? Yeah, man. He really prepared for this. Well, I didn't watch it. I didn't watch the video in preparation of the interview. I was discussing the book incidence. I just I was I was going down a rabbit hole of YouTube and I just saw the one book about the book of life for Montagne and I clicked on.
And they said Montagne. I'm like that's good enough for me., so I chose this book to read which I don't know if you're happy about it or not. We'll find out. We'll see, and I chose it because I thought it would be interesting to learn about. I don't know didn't know much about him going into this and, like his work stuff kind of stood the test of time they've been around for a while.
So I wanted to kind of see what all the hype was about Montaigne. So you've heard of this guy before the book, right? I had not. I didn't know that no idea existed like vaguely knew him. Okay,, and I've read like bits and pieces or he's kind of quotable. I think like a little aphorisms like Ben Franklin type stuff.
Oh, yeah, that's definitely. Yeah, so did it live up to your hype - what you hoping? Not entirely. I was a little disappointed. I'll be honest. Oh really? Because yeah, even though he's really well. He's pretty interesting and there were parts of the book. I enjoyed on the whole. I don't think it was tied together that well or like super captivating.
I know it took us longer than usual to read. This is a bit of a slog. I don't know what you think. Yeah, I mean it was it was rough go for me. I mean, it's summertime we have stuff going on. I mean I got I got sidetracked with family reunions and whatnot. So,, yes part of part of the reason was my delay in reading the book.
But, yeah, I liked it. But like I respect the author because it's like a history book. It's not like a biography right, you know and. You know the title I think is a little misleading for sure because it doesn't really like that the table contents looks pretty intriguing, you know, how to live in 20.
What does it say in one question in 20 attempts at an answer. So and the table of contents is 20 chapters and so each one is like, uh little catchy little phrase of how to live like, Survive, love and loss, use little tricks and you know, uh convivial like so the table contents of the chapter setup leads me to believe that like, each one is going to have a little like going to be wrapped up like with Montaigne aphorism. Like you said. Yeah that. Convey that, you know relates to each one each of the chapters, but then she got talking about how Montagne was read centuries later and I'm like and she was name dropping all these people.
I was like, I don't know who all these people are. Like, what do I care? You know, I mean, like I feel like if someone was big fan of Montaigne and had read his essays because that was his main work was his essays. If someone was a fan of his essay, so I think they should read this book. Yeah, right, don't you agree or not?
You should have read some going into this. Well, I mean, I don't know it might have been a different experience a little bit. It could have been it could have been. I thought that she did include more of his writing in the actual book instead of like you said just kind of talking about the historical aspects of it, which it's important to have some like context and stuff for the time.
But like if you're going to just mention the essays again and again, That he wrote, you know, the famous essays then why not include more of them and actually have that direct source. I mean she did a lot, you know, they were at least in the printed version there were, you know, a little paragraphs a little segments of her directly quoting from the essays.
I'm not saying she didn't do it, but she also kind of rambled about historical stuff that wasn't always like all the Kings and the wars of France, right? I mean, yeah, I agree. I mean it definitely ramble and I mean it was interesting at times. Yeah, I say that with upward inflection because I thought it was interesting maybe like but on the whole it didn't I it was interesting but it but it dragged on right way to put it.
Yes, especially towards the end. Yeah. Yeah, and I can understand some extent of the context because like. This was after the reformation and kind of the Renaissance the plague was happening. So all of these things were influencing his life and like the wars between the Catholic and Protestants. So that's part of the reason he developed his sort of like philosophy of just I don't know.
What how would you summarize it? Like living in ordinary life and just living simply, um observing the world around you and trying to like. Put yourself in other people's shoes and perspectives things like that. Yeah. Yeah. I think that wraps it up pretty well. I mean, he was very much a stoic and a skeptic right and then she and I like that part where she talked about his upbringing and his background and what he read and what he found interesting and shaped his worldview and I very much like that because it was a lot of stuff I like too.
I feel like if I was to read the essays, I think I would enjoy them. but I don't I haven't read it one day probably I mean, but I feel like I think I think she does do a good job of giving the like she explains the events that happened in Montaigne's life that led him to kind of view the world this way.
Yeah, and so you're right she didn’t explicitly always, she quoted the essays some but not, you know, not all the time and but I think that's what it was and at the end of the day it is. And but it was more history Laden as well. So I mean it was just it was just kind of rough to read at times.
Yeah, and there were times where I thought she might have been stretching with her assumptions because it's like this guy was 500 years ago. How do you know like what events led up to think in certain ways a lot of that is just sort of guessing on your part. Right? Right. Yeah, I agree. I just wish there were more kind of synthesis of his ideas synthesizing.
Here were the different things that he thought and I combine these into a way that is new and interesting. I don't know how much we would have got versus reading the essays dry clean versus reading this book. Right but I think that's why she kind of goes into the history of things because it sets up the world in which he lives in which he because like if he if we just read the essays that's a sit.
I mean, we don't I we haven't read the essay right? So maybe you know, Maybe there's stuff in there where he kind of rambles on were like, well, what's he talking about? And then maybe she's supplying more context for those right? Because he I mean that's all the essays were. We're just a bunch of his digressions and ramblings,, which.
I'm sure we're very eloquent you know 1500s French guy. Well, it was almost like she couldn't decide if this was going to be biography history book or self-help book because the time, you know, like it comes off like a self-help. Yeah the title and the lead up to 20 ways live your life.
Right? But I wonder if that was almost like an intentional misdirection almost like a meta point because a lot of his essays she described as being., starting out with a certain topic and then not following that kind of progressing and I wonder if she did that intentionally. Maybe I'm reaching there.
She may have or maybe you know people have viewed the essays as such a, you know, a Monumental work that affected them so deeply that she was going off of that, I guess quality of the essays that people found so good is that, you know, it's their reading and it's like their experience.
He's experiencing what they're experiencing even centuries later. And so because people have such a profound relationship with the essays, maybe she's leading that in the how she wants to portray Montaigne's life as well. Yeah. Yeah, well a lot of self-help books probably make to over too many like overarching points or kind of big declarations and his whole life is just like as she describes it saying things like I don't really know what I'm talking about.
But here's what I noticed about this or that so observations and then these kind of disclaimers like but who really knows right? Right. I kind of like it's more humble than the average like philosopher. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely and I and I you know, That's something I think we could I think that's one thing that makes Montaigne.
So, um relatable is that you know, these great philosophers like Socrates and Plato and all of them are like, you know seems so wise. Like I don't I don't you know, I haven't read much Socrates and Plato but like they I mean they don't seem like they they're ones to have doubt right, you know Montaigne is like what have like she's I think she mentioned the specific of the write a paragraph about how he used the world and at the end he said like or maybe not I don't know, you know, like and I kind of dig that, you know, because like Montaigne at the end knows that he's just experiencing the world through his lens and who's he to say that other people view things the same way as he does, right and one thing was him and his cat, he views the world from his cats perspective and I thought was cool. I enjoyed that. They're a big parts of this book talking about his sort of views on animals and.
Talking about like thinking things from an animal's perspective like dogs and cats and there's just really funny because yeah, you don't hear philosophers talk about a bunch. But it's like yeah, maybe certain animals are smarter than us in certain ways and that they can perceive reality differently or something, you know, the kind of mention that, yeah things like that.
Yeah, but yeah, the skepticism really came out and some of the quotes like,, All I know is that I know nothing and I'm not even sure about that. That was a good. I've heard the first part of the quote Socrates, but then the last part,, kind of makes it even better. I think yeah. So yeah, the three philosophies were stoicism skepticism and epicureanism that sort of guided his life right. Stoicism and epicureanism I guess we're similar in some ways that it was like trying not to let your emotions. Take control of you too much and to try and live in the present or big parts of them. I think wasn't there a difference the way they dealt with that find how to live in the present., I think stoics were like always thinking like things could always be worse right and epicureans.
I forget like they were I forget the details more positive. I think in general like she compared stoics to like boxers. Uh epicureanism missed to, like martial arts Zen Masters kind of something like that because Stokes yeah, they would visualize maybe the worst case scenario of something that could happen and try to like Replay that scenario in their minds and prepare for the worst.
So just toughen up and epicureanism were kind of more about. They put a positive spin on things. I guess there's more to it. But yeah, I know that was like, you know in the first third of the book that I read like three weeks ago. So forgive me for not remember those Yeah. Well, yeah, that was definitely I mean, yeah, do you have any favorite like specific chapters or anything? do you know do you remember or definitely the philosophy one? We were just talking about apart stalking about the animals., those are honestly to in my most favorite because I like those philosophies and I like animals besides that I don't know. Do you have a favorite one or like a favorite lesson?
No, it was definitely the philosophy one where yeah where yeah, we go into the details of how Montaigne what Montaigne read to help shaped his worldview, which I found very interesting. but then you know, like as I was slogging through the book this week trying to finish it. The part of the end I really enjoyed was this
Marie De Gurney a oh the yeah, she was the young girl that invited him to their home. When he was in Paris one time and he visited him and she was because she read his original essays and became a super fan and he she became a doctor daughter of Montaigne, right and then after his death, she then edited his last version of the essays and I kind of I found her refreshing because even 1500 France like she you know was.
I'll kind of a feminist right and I and I thought that was kind of cool. I didn't expect to be reading about Montaigne and have a strong female character, you know, because it seemed like his wife and his mother and his daughter. I mean like he didn't really even go into they talked about their with his relationship with his mother and wife's, yeah, but kind of like how they each had their own.
He and his wife had their own Tower and the home. So like how much did they really, get along. I mean they seem they seemed amicable and that he/she very much, took care of his remains after he died as a show of, loving respect. But, yeah, but to read about this, this young girl, then that takes on his work and helps edit it later.
I thought was pretty cool and how she's kind of a Spitfire and wasn't going to adhere to the patriarchy of the 1500s but as best as she could sound like she was like. Had a crush on him or something or that he probably like yet had was attracted to her. But he was just so old she came like right that's what that's what the author kind of alluded to is that like, we're not really sure how Montagne felt about her at first, like maybe he was trying to he would when they're trying to hopefully seduce her and then she wasn't having it and he's like, okay fine.
You'll be my adopted daughter. That's that creepy to go from one to the other. But yeah, yeah, that was cool character. I'm caring person. Well, yeah, and then so she kind of translated an edition of his book, right which she didn't she added as she added. Yeah, but that I mean that raises an interesting point which is like throughout history depending on the era and the person whoever translates or edits an addition will have their own kind of spin to it, right?
So yeah, that's what I mean. That was the whole. Like chapter 17 or 18 in there. It was a whole chapter about how the English seemed to always like Montaigne because they were Protestant country. And so the Montaigne was never band and they had a good translator of Montaigne and, they considered him as English as any other author.
and yeah how it's interesting over centuries how at different times and depending on the translation or editing of the book, people can view it differently and you know, like I guess that was interesting but like I mean the author did extensive work, I give kudos to the author for all the research she did for this book because I mean that was very detailed but like I didn't.
Don't need all the details. I mean that's why I say I reiterate the fact that if I was a fan of Montaigne and the fan of the essays then I find this book more interesting. Yeah, because then it shows the evolution of work that's hundreds of years old and how it can evolve. Yeah, it's funny you mention his wife because.
I remember reading in a small part where and he got this from Socrates originally to marry a difficult wife because then you're testing your kind of ability to deal with adversity. You're living what you're practicing What You Preach? Yeah big very much. Yeah, I think I told my dad that once like Socrates married a really difficult life so that he could like live up to these.
High standards and testing himself and he's like, that's a bad idea. Yeah, probably. Oh man. Yeah. But he wasn't like a super lofty philosopher. He's just kind of like an everyday prison which at the time it probably was more significant because like a lot of people these days right about everyday stuff.
But like at the time you weren't really supposed to write unless you did these Grand things or something. Oh, yeah. So yeah, it was more unique probably. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I think that was refreshing of during that time as to have somebody who wrote just about everyday life because yeah, it's Got to Be.
Like you said, there's plague going on. There's civil wars in France, you know life is pretty lousy, right? I mean and to have only people write books that talk about these lofty ideals, you know can seem rather over everyone's head. I mean like who cares about that when you're just trying to stay healthy and feed yourself and not get killed.
Yeah,, but, Yeah, but writing about everyday life as Montagne did I think did adhere himself to, The Peasants or normal more everyday people of the time had like a sense of humor throughout. Yeah considering the dark times was but like you talked about the English people being a fan of his which was also interesting and they said maybe even, Shakespeare was like influenced by him, which is pretty cool as well. Yeah, that was cool. And then then like the next paragraph in that chapter. She talks like some guy had this crazy conspiracy where Francis Bacon was originally was actually the author of some Shakespeare plays and Francis Bacon was the author of the essays like at the same time.
Yeah. I mean it was like flimsy stuff like how in Shakespeare's plays. They talked about a lot about mounting mountains Mount which could be mounting montane, which is the French guys. Yeah, right. I mean super-stretch. so, like I mean little things like that. I didn't think we're needed but I guess she had to fill the book.
Yeah, but yeah, it's sort of guessing if he was if Shakespeare really was influenced by him. But you could say like Montaigne thought a lot about from thanks from a lot of people's perspectives and Shakespeare is good at like put it in self in these different characters’ shoes, or at least the works attributed to him.
Yeah, but all these like other popular figures, like Nietzsche grader. Can you chose really influenced me whatever. Yeah Nietzsche whatever and like I think Rousseau or like. Various philosophers, but then there is people there were people like Descartes or Pascal who were like angry about him thinking about the world of a cat's perspective like they were really I know all about it.
Oh man. It makes me so happy to think about these like serious philosophers getting. I know it by this guy thinking about how a cat Lincoln right and you know Montaigne would have thought that was hilarious like that. That's one thing. I do feel like I got a good appreciation of Montaigne from this book.
So I do feel like that. She does a good job of, making me appreciate him right as a thinker and a person. so yeah, Montaigne would have been. Would have been laughing about I'm like, why are you guys thinking so seriously?
Yeah, you don't want to read the essays now. I mean, I feel like I don't know what I would what I get more from the essays now. I mean, I feel like the main parts I kind of get that you get the gist of it, right? Yeah. I feel like reading the essays now would just be slogging through a lot of discourse to find the Nuggets that I find interesting.
Yeah. And maybe this book already has polished the nuggets for me. So I don't have to do all that. It sounds like he used writing as a way just to think through things. Like as he was writing was like a stream of Consciousness style where I don't know how captivating it is to read because he'll just be bouncing back and forth probably.
So, I think one time she says that he goes on length about sneezes. Yeah, right.
but Io think it's fascinating how he was brought up initially because when he after right after he was born he was sent to a peasant family for the mother of the peasant family to be his wet nurse and I learned what I went was it wet nurse is actually is because you know, she would breastfeed him until he was about one.
And then he came back to the house with his mom and dad but they had a tutor there who would teach him Latin. So his first real language was Latin that his dad spoke a little of and his mom hardly none at all. So, like his first six years of his life was basically him talking to his tutor and a little bit of his dad.
I mean and not really I mean that's got to be a crazy way to bring up a kid. Yeah, but I mean. But it seemed to set them up well for Education because he's excelled in school because he knew Latin really well and then he then proceeded to have a successful, um political career after that too. Well what she talked about a lot was his upbringing was like a Montessori type education to where the dad would give him a lot of freedom to kind of do whatever he was interested in right just study his own I think.
So, that's kind of what I took away from it and that kind of plays out and it sold her life as well because he would get kind of bored easily. And if he didn't want to do something he just like wouldn't do it. He kind of came off like as lazy or irresponsible sometimes like the rest of his family would like have to pick up the slack maybe but you know, maybe that helped him as a thinker yeah.
Yeah. What else what else yeah, I guess I just wasn't I wasn't prepared for a full biography and history lesson. Yeah, that's what kind of slow mode and so on my reading down. So, what do you recommend this to people here to be like know what you're getting into?
Yeah, you got to know what you're getting into., thanks a lot, Tim. Picking the right. So like every page at least less depressing. Right? Right. So yeah, I agree. It was less depressing. I mean you had people you'd Civil War and people dying in the plague. And all kinds of nasty stuff and how he dies is terrible like he gets a kidney stone infection and then his throat and then his whole body swells up including his throat and then he slowly suffocates to death.
Yeah, that's pretty bad. But he also I mean, yeah, that's terrible. But like in the early part of the book she talks about how he had a near-death experience like nearly falling off of a horse. So and then he like came back from that and he said it wasn't that bad. Every wasn't a scared. Right, which you wonder I don't know.
I know I know that that kind of kicked him off on this whole philosophical Journey that he and on because he didn't really write before then and, I do like that, you know, she led the book with that right because that was such a Monumental event in his life that that was really the Crux of this whole work really.
And his best friend dying. Yes. Love had that French. Very pretentious way of saying yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I tell you what, there were a lot of French names in here may otter French stuff. Yeah. One slogged through it one more funny thing about him right in the horse. Yeah in general because he was like a pretty short guy.
She said he would ride the horse to look taller. I'm like just he came off like he was always trying to like stuff. It's kind of funny, but it didn't sound like height the height was too much of an issue back then right? I mean, yeah, I mean she was yes shorter than I think the average person but I guess it is what it was what it was it was it was just funny that like, oh man though, but yeah, it does not make me want to have kidney stones man.
Nobody wants to have kidney stones like. Yeah, he was yeah, I and like I think she made a comment that was one criticism of some people like in later years. They were like does he have to talk about his urination so much for like, you know, if you're having kidney stones and you're just writing in your essays of whatever you're thinking about that's going to be on your mind, you know, like I can't imagine having kidney stones and then be like, oh write about, you know, the beautiful weather or something whatever is going on at day and I was like no me.
Freaking penis hurts Jesus. Should I not say that? You can you can he's supposed to be family-friendly? Yeah, but I mean that's just like he writes that way because that's he writes. What's on his mind. Whatever the hell? Yeah. Exactly. And that's the whole point. Yeah. Did you have favorite quotes?
You want to do favorite quotes? Yeah, man. You got one. Yeah, of course. I always a big recruits. This is early on a lot of my quotes. I found were the separate paragraph that she so from quote from the actual essays as I found a lot and this is just one early on about just what Montagne says.
He says if others examined themselves attentively as I do they would find themselves as I do full of inanity and nonsense get rid of it. I cannot without getting rid of myself. We are all steeped in it one as much as another but those who are aware of it are a little better off. Though, I don't know.
I should just end all my sentences.
Although I don't know.
Yeah, okay. So, I can give one about like animals that we were talking about. Sure. Sure., here we go. So, he says we humans persistent thinking of ourselves as separate from all other creatures closer to God's than to chameleons or parrotfish. It never occurs to us to rank ourselves among animals or to put ourselves in their minds.
We barely stopped to wonder whether they have Minds at all. Yet for Montagne it is enough to watch a dog dreaming to see that it must have an inner world just like ours. And he talks about like a dog and dreaming and thinking about running after like a rabbit or so. Yeah. I did like that. I got another one about animals. Should we stick to the animal things? Yeah, go for it.
There is a certain respect and a great duty of humanity that attaches us not only to animals who have life and feeling but even to trees and plants. We owe justice to men and mercy and kindness to other creatures. That may be capable of receiving it there is some relationship between them and us and some mutual obligation.
So you like the hippie stuff. I do like just love nature man. I love hugging those trees.
I also found it interesting how Montaigne would like he was fascinated with like. Well, like how you respond to a mob or something like that, you know because like he was he was robbed a couple times but one time bandits overtook his party and he basically told them that if they take him for ransom, they're not going to get any money and he was blunt with them and then they talked it over and let him go.
and. You know in times when there's thieves and robbers all throughout the countryside. He has his compound completely unlocked. I think there was a quote in there about when you have your place completely unblocked and open for all because he welcome people to his place too.
You give the impression that there's that you've nothing to hide right And then therefore nothing to valuable psychologic. Yeah, right. Like if you like to keep something valuable in your home leave it out in the open because if somebody comes to Rob your house though Overlook that that things sitting on the table because they think your valuables are hidden in a drawer somewhere, right?
Yeah pretty like it comment. Yeah. I don't know. Common sense but it's smart like kind of human. Yeah psychology or understanding how people are right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I got one. All right. So this is TS Eliot describing Montaigne. Yeah. So he says, of all authors Montaigne is one of the least destructible you could as well dissipate a fog by fleeing hand grenades into it for Montagne is a fog, a gas, a fluid Insidious element.
He does not reason he insinuates charms and influences or if you reasons you must be prepared for his having some other design upon you then to convince you by his argument. So and she kind of goes on to say like he neither argues nor persuades. He just seduces right like he turns the reader without making this kind of Grand overarching Point.
yes, I definitely highlighted a lot in the chapter about his philosophy, and what he read chapter 6 when how to live answer use little tricks. I mean, it's basically saying that the thought that the ability to enjoy life is forwarded by two big weaknesses lack of control over emotions and a tendency to pay too little attention to the present and then in Montaigne goes on to say.
Do not seek to have everything that happens happen as you wish but wish for everything to happen as it actually does happen. And your life will be Serene. That's good. That's kind of the Latin like Amor Fati. Yeah. Oh, yeah, she mentions that several times in the book of Fate. Yeah, and she also said like we're closer. And it's obvious when you think about it, but like we're closer to him and history than he was to the Greeks that crazy. Like it makes sense for like to really contextualize that it's like wow. We are a lot closer to him and history but we both draw from all that.
Yeah, and to think that he lived before like you America was even close to becoming a country, he lived when they were still colonizing the new world. Like, I mean, it's just it's mind-boggling and then I did like the little nugget that I think early in the book. She talks about the Civil Wars in France kind of came at a bad time.
Well, I mean, let me let me rephrase that the Civil Wars in France. Came at a time when exploration was happening in to the new world and colonization was happening. And so France kind of missed the boat literally about colonizing the new world. So we speak English, south of here speaks Spanish and Portuguese and you got French Canadian French Canadian.
Yeah French Canada, that's about it, so a France had their shit together. Maybe we'd be speaking French right now. I said, you know what I'm saying? Like yeah. Yeah, they had a lot of their own internal stuff working through. I mean we allied with them at one point. Oh, yeah, I mean they got their stuff together later.
But like yeah, I just find that interesting that that domestic disturbances in France caused them to miss out on a., uh worldwide political geopolitical, you know movement that was happening. Yeah, but then out of all the turmoil and stuff. They have like the enlightenment where a lot of French thinkers were Enlightenment thinkers, and then they would go on to influence like, you know, like American philosophy sure, like there was some things that came with that but then they still had like the French Revolution and everything right there.
Still dark times ahead. Oh, yeah, so I'm just thinking purely from. Colonization Point yeah, you know, yeah, I'm not saying that France didn't have big impact on Society world, you know society and greater thinking,, you know advancements. Right, but just purely in settlement of geographical regions.
They kind of missed out on because they had their own stuff though. Colonists did a lot of bad things. Yeah. I'm not I'm not they really missed out. Well, it is taking over people's land. I understand what. Oh, oh, yeah, here's something about his leaving the doors unlocked of his place and not not keeping a microscope on his servants and whatnot.
He said yet it seemed to him better to lose money occasionally than to waste time tracking every penny in watching his servants tiniest movements. that's just be like Montaigne had a good outlook on life. It's pretty laid back.
I got another one. Okay, go for it. All right. yeah, this is Montaigne direct Montaigne.
I have seen no more evident monstrosity and miracle in the world than myself. We become habituated to anything strange by use and time. But the more I frequent myself and Know Myself the more my deformity astonishes me and the less I understand myself.
I think I found my favorite quote of the book. That's your favorite. Yeah, it's got to be because he's so true that we become habituated to anything strange by use and time right and, you know go off on a tangent here. That movie we saw sorry to bother you. the squeeze the character squeeze at the end.
He says when something outrageous happens and when people don't know what to do the abnormal over time becomes normal, right? And this is what Montaigne's saying to as we get used to anything by using time, but ourselves. We're so intimately attached to who we are but yet we can look at ourselves in different situations and different chapters of our lives and we're totally different people.
yeah, I guess the whole idea of normalization is that you're so close to something day after day. They don't kind of see the forest through the trees I, which has a good point and in general it sounded like he was. Opposed to habit for that reason because you get so caught in your own point of view and that's part of why he talked about jumping into other people's perspectives, which you know is a pretty Timeless lesson just like put yourself in someone else's shoes and try to see the world from their point of view and you can do that with your with your past selves too.
Or yeah, or cat. Yes or cat Tim. Okay. Yeah, I think I can do
but like. I just found this this another little tidbit.
I found fascinating is people who really looked up to Montagne and his essays and one of them was Stefan Zweig who was an Austrian Jew who fled Austria during the Holocaust of course and then bounced around a couple countries and ended up in Brazil and like. Where he didn't really feel like he fit in he was glad Brazil took him in with open arms, but he found in Montaigne some Solace, but then he ended up killing himself.
He and his wife like decided to kill himself. But this is what with said, um
extracted a series of general rules from the essays and these are his rules. Be free from vanity and pride. Be free from belief disbelief convictions and parties. Be free from habit. Be free from ambition and greed. Be free from family and surroundings. Be free from fanaticism. Be free from be master of your own self. Be free from Death life depends on the will of others but death on our will our own will.
And then then like the next paragraph the author says that he like took some poison or something. He and his wife committed suicide. I'm like damn that's depressing. Yeah, so like yeah, I think those lessons some pretty well, uh his philosophy.
I don't know if I agree with all of them. I don't know right of course, I mean, but like knowing this Zweig gentleman's position where he was exiled, From his homeland and I think he killed himself before World War II was even over so like he had no glimpse of Hope on the horizon. I just can't imagine being that you know in such despair.
Yeah. Well, I guess one thing I like about reading in general is that if you find an author who matches a thought that you had or felt they couldn't articulate. That's like a great feeling and so I think a lot of people find that in Montaigne because he does capture these everyday things pretty well and it was interesting like throughout time how it meant different things to different people or like groups of people.
She talked about how like the romantics the Romantic Era saw the certain way then like 19th Century, 20th Century each had a different like Virginia Woolf. Oh, yeah. That's really loved. Yeah, and then here's another quote highlighted that kind of touches on your point there because like Mont the author says Montaigne you knew that his own work would keep going through the same Mill for as long as it had readers meaning it would be changed over the years and all this stuff and what Montaigne says of that.
And able reader often discovers and other men's writings Perfections Beyond those that the author put in or perceived and lends them richer meanings and aspects.
So exactly what you said is like we find in authors what we can't even articulate ourselves, but then this goes another step further where we read into authors Works what we get out of it.
Is sometimes not even with the author intended but that's so fantastic about reading and art in general at the whole new dimension to yeah. Yeah. It's like makes it a shared experience to like we think of eating this kind of a passive thing but really like taking an idea and then, you know combine it with your own thoughts.
Yeah and how you can read something in one moment of your life and have it mean one thing. Yeah, and then years later. If you read you know revisit that work, it may have a whole new meaning or completely different meaning or have no meaning at all anymore. Right? And so, you know, you can get you can you can get you know, you can have all kinds of feelings about that.
But you can just still appreciate it for what it was at that moment in time, yeah, that's why it's interesting to record these because it can go back and be right can't believe I thought I can't believe I made Tim read Blood Meridian. All right. Did you have your favorite quote?
So I think this sums it up pretty well. Okay. So I like this quote and then her short explanation that follows it. If you fail to grasp life, it will elude you if you do grasp it will leave you anyway, so you must follow it and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow the trick is to maintain and kind of naive amazement at each instant of experience.
But as Montagne learned and one of the best techniques for doing this is to write about everything simply describing an object on your table or the view from your window opens your eyes to how marvelous such ordinary things are.
Yeah. Yeah, and I think yeah just the constant theme of him riding all the time and then it helps you see the world differently.
It's like once you once you put your thoughts on paper and then reflect on them, it just helps you become I think more objective and NC. Get a broader perspective of the world, right? Yeah, I think that quote does wrap things up. Very nicely. Yeah, because I think I think that's what this book in particular is about.
It's about Montaigne writing just writing whatever he wanted and then the author is explaining what's happening in the world around them. You know, I think the essays themselves. I think are more of a personal thing because your view your reading Montaigne's thoughts and his views on the world.
And this book that we read is basically describing Montaigne's writings in the context of the world going on around it. And that's just it that's what you said is like. You know life will elude you no matter what so you can do this drink from the stream while flows. Yeah. Yeah keep running, but I guess I do appreciate more of the context of it after talking it over because that's really what this book adds is the backdrop for his writing and maybe part of the reason why he wrote what he did.
Do you have a rating for this book?, so that being said after going over the good and bad thing. Yeah, then we thought I think. I will give it every doing three like stars. Yeah, okay. Yeah stars rating whatever. I know his five or ten. It's about a five. Okay, three stars. Yeah, same here three stars on five would use today.
Even if I said, yes, okay, I write it down first. Oh really like a blind like, okay. This is I'm going to say for myself. So I mean, I don't want to., I mean really for me most of the time it's going to be on a 3 3 level scale. Yeah, I'm probably going to do a lot of twos threes and fours unless we read a book.
I really hate then it'll be a one but a book. I got a really love the book to give it a 5. Yeah, you know, so it's going to be a lot of two threes and fours and this is a I think it's solid three. I mean, I think my tardiness and getting it finished made me doubt it and be like well, maybe it's a to because I didn't enjoy reading it that much but I think I appreciate very much what the author did in this in this book.
Is she collected all the I mean events in the world and the interpretations of Montaigne after his death and all that stuff together and I think that's what's Very admirable and I think definitely for people who like Montaigne or like the essays that I think this is a must read for those people.
What do you recommend it to like your friends and family saying like if you really like philosophy and some history and yeah, then you'd probably enjoy it. But for most people the average reader, I think he could pass. Yeah, I agree. So with that being said, we're on to our next book, right?
Yeah, what's her next book? Come on Tim, it's my choice. I'm choosing a Malcolm Gladwell book. I didn't I never read Malcolm Gladwell before I'm just a fan of his podcast. But now I'm reading them. We're going to read blink. I think he's overrated. I know that's going to be serious fireworks, you know, maybe my mind will be changed as I read the book and I'll say oh maybe I had these unfair preconceived notions, but I've seen like lectures by him and I.
You know heard bits and pieces of his podcast bits and pieces but it's like that's enough for me for you to make your mind. All right, Lee judge something like montane. He'll be around 500 years from now. Oh my goodness. Nobody will be around five around physically but like, I knew what you meant. I didn't mean physically.
I like I think but you could say that about a lot of social science stuff. I think a lot of modern intellectual. People are kind of Imperial. I'm very I'm very ephemeral damn it. But now he probably had some good ideas and I don't know what get into a next time. Well, yeah. Yeah stay tuned.
But yes, but please go to our website two guys one book dot com and make your comments there if you have any yeah read the next book with us and then. You can be part of the experience. Yes, we have the next couple books posted up there. So you can check out our reading this coming up got a lot to read.
Oh, yeah, all we do. All right. Thanks for listening.