The Meaning of Life

by Bradley Trevor Greive

It's an age-old question that has stumped the great minds of history: What is the meaning of life? In his hilarious and uplifting style, best-selling author Bradley Trevor Greive finally provides the answer: Figure out what you love and do it. Illustrated with playful photographs of animals, BTG's insightful prose again hits his target straight on. He muses about why we're here and our greater purpose in the grand scheme of things. His informal style provides a refreshing counterpoint to what has always been one of life's big debates. For example, when it comes to discovering your passion, BTG writes, "First, no one else will tell you about it - it's just like walking around all day with a sign on your back that says KICK ME." The Meaning of Life is a witty, thought-provoking book that makes an ideal gift for anyone who's seeking their true purpose-and wants to laugh along the way.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Inspirational, Self Help, Photography, Animals, Philosophy

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Bradley Trevor Greive (BTG) is one of Australia's most prolific and successful authors. He has written 20 books which have been translated into 27 different languages, and have been sold in 115 different countries. Several of which have appeared in the New York Times bestseller list. Greive's work has won multiple awards worldwide and has sold more than 20 million copies. He lives mostly in Tasmania, Australia.

Greive rose to prominence as an author in 2000 with the release of his hugely successful Blue Day Book, a collection of amusing animal photos and inspirational text designed to "lift the spirits of anyone who has got the blues." Since then he has published in excess of 20 books and has won numerous awards for his work, including the ABA Book of the Year Award (2000), the APA Best Designed Children’s Non-fiction Book Award (2003) and numerous #1 placings in bestseller lists across the world. Greive's work has been published on 6 continents and has sold in excess of 20 million copies to date.

Reviews

[N.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and have read it a few times over the years; it's sweet, imaginative, positive and inspiring. It's a very quick read but well-thought-out with beautiful photographs that humorously complement the heartwarming messages in the writing.

[Danielius Goriunovas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Už ką tokie geri vertinimai? Ar primokėdavo, kad paimtum šią knygą?

Tekstas prastas. Suprantu, kad žanras motyvacinis, tipo nesiparink dėl gyvenimo prasmės, tiesiog būk zjbs, juokis ir bus viskas normalei. Bet... Tik tiek? Nieko įdomiau?

Nuotraukos irgi prastos. Tarkim puslapis, kurio apačioje užrašyta "Tai kokia ta prasmė?", o virš teksto nuotrauka su galvą pasukusiu šuniuku. Net ne gera nuotrauka. Ne meniška, ne šaunios kompozicijos, o kažkoks stock variantas.

Tekstas beprasmis, nuotraukos siaubingos. Kodėl žmonėms šitai patiko? Ar aš durnas?

Sakyčiau, kad knyga generuota su AI, jei būtų buvę išleista šiandien. Tiek blogai.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

The idea behind the book is that love is the most powerful and enduring force in the world that keeps us moving forward and "brings real meaning to our everyday lives," not just romantic love or love of others, but a deeper love -- a love of life itself. This reminded me very much of David Foster Wallace's 2005 commencement speech to Kenyon College grads, "This is Water" (I'm not sure that was the actual name of the speech, but it is often referred to by that title): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaVrn1.... It also called to mind the writings of Brazilian philosopher/educator Paulo Freire in "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," which also focuses much on this idea of the love of life. Oftentimes we lose sight of the meaning of life and the things that are really important, which are not always the things that society teaches us to value. With so many distractions it is easy to lose track of our dreams, hopes and aspirations and focus instead on the mundane.

The book is punctuated with humorous and touching black and white photos of animals throughout that capture the essence of the words on each page. This makes for a great little coffee table book with an important and inspirational central message that makes it worth reading every so often, when the details distract us from the big picture; to quote John Lennon, "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." This book is a reminder to slow down, reprioritize and enjoy life before we realize it is too late.

[Sarah B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very short, quick read. Truthfully there is not much to this book. It's basically a collection of many black and white animal photos with a few sentences under them. The sentences are in green text. Light green text to be more precise. It is very possible some people with vision issues may find it hard to see the light green text against the white page.

None of the photos really grabbed my attention even though I love animals. I am not sure why? They just don't stand out too much for some reason. In fact while reading this I was concentrating more on the words and not the pictures? Which is kind of odd. I would think they are meant to go together?

So what is this about? It's about the meaning of life. Or that is what it says. Basically it is saying you should spend your time doing the things that make you happy instead of wasting your time doing some other thing you hate - maybe like a dead-end job. And that maybe if you think about it you might discover what that thing is that makes you happy. But it's said in a round about way.

I really don't think I got much out of this book. Maybe it's not my type of book? Or maybe it's because I have already figured out my purpose in life: to be an equestrian and to work with horses. But synchronicity brought me to that...not words in a book. Besides I have been horse crazy my whole life. But I do feel this book is kind of "blah" and rather useless. And it's a very fast read - like 15 minutes (although I did not time myself).

[Kiwi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pictures were very cute and, in combination with the texts in some places, did make me laugh. Some parts of the book, even when trying to make me feel inspired, just made me shake my head. I believe one of those sections was the calling of other meanings of life (that weren't 'love') to be 'stupid', or something of that sort, as if one's personal meaning of life can't acknowledge a spectrum of ideas. And I know that such things are often meant to be taken as humour in books such as these, but...well, I don't know, I couldn't completely do that with this book, which took away from my enjoyment of it.

If I flip through it again I think I may just look at the pictures instead.

[Lafcadio · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pictures are funny... -ish. The text in this book is sort of half-heartedly strung together in a way that barely holds the pictures together in some semblance of order. Basically, they should have omitted the text and called this book Funny/Cute Animal Pictures and it would have had the same effect. Except that it needs the text because the pictures alone are not that remarkable. I just now tried to re-read it, which shouldn't have been hard since there's only one sentence per page, but I only made it halfway through the prologue before I got bored.

[(Tracy's) Book Balderdash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and philosophically baseless and optimistic with fun photos of animals that have metaphorical resonance if you want them to. took me 5 minutes to read and if you don't over think it, it's a lovely 5 minutes

[Samara O'Gorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rediscovered this book I read in eighth grade when I first started researching philosophy… I thoroughly enjoyed it back then and also did today. In life, just do your own thing and don’t forget to have fun in the process.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely a lovely little ray of sunshine! 🌞

Will keep an eye out for a few more copies to give away as gifts because this is a simple, quick, and uplifting read 🍀

[Murilo Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cutest little book I’ve read in my life (and probably will). Talks about believing in yourself, being grateful and enjoy life despite it being hard sometimes. And all of that with a funny picture of some random cute animal per page :)

"You can’t cross a chasm in two small leaps. It takes courage and commitment to live your dreams.”

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how the pictures went with the words. Using the pictures really helped the reader to get involved with the words and emotions trying to be expressed by the author.

I read this book because I am going through a lot of struggles in my life. Some of the things he stated I already knew but I stopped halfway through and tried to hold back tears.

I waste so much of my time and am wasting my life. It's crazy because of the fact that I know I have bad habits but don't choose to solve them.

Reading this book felt like I was having someone like a friend acknowledging my bad decisions and ignorance. I got chocked up when I read because what he said was so real and true. It's a shame we go through life this way.

It was really motivating reading this book. What I wanna do is keep this book and read whenever I get really down or need some type of motivation when I can't seem to find it any place else.

I got this book for free from my college when they were giving donated books from the faculty away. I'm so happy I picked this up but I am so upset I didn't pick up his two other books at this book giveaway.They were right next to this book, one called "the blue book." I'm still kicking myself about this today. I didn't know I'd have a strong reaction to this book like this I guess.

[Katie Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Why do we go on and on about individuality being the very essence of who we are, and then accept a degrading level of conformity in virtually every facet of our lives?"

I really thought I was only going to give this book three stars, and then I got super inspired at the end. Who knew such a short, gimmicky little book would actually be pretty impactful? This book speaks mostly of doing what you love. To get the most out of your life, do what makes you feel happiest and most fulfilled. Seems so simple, right? Well... I bet most of us aren't really doing that. I know that for the most part, I'm not. It mentions "taking the jump" in doing what you love rather than holding back and waiting, about how we aren't getting any younger... which is true. I've always wanted to be a professional organizer, but I've never had the guts to actually attempt to start the business. I know where to start, how to start, what to do... but I just don't. Why? Fear of failure. But I don't wanna be lying in my death bed wishing I'd done it or at least tried harder. I know what makes me happy, and this book makes me want to be more authentically me. Reading. Cats. Writing. Gift giving. Organization. I don't need to be ashamed of myself, and I don't need to try to stifle myself. Fear, shame, embarrassment, ...what the hell ever, I deserve to do what I love! We all do.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Various stock photos of animals illustrate this simplistic book about finding your way in life. On one hand, it doesn't have as many disturbing images of animals in trouble as Blue Day. On the other, the text is even more asinine than the previous book.

I don't believe there is a meaning to life (yes, really)--it just is--so Greive's assessment of it doesn't really intrigue me.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a particularly poignant read! As usual, love the animal photos, and the cute little comments that come with each. A light, relaxing, refreshingly inspirational series of books. Great as gifts also....

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and pithy, thought provoking; particularly excellent job on the photo editing. But the lime green ink was a mistake. And for such a flimsy little picture book, frankly I feel the author goes a bit overboard in the Acknowledgements section.

[Ava h]

zendegi yani eshgh !

[Denise Ballentine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute pics, "feel-good" mish-mash philosphy, humorous in parts.

[Sarah Bean]

Sarah Bean

The nonfiction novel The Meaning Of Life by Bradley Trevor Greive is a very inspiring book.
In the beginning of the novel the author explains the aspect of how we humans think. His first topic talks about how our species feel as a whole but truly have defensive walls up surrounding our emotions and beliefs so we never truly come together. Us humans are self obsessed and only see things the way we want to see them and hear things the way we want it to be heard. The author is trying to open your eyes and ears to see and hear reality and to remove that filter. He wants us to be able to look at ourselves and others, know the real you and what's going on that may affect you and to live the real life around you.
Another topic that was brought to my attention was the theme around life which is love. Love is as fragile as it is has the power and force to bring meaning to our everyday lives. The love that gives warmth in everyone and prevents our souls from freezing. Love is a huge part of life and its role to keep that fire lit inside us will prevent us from going against the meaning of life.

My opinion on the book The Meaning Of Life is I really enjoyed it.
The book brought out feelings that I never had been in touch with before towards life and gave myself a meaning to live. I found times when I connected with the book and it had me thinking about my own life in a bigger picture. I’ve struggled with mental and Physical illness and after reading the book I’ve felt as if it’s shown me my purpose and that’s by knowing how much my worth is. Even though the book talks about the positive parts in life it also includes the negative. It made me happy to know how these negative things are just part of life and that they have a way of letting someone learn and grow from them. I respect life a lot more after reading this book. From page one to the last I could not stop reading, it was completely engaging. Each topics had perfect meaning and the way things were worded and phrased were understandable. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that seems like they need a reminder of what their meaning is in life.

[Priscila Pieper Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

E se eu te perguntasse: por que estamos aqui? Qual é o sentido disso tudo? Do trabalho, das relações… Da vida? Você conseguiria me responder? Você saberia dizer em frases simples e curtas?

De forma bem humorada, Bradley nos mostra que o sentido da vida pode ser algo bem mais simples do que imaginamos. Um livro de perguntas, mais do que de respostas, O Sentido Da Vida é daquelas leituras que nos faz olhar para dentro, para aquilo que realmente importa para cada um de nós.

Nadando contra a correnteza das perguntas profundas (de onde viemos, para onde vamos, por que estou aqui, etc), Bradley opta pela simplicidade, desde as linguagens, até as representações visuais. Seu questionamento é complementado por fotografias maravilhosas em preto e branco, o que torna a leitura mais fluida, leve e muito mais divertida.

Muito mais que um livro puramente divertido ou filosófico, O Sentido Da Vida é uma leitura leve, agradável que é acessível e toca a todas as idades, sejam crianças ou adultos.

Uma leitura obrigatória, em especial neste período de isolamento social, que nos relembra a cada página, que ainda temos muito o que fazer por nós mesmos e por nossa amada Terrinha, que chamamos de lar.

Boa leitura!

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know I thought this was gonna be preachy and pretentious and that I was only gonna enjoy it for the funny animal photos. Turns out, this book told me exactly what I needed to hear. That my life will be worthwhile if I follow my passions and do what I love. That it doesn't matter how much money you make or who judges you, if you want to be fulfilled and happy listen to your heart and use your head. That you don't need to do 'great' things, you don't need to make a discovery or be perfect to change the world and inspire others. That one day, you are going to die and there's nothing you can do to stop it, so SEIZE THE DAY! DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT YOU ARENT GOOD ENOUGH. SAVOR AND HOLD ONTO EVERY MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE. IT'S OK TO BE SAD, AND ITS OK TO HAVE BAD DAYS, BUT GET BACK UP THERE AND KICK THE WORLDS BUTT. YOU ARE AMAZING. YOUR PASSION IS WORTHWHILE AND MEANINGFUL. YOU WILL FIND PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU JUST AS MUCH AS YOU SHOULD LOVE YOURSELF YOU BEAUTIFUL IMPERFECT MESS.

I am passionate about this book and recommend it to anyone who needs the motivation to do what they love. Also, funny animal photos go brrrrrrr.

[Craig Wanderer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had this book for years and never made it past the first few pages, this is a bit embarrassing as it is not exactly a long and difficult read.
However I decided to sit down and read it with my children and I am glad I did, it essentially is most other inspirational books condensed, easy to read with Pictures to help convey it's meaning.
I think some of the reviews were from people who expected something profound in regards to "Solving the mystery of life" however it states early on that was not the point of the book.
Was it great? Nope, Profound? Nope, did it do what the author set out to do? Yup.
In short, if you are an adult reading it on your own I doubt you will get much out of it, other than the usual "Waste no time and live your life!" mantra, however if you take the time to read it to your children or have them read it, I think it could be a positive thing to their future.

[SJeanay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was gifted to me some years ago. I do not remember who gave it to me, but as I am cleaning out drawers of my living room bookcase display, I took the time to sit and read it one more time before I pay it forward.

In an attempt to answer an age-old question that we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another, “The Meaning of Life” takes one through a series of questions and answers with humor and playful photographs of various animals. The pictures are what make the book; the animals are fantastic and the photography exquisite.

It is written in an uplifting thought provoking, laugh out loud style, that leaves the reader feeling hopeful. It is definitely a mood uplifter.

Bottom line: Figure out what you love, take chances and just do it. What a great time to re-read this as I am purging my entire house in an attempt to take a giant leap of faith into my future.

[Katja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredible cover and a nice concept, but it kinda felt like a BuzzFeed article - little bits of a sentence with a stock photo of animal, repeated a bajillion times. Especially because these literally were stock photos - they clearly were very aesthetically different and hodge podgey and aren't narratively good at all. (they were definitely all black and white to trick you into thinking they went together. I'm in art school bitch, it didn't work.) Would be way better to get them illustrated or something, or at least all by the same photographer - this kind of feels like a cheap or cheat version of a book. Like, I can arrange stock photos with text, but I call that a PowerPoint and don't sell it. End rant.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book as short as The Meaning of Life is often called by another name (that name being pamphlet) however this is marketed as a book, and as long time readers of my reviews know, that means I will treat it as such. Which means it gets a review. So, on to the important question: does The Meaning of Life actually contain the meaning of life? Well it certainly contains one really good idea of what that is and I think if you approach it seriously this book might prompt a little introspection and that is a good thing. So yes The Meaning of Life actually is worth giving a bit of your attention to, especially if you only paid a quarter for it as I did.

[Tara van Beurden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thinking to myself today that the three books I have on my to-read list at the moment are all rather depressing. I am trying to focus on being more positive so this morning I went through my un-read list looking for obviously funny or uplifting books that I could read, and I stumbled across this book. It's a short, picture book style; each page has a funny picture of an animal that loosely relates to the words on that page. The Meaning of Life according to Greive is to find what you love and waste no time throwing yourself into it. It's a fair point that many of us need to hear, so I'm glad I read it.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a perfect, little inspirational book to read on New Year's Eve, 2020. This book is about the meaning of life and it's a great book of thoughts and questions to usher in a new year. It's a good reminder that love and passion are essential to a full life. It's filled with lovely animal photography, accompanied with thought-provoking questions about life. It's a call to go out and live life to the fullest. "So, you can't afford to throw away a single precious second. Go after your dreams with energy and passion, or you may as well stand back and watch them wash down the drain." This may give me just the encouragement to chase a few more dreams!

[Lua Ferraz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ele trás uma proposta muito interessante, e gostei tanto, lembro de encontrar ele quando pequena, achei, na época, incrível de ler, ele tinha imagens, eu entendia. Desde lá achei lindo.
O encontrei denovo hoje, e o reli, pude tirar mais proveito ainda e o contemplar ainda mais, o significado parece ter outro agora, agora entendo quase completamente como as imagens e as palavras fazem uma parceria maravilhosa.
Quero ler ele mais vezes e separar meus momentos favoritos.
Ele me reforçou meu objetivo na vida e me fez refletir profundamente sobre ele.
Além de todo aprendizado, ele tem meu apego no S2.

[Jill Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a ripper of a little book in the same style as 'The Blue Day Book'. Also with a frog on the cover. Also with photography of animals with great captions. 'The Meaning Of Life' is simultaneously humorous and thought-provoking. I picked it up in my Chiropractors waiting room and read half of it before leaving. Bradley Trevor Greive tells us that thinking about what we'd love to do in life is the first step in discovering the meaning of our lives. Living our lives the way each of us wants to, by following our passion, will make us happier and the world a better place. Not a bad premise.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for encouragement on how to follow your dreams, this is the book for you.

It’s not a tell-all or a fix-it-quick book. It is a book which equips you to look inside yourself and find what it is that makes your life have meaning and purpose, and encourages you toward that!

So what are you doing here?! Go!! Pursue your dreams and live your life!! And if you’re having trouble doing that, read this book first. Then get on with it! 😁

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What makes Greive's books work so well is the pairing of photos with just the right words, or is it the other way around? After reading the wording on a page, then look at the photo and they go together so well. The photos truly illustrate the words in such a way as to often bring a smile to the reader's face. What could be bad? This bears repeat readings.