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How to Be Unlucky: Reflections on the Pursuit of Virtue
Once upon a time, Joshua Gibbs was a disinterested slacker who, despite attending a classical Christian school, learned little and cared even less for his studies. He was more interested in pop culture than great books and performed only the bare minimum to pass. By age 27, however, he began work at a different classical institution, teaching the same literature he merely skimmed as a student. Ten years later, Gibbs has become a popular blogger and frequent speaker at education conferences. In this series of frank reflections on an unlikely career, Gibbs contemplates what it means to be a good teacher, how great books can change lives (and how one particular book, The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, changed his), and why effective education is primarily concerned with the acquisition of virtue. One part literary guidebook, one part personal memoir, and one part teacher s manual, How to Be Unlucky presents a one-of-a-kind case for ancient ways of thinking about teaching in our contemporary world.
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Published April 22, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
May 13, 2020
SECOND REVIEW (5/12/20):
"When our lives are lived sacrificially, they are not lost. They are not destroyed. Instead, our imperfect lives ascend above the sun where God majestically sanctifies them, remakes them, and makes them whole. All of your life is a gift, which means all your life is fodder for gifts which can be given to others. All of your life is a gift, which means you don't have to deal with the stress and anxiety of holding on tightly to anything other than Jesus Christ."
Read this aloud to the family during quarantine, one section a night, which means this was more like a second and third read rolled into one. (I read each section by myself before reading it aloud, in part to familiarize myself with the names of the obscure cheeses mentioned.) Reading anything this way, one can't help getting a bit fastidious, and I became keenly aware of the book's somewhat scattered quality. Nevertheless, its greatest strength is that it's made up of pithy, weighty passages that read potently by themselves, and I was surprised to realize, on a second read, just how many of them had sunk deeply into my memory from my first read. One of the best examples of what I'm talking about is the Trent story, which is on the CiRCE Institute blog, and which I nearly cried in front of my whole family while reading.
FIRST REVIEW (8/11/18):
"Good luck is at war with the memento mori, the knowledge of the certainty of death, and when things are going well for a man, he forgets that he will someday die. When I am sick, I confess my sins. When I recover, I return to my sins. When my pockets are full of cash and my wife is flirtatious and I have just ordered a good drink, the pride of life swells in my heart and I forget God. I order a second drink. When I feel a mysterious pain in my side, and the money is spent, and my wife is cross, I repent of my sins."
Full disclosure: Joshua Gibbs is the editor of FilmFisher.com, which I write for, and people often accuse me, not entirely in jest, of wanting to be him when I grow up, so this review is hopelessly biased. Also: I enjoyed How To Be Unlucky so much, and devoured it so quickly, that I will likely have to turn around and read it again, so I have less a measured and thoughtful review than a haze of positive first impressions. This is a lovely, piercingly insightful book, able to be frank and humorous without undercutting its own seriousness, able to engage at first glance while rewarding a much deeper examination. It probably changed my life (though of course, true to form, in imperceptible and not very dramatic ways), and probably for the better.
"Early in my marriage I came to realize that Scripture was no talisman for warding off sin; I regularly give in to temptation while passages of Scripture condemning the very thing I am doing pass through my head. On the other hand, when I was tempted to the degradations of lust, I typically found that imagining my wife's face distorted by tears was such a talisman. Any man battling the temptation to lust will do far better changing his computer desktop to an image of his wife rather than some artist's representation of stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. This is not necessarily because a man loves his wife more than God (though most men do, in my experience), but because a wife is the living embodiment of the seventh commandment; a spouse is the incarnation of an abstract moral precept."
P.S. At the end of the book, Gibbs dedicates it to his wife, "Paula, the black monolith to my David Bowman," and I love that.
"When our lives are lived sacrificially, they are not lost. They are not destroyed. Instead, our imperfect lives ascend above the sun where God majestically sanctifies them, remakes them, and makes them whole. All of your life is a gift, which means all your life is fodder for gifts which can be given to others. All of your life is a gift, which means you don't have to deal with the stress and anxiety of holding on tightly to anything other than Jesus Christ."
Read this aloud to the family during quarantine, one section a night, which means this was more like a second and third read rolled into one. (I read each section by myself before reading it aloud, in part to familiarize myself with the names of the obscure cheeses mentioned.) Reading anything this way, one can't help getting a bit fastidious, and I became keenly aware of the book's somewhat scattered quality. Nevertheless, its greatest strength is that it's made up of pithy, weighty passages that read potently by themselves, and I was surprised to realize, on a second read, just how many of them had sunk deeply into my memory from my first read. One of the best examples of what I'm talking about is the Trent story, which is on the CiRCE Institute blog, and which I nearly cried in front of my whole family while reading.
FIRST REVIEW (8/11/18):
"Good luck is at war with the memento mori, the knowledge of the certainty of death, and when things are going well for a man, he forgets that he will someday die. When I am sick, I confess my sins. When I recover, I return to my sins. When my pockets are full of cash and my wife is flirtatious and I have just ordered a good drink, the pride of life swells in my heart and I forget God. I order a second drink. When I feel a mysterious pain in my side, and the money is spent, and my wife is cross, I repent of my sins."
Full disclosure: Joshua Gibbs is the editor of FilmFisher.com, which I write for, and people often accuse me, not entirely in jest, of wanting to be him when I grow up, so this review is hopelessly biased. Also: I enjoyed How To Be Unlucky so much, and devoured it so quickly, that I will likely have to turn around and read it again, so I have less a measured and thoughtful review than a haze of positive first impressions. This is a lovely, piercingly insightful book, able to be frank and humorous without undercutting its own seriousness, able to engage at first glance while rewarding a much deeper examination. It probably changed my life (though of course, true to form, in imperceptible and not very dramatic ways), and probably for the better.
"Early in my marriage I came to realize that Scripture was no talisman for warding off sin; I regularly give in to temptation while passages of Scripture condemning the very thing I am doing pass through my head. On the other hand, when I was tempted to the degradations of lust, I typically found that imagining my wife's face distorted by tears was such a talisman. Any man battling the temptation to lust will do far better changing his computer desktop to an image of his wife rather than some artist's representation of stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. This is not necessarily because a man loves his wife more than God (though most men do, in my experience), but because a wife is the living embodiment of the seventh commandment; a spouse is the incarnation of an abstract moral precept."
P.S. At the end of the book, Gibbs dedicates it to his wife, "Paula, the black monolith to my David Bowman," and I love that.
March 5, 2025
This book is a treasure trove. I really needed a book to remind me of how beautiful learning about and meditating on the classical virtues is, especially when so poignantly applied to my own life. I am already ready for a reread.
November 21, 2024
My primary feeling at the end of this book is bafflement. Gibbs is (by his own admission) an unremarkable man who has somehow written a remarkable book - an unpretentious exploration of his experience teaching The Consolation of Philosophy, and an assertion that everything in your ordinary workaday world of experience is desperately significant. It is in fact a *feat* of unified thinking. I have read confessional memoirs, theologies, treatises on classical education, contemplations of the Christian life, cultural commentary, and pedagogical theory, but never all rolled together like this - let alone with such simplicity, honesty, comedy, clarity, wit, and piety. I disagree with Gibbs on several important points, but that only serves to keep the book fresh and thought provoking.
It is, however, marred by approximately 17 *egregious* misuses of the word "disinterested" (please see the OED if you doubt me) and several spots where entire sentences have been accidentally deleted from the text. I don't blame Gibbs, but FOR THE LOVE OF ENGLISH, CiRCE, please fix this!
It is, however, marred by approximately 17 *egregious* misuses of the word "disinterested" (please see the OED if you doubt me) and several spots where entire sentences have been accidentally deleted from the text. I don't blame Gibbs, but FOR THE LOVE OF ENGLISH, CiRCE, please fix this!
July 27, 2018
I received my copy of How To Be Unlucky a couple of days ago. I made the mistake of picking it up and actually reading it. It has completely interrupted what I was currently reading, Chesterton’s Orthodoxy (yes, first time reading it, ashamedly). Honestly, I pre-ordered because it was a CiRCE project and I have benefitted from Gibbs' essays a good deal. I expected it to be a collection of essays edited for publication. I didn’t expect an autobiographical sketch, educational and teaching manual, an exploration of spiritual discipline, along with a guide to reading The Consolation. I cannot put it down. Seriously!
There is a resonance reading this that is rare. I get the sense that this is really important as if this work is a harbinger of the next generation of Christian, classical education recovery which will deepen the movement as we continue to probe the question, "What is the true end of education?"
Great work all the way around! I am thankful.
There is a resonance reading this that is rare. I get the sense that this is really important as if this work is a harbinger of the next generation of Christian, classical education recovery which will deepen the movement as we continue to probe the question, "What is the true end of education?"
Great work all the way around! I am thankful.
May 9, 2022
This has been siting on my "TBR" pile for awhile. Given to me by my daughter who highly recommended it, I finally chose it over the others on the pile. As I read it, I would often read paragraphs and pages aloud to my husband. It also demanded that I read it slow, contemplating what Gibbs was saying, and often re-read sections to make sure I was following along. I now want to own my own copy, that I may re-read it, digesting more of Gibbs' ideas. I also plan to purchase and read "The Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius which inspired Gibbs.
May 30, 2025
I would like to haggle with the author for the fifth star over a beer.
February 26, 2022
I don't love the pedagogical tips or the theory behind them.
For Gibbs, as a teacher you're either teaching the kids to see themselves as having power over books, or you're teaching them to prostrate themselves before the books.
But, in a word, and as respectfully as possible, Nah. What about the whole Great Conversation idea? You can teach kids to be interested and fair observers of books, able to glean the real good that, by common grace, they abound with, and still be interested in their intellectual and emotional patches of resistance to the author's vision. (I think also that I have the spirit of God.)
Worth reading, though. Starchy.
For Gibbs, as a teacher you're either teaching the kids to see themselves as having power over books, or you're teaching them to prostrate themselves before the books.
But, in a word, and as respectfully as possible, Nah. What about the whole Great Conversation idea? You can teach kids to be interested and fair observers of books, able to glean the real good that, by common grace, they abound with, and still be interested in their intellectual and emotional patches of resistance to the author's vision. (I think also that I have the spirit of God.)
Worth reading, though. Starchy.
January 11, 2024
I enjoyed this book a lot. Gibbs is a good writer and storyteller, something I appreciated when listening to his podcast, “Proverbial.” His insights are often profound. I’m not sure I want to “graduate” from this book to read the book upon which it was based (Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius), but it could happen. I had occasional small quibbles with his theology. I plan to type up some of my favorite quotes and tack them on to the comments section below. I especially enjoyed Gibbs’ thoughts on temptation, sin, virtue, teaching and pleasure. I’ll be reading this one again and again.
August 30, 2018
Joshua Gibbs not only eloquently describes education for the sake of virtue but actually demonstrates it through his writing. Through literary reflection and personal confession, he embodies virtue in a tangible way that challenges and encourages me as a reader and builds further hope for the future of classical education. How to Be Unlucky deserves to be thoughtfully considered by parents and educators for years to come. Well Done!
October 23, 2019
Not my favorite. The author has some good quotes throughout the book, but I questioned his theology a lot as I read it. Definitely not one I’d recommend.
June 21, 2025
This book deserves more than the five stars Goodreads allows! I think it will merit returning to over and over. Josh Gibbs walks his reader through Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, which I'm now planning to read for myself, explaining how he teaches it to his high school students. He takes huge questions of ethics and philosophy and brings them to a very understandable level, even while leaving SO MUCH to be pondered. He asks questions like "what does it mean to live a good life?" and "can we learn virtue?" and "why do anything?" I highlighted the mess out of this book and while it's written from the standpoint of a classical educator and it is of course applicable to me in that capacity, it also resonates with me as a believer who seeks to live for eternity. This will absolutely be a favorite book of the year for me and I've only begun to absorb it.
December 31, 2020
Wow.
I'm half-tempted to say this was the best book I read this year. Because of the recency bias involved in that (I just finished it last night), I'll avoid doing so. But this was a truly superb and thought-provoking look at what it means to find our happiness in the pursuit of virtue as opposed to the spinning wheels of fortune.
It's hard to know quite how to describe this book. Is it a memoir? Is it a reflection & analysis of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy? Is it a work on classical education? Is it a practical book on Christian living? In some ways, it's all of the above. In some ways, none of those descriptions quite sums it up.
Needless to say, I hope to be thinking about the ideas contained in this book for quite some time.
Rating: 4.5 Stars (Excellent).
I'm half-tempted to say this was the best book I read this year. Because of the recency bias involved in that (I just finished it last night), I'll avoid doing so. But this was a truly superb and thought-provoking look at what it means to find our happiness in the pursuit of virtue as opposed to the spinning wheels of fortune.
It's hard to know quite how to describe this book. Is it a memoir? Is it a reflection & analysis of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy? Is it a work on classical education? Is it a practical book on Christian living? In some ways, it's all of the above. In some ways, none of those descriptions quite sums it up.
Needless to say, I hope to be thinking about the ideas contained in this book for quite some time.
Rating: 4.5 Stars (Excellent).
April 13, 2025
Mark this one down as "too lofty for my plebian brain."
My low rating is probably more indicative of my intelligence than any actual fault with the book, but from my perspective, it read as pretentious gibberish.
Given the rave reviews others have employed, I am obviously missing something. I think it suffered from a lack of cohesion. I'm still not sure what Gibbs was trying to say. There were bits here and there that are interesting or quotable, but I'm left thinking, "What am I supposed to do with this trove of opinions and philosophical ideals?"
His audience is obviously high brow intellectuals who understand classical education. I went to a private school, but failed to achieve the sophisticated intellect Gibbs and his contemporaries apparently enjoy.
Ultimately I have very little interest in philosophy for philosophy's sake. A more cerebral student may glean insights from this work that lead to lasting change, but I'm an uncultured swine content with cheddar cheese and Dr Pepper.
My low rating is probably more indicative of my intelligence than any actual fault with the book, but from my perspective, it read as pretentious gibberish.
Given the rave reviews others have employed, I am obviously missing something. I think it suffered from a lack of cohesion. I'm still not sure what Gibbs was trying to say. There were bits here and there that are interesting or quotable, but I'm left thinking, "What am I supposed to do with this trove of opinions and philosophical ideals?"
His audience is obviously high brow intellectuals who understand classical education. I went to a private school, but failed to achieve the sophisticated intellect Gibbs and his contemporaries apparently enjoy.
Ultimately I have very little interest in philosophy for philosophy's sake. A more cerebral student may glean insights from this work that lead to lasting change, but I'm an uncultured swine content with cheddar cheese and Dr Pepper.
February 7, 2019
Began in 2018.
Lots of gems and definitely deserves another read.
Lots of gems and definitely deserves another read.
July 13, 2023
I got a great deal of spiritual benefit from this book. I have a few small quibbles, which I'll put up front before moving on to largely positive comments.
First off, I'll note that I am affiliated with the reformed church that he makes mention of having attended at one point in his youth. I am not Eastern Orthodox (he is). I don't reject any theological points he makes out of hand because of this, though, and always enjoy an honest opinion coming from a different standpoint. I feel like Mr. Gibbs and myself are cut from very similar cloth, dispositionally. Sometimes this was charming, sometimes disturbing.
I listened to the audiobook read by the author himself. He had a somewhat imperious tone which I know will be offputting to some. It rubbed me the wrong way at first, but he has a nice enough voice and enunciates well. Also, even if aspirational, it is a bit refreshing to hear someone trying to strike a high and refined tone (even if it felt a little put on). At the risk of psychoanalyzing a guy I've never met, I wondered at times if he isn't erring a little on the side of being exhibitionist. He shares quite a lot of his personal life in this. He justifies all of it by saying that self-divulgence is the capital you have to put up for people to listen to you, but addressing the wide web might be excessive with some of the things shared. Additionally, for someone who self-deprecatingly refers to himself as an attention-seeker and a hypocrite, I do wonder if talking (almost glibly) about all of them is TMI. Still, I think much can be gleaned from it. I pray that the Lord would give him success in living the noble life of equanimity that he is promoting.
The following is a detailed chapter by chapter reaction that trails off at the end because I stopped taking notes:
Ch.1-
Though neither are named, Gibbs' attack on Christian's supposed contradiction in their description of man as hopelessly sinful (while encouraging their children to "be good") is clearly an attack of Calvin and Kant-- as filtered through popular evangelical society. Sadly, I haven't read Calvin, but I have read and closely studied Kant's "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals" with his "Categorical Imperative" (i.e.- the idea that if you are doing a good thing for any other reason than that it's a good thing, then you're actually doing a good thing for bad motives). I think Kant's influence has filtered into pulpits in several ways: 1) the public school systems and 2) Pastor's who unwisely allowed their interpretation of scripture to be influenced by him.
Calvin, as I said, I haven't read, but feel more inclined to defend. Gibbs seems to have Calvinism in mind when he attempts to point out how ridiculous it is for Christians to simultaneously be telling our children to "be good" while also holding that no men are good. Scripture plainly states both truths: "all men are hopelessly sinful" (Romans 3:10-18; Ps. 14:1; Ps. 53:1; Ps. 143:2; Jer. 17: 9-10; etc.) and also that "there is such a thing as a righteous man" (the entire book of Psalms; the entire book of Proverbs; etc.). You might call it a paradox, but I would just say that scripture talks about the experience of man (free will) and also the bedrock truth of God that will never be fully intelligible to us (predestination). Mr. Gibbs is willing to make this distinction at the end of the book with his discussion of Apophatic and Cataphatic discussions of God, so why not here? While Gibbs is probably right that most Christians would be unable to give a coherent account for how it is they hold these two truths in their mind at the same time, I think it's perfectly coherent to hold both (as he clearly does in his theological discussions of God's nature).
His linking to Ecclesiastes is a great move. I believe I have only ever heard one good sermon on Ecclesiastes. And that's a shame. It really is a beautiful bedrock for personal devotion in the scriptures. So much better and more practical than all of the absolute tripe Christian self-help books out there. Chapter 3 of Richard Rhodes' epic, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" was very helpful in this regard for me. It talks about the Danish word Tvi which is the root for the Danish words for Doubt, Skepticism, Ambiguity, and Despair. But "Tvi" itself just means "two." Those other meanings all rise from the idea of a "doubling" of the self. To truly be self-aware, you have to "think twice" and actually stand outside of yourself, viewing your character and your person as your most primary object of faithfulness to God. It is your responsibility to shape yourself. James tells us that the "double-minded man" should expect to receive nothing from the Lord, because he does not ask in faith. However, Gibbs is right that Ecclesiastes calls us to search and know our own hearts and work on ourselves as a craftsman works on a piece of wood. There is a kind of "doubting" that is necessary to do that, however. Because you recognize that your perception of the world is largely interpreted by all of the preconceptions you have about it, to analyze oneself one has to let go of all of your most closely held beliefs for a moment to exist in a liminal space where you allow yourself to doubt yourself (which is not quite the same as doubting everything, but can easily turn into that if you're not careful and most people will accuse you of doubting everything). HOWEVER, Gibbs lands these thoughts in a summation of Boethius that flatly contradicts Ecclesiastes, which is that pleasure is a waste. Ecclesiastes points out that it's fleeting, but it's one of the best things you can do in this ephemeral world. "Enjoy your wine with your wife all the pointless days of your life, you slob."
The teaching method that he says he was forced into at the Great Books school in Florida is the same one promoted by St. John's College, which I attended. The tutor is just the midwife assisting you in birthing a knowledge of the text that you must acquire yourself. Rather than teaching, you're modeling learning for them. They switch up the classes taught by the teachers at St. John's so frequently, that very frequently you are reading the text for the first time with the tutor. (Tutor is what they call the professors there).
So far, Gibbs' confessional, self-denigrating tone rings just a tad hollow to me. I think that he's underestimating the degree to which almost every young person has to bash their head through books they don't understand only to later see the value in them. That's kind of how life goes. The way he talks about his personal trajectory makes it sound like he thinks some kid raised in a crack-house without running water would have the same access to the discoveries he's made for himself. That's not true. I'm sure Gibbs' parents, former teachers, and wife are all relieved that he finally pulled his head out of his a$$, but the way in which he talks about everything as if it's a novel discovery that he just made by himself that anyone could make if they were honest with themselves-- that's not quite right. He completely downplays the importance of his early ability to mimic the voice of adults in his head. That "adult voice" actually has a lot of generational wisdom distilled in its assumptions. He was already carrying in his mind the "software" that enabled him to see the wisdom in Boethius. AND THAT SOFTWARE WAS BEATEN INTO HIM BY THE PEDAGOGICAL EMPHASES OF THE SCHOOLS THAT HE WENT TO THAT HE CLAIMS FAILED HIM! Way to bite the hand that feeds you, Gibbs. Many, many, many kids just don't get that. They don't go to Christian schools. No one they're surrounded by actually reads at all or has real thoughts. Etc. Etc.
I certainly think he's right that some Classical Christian schools treat great authors as Satan's hockey players trying to make slapshots into the goals of children's minds... but honestly, I don't think that approach is that bad. Satan's pretty good at hockey, man.
Chapter 2
This chapter is a trip.
My youth was spent at least partially in the same obsessive, categorical collection of cds that Gibbs was. I bought almost exclusively used cds. Never got beyond 800 cds, I don't think. Had to get rid of all of them when I joined the military. Back up to a couple hundred. Similarly had to be broken of the obsessive, acquisitive nature of the whole thing.
I'm listening to New Order's "Power Corruption and Lies" (the album that he contrasted with All-Night Vigil by Rachmaninoff) as I write this. I am not sure that there is anything more eternal about Rachy's tunes than New Order's.
The focus on death and suffering at the beginning of the chapter was good. I've been ruminating for the past year or so that something that Catholics get right that most protestants don't is a theology of suffering. ANY suffering not directly brought on by your own sin is seen as a possible entrance into the sufferings of Christ, I believe. All pain can expurgate. I think that's a much more radical, helpful way to view it. Actually training yourself to embrace it. Like those super OOrah military guys you hear saying stuff like, "Embrace the suck."
Very thankful that he made the distinction between the Bible's actual teachings on emotion and stoicism's. I was a little worried he was going full stoicism.
Chapter 3
I appreciate his comments on a church service supposedly resembling heavenly worship of God and our future state of existence. I think he maybe overlooks the fact that the Lamb's Wedding Feast certainly has a role in the heavenlies.
I'm not sure that his claim that all moderns disbelieve in Typicality is framed correctly. I think I understand the claim he's trying to make, but wish that he framed it more appropriately in a rejection of Nature rather than a shying away from Traditional Wisdom.
I certainly am all for being honest with students, but letting drop the little fact that he doesn't tithe 10% seems weird. I have always viewed that as something that you just DO otherwise you are openly admitting high-handed, knowing sin and lack of trust in God. I feel like rather than confessing that sin to his students, he should repent and always pay 10%. Lol.
Interesting argument that he's making that "Saved by faith through grace" has been used by the enemy to make Christians anti-rational when it comes to good works. I think I agree. I mean, the Mormons certainly are an attractive bunch with their emphasis on "works." I think Bible-believing Christians should be humble enough to take a page from their book (so long as the book is not the book of Mormon).
Chapter 4
His blow-by-blow description of temptation is probably the best I've ever heard.
I'm would be very curious to know if studying this chapter with a pre-teenage boy would be an effective prophylactic against temptation. I'm not sure that it would, but it would be amazing if it were.
As mere mortals who have by definition limited experience, I think it's a pretty safe assumption to assume that the Devil is better at the sort of argumentation that he seeks to engage us in than we are in resisting it. I think that most of the time "resist the Devil and he will flee from you" looks more like Joseph saying "no" once to Potiphar's wife and then getting the heck out of dodge when she goes to fondle him. Jesus was capable of staying until the bitter end of Satan's peep show where he tantalized the Lord's desires for world-domination and adoration and basic fulfillment of bodily needs, but I don't know that us normies ever are.
Gibbs does a great job explaining how sin is not a positive action, but a failure to be able to do the positive good of its opposite (i.e.- lusting is not really taking an action, but demonstrates your inability to be chaste and true). The entire framing of the narrative given in his extended description of the young man being tortured by the "porn mosquito" while trying to write an essay is a great one. The tortuous prospect of spending the foreseeable future attempting to NOT DO or even to NOT THINK of the thing that's buzzing maliciously in your ear seems unendurable. However, it seems like maybe it could be couched more nobly and constructively by teaching the youth that we are actively constructing a positive (chastity, temperance, fortitude, endurance, etc.) by not allowing ourselves to be led around by the nose. This ties back into what I said about Protestantism lacking a sufficient theology of suffering. Similarly, we lack a conception of a hard-won road to constructing a positive virtue. Too much emphasis is laid on NOT DOING the bad thing. If the positive virtues are ever spoken of, they are made to sound as consisting of nothing more than an absence, which is totally wrong. They cannot exist in the presence of their attendant vices, but it is just the opposite, the sin itself is a NOT DOING of a thing-- it is the abortion of the development of the necessary virtue. That is a very helpful reframing.
The "shake-down" at the end of the chapter was interesting. I can see this approach being helpful in a church setting with young men parishioners. However, in a church setting, we explicitly bind ourselves to oaths in which we promise to take such active roles in the lives of the children of the church. I'm curious how parents of Gibbs' former or current students find the information that he does this periodically in class? If I were the father of a young girl in his class, I'd be worried that my daughter was skirting some sexual sin and would go confess it to him. Lol. Very good point that he made, though about how you can't have an open receptive mind to learning without a clean conscience. That's something that definitely gets overlooked in most learning environments.
Chs. 5-8 (Not that these chapters were inferior, but I took fewer notes)
Chapter 5's Talk of the trouble of "other people's sin" (with the example of the cousin playing the vile videogame) that was great. Such a great picture of the difficulty of involving yourself in other people's trainwrecks. It's necessary, but so tricky.
Chapter 6 shows him saying that he doesn't think the internet was worth all the headache. LOL. I very much disagree and think that the fact I'm streaming the audiobook version of his words is kind of proof in the pudding, but whatevs.
7 + 8 he starts getting more heavily into the Eastern Orthodox stuff. Lots of talk of icons. Makes a passing mention of Theosis and Annihilationism (maybe that was in 6?).
IN CONCLUSION:
This book was a very welcome kick in the pants encouraging me to focus on eternal things. He does a great job of breaking down philosophical matters and making them practical. Thank God for what the HS has done in Gibbs life that have brought him to these realizations. May there be many more to come!
First off, I'll note that I am affiliated with the reformed church that he makes mention of having attended at one point in his youth. I am not Eastern Orthodox (he is). I don't reject any theological points he makes out of hand because of this, though, and always enjoy an honest opinion coming from a different standpoint. I feel like Mr. Gibbs and myself are cut from very similar cloth, dispositionally. Sometimes this was charming, sometimes disturbing.
I listened to the audiobook read by the author himself. He had a somewhat imperious tone which I know will be offputting to some. It rubbed me the wrong way at first, but he has a nice enough voice and enunciates well. Also, even if aspirational, it is a bit refreshing to hear someone trying to strike a high and refined tone (even if it felt a little put on). At the risk of psychoanalyzing a guy I've never met, I wondered at times if he isn't erring a little on the side of being exhibitionist. He shares quite a lot of his personal life in this. He justifies all of it by saying that self-divulgence is the capital you have to put up for people to listen to you, but addressing the wide web might be excessive with some of the things shared. Additionally, for someone who self-deprecatingly refers to himself as an attention-seeker and a hypocrite, I do wonder if talking (almost glibly) about all of them is TMI. Still, I think much can be gleaned from it. I pray that the Lord would give him success in living the noble life of equanimity that he is promoting.
The following is a detailed chapter by chapter reaction that trails off at the end because I stopped taking notes:
Ch.1-
Though neither are named, Gibbs' attack on Christian's supposed contradiction in their description of man as hopelessly sinful (while encouraging their children to "be good") is clearly an attack of Calvin and Kant-- as filtered through popular evangelical society. Sadly, I haven't read Calvin, but I have read and closely studied Kant's "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals" with his "Categorical Imperative" (i.e.- the idea that if you are doing a good thing for any other reason than that it's a good thing, then you're actually doing a good thing for bad motives). I think Kant's influence has filtered into pulpits in several ways: 1) the public school systems and 2) Pastor's who unwisely allowed their interpretation of scripture to be influenced by him.
Calvin, as I said, I haven't read, but feel more inclined to defend. Gibbs seems to have Calvinism in mind when he attempts to point out how ridiculous it is for Christians to simultaneously be telling our children to "be good" while also holding that no men are good. Scripture plainly states both truths: "all men are hopelessly sinful" (Romans 3:10-18; Ps. 14:1; Ps. 53:1; Ps. 143:2; Jer. 17: 9-10; etc.) and also that "there is such a thing as a righteous man" (the entire book of Psalms; the entire book of Proverbs; etc.). You might call it a paradox, but I would just say that scripture talks about the experience of man (free will) and also the bedrock truth of God that will never be fully intelligible to us (predestination). Mr. Gibbs is willing to make this distinction at the end of the book with his discussion of Apophatic and Cataphatic discussions of God, so why not here? While Gibbs is probably right that most Christians would be unable to give a coherent account for how it is they hold these two truths in their mind at the same time, I think it's perfectly coherent to hold both (as he clearly does in his theological discussions of God's nature).
His linking to Ecclesiastes is a great move. I believe I have only ever heard one good sermon on Ecclesiastes. And that's a shame. It really is a beautiful bedrock for personal devotion in the scriptures. So much better and more practical than all of the absolute tripe Christian self-help books out there. Chapter 3 of Richard Rhodes' epic, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" was very helpful in this regard for me. It talks about the Danish word Tvi which is the root for the Danish words for Doubt, Skepticism, Ambiguity, and Despair. But "Tvi" itself just means "two." Those other meanings all rise from the idea of a "doubling" of the self. To truly be self-aware, you have to "think twice" and actually stand outside of yourself, viewing your character and your person as your most primary object of faithfulness to God. It is your responsibility to shape yourself. James tells us that the "double-minded man" should expect to receive nothing from the Lord, because he does not ask in faith. However, Gibbs is right that Ecclesiastes calls us to search and know our own hearts and work on ourselves as a craftsman works on a piece of wood. There is a kind of "doubting" that is necessary to do that, however. Because you recognize that your perception of the world is largely interpreted by all of the preconceptions you have about it, to analyze oneself one has to let go of all of your most closely held beliefs for a moment to exist in a liminal space where you allow yourself to doubt yourself (which is not quite the same as doubting everything, but can easily turn into that if you're not careful and most people will accuse you of doubting everything). HOWEVER, Gibbs lands these thoughts in a summation of Boethius that flatly contradicts Ecclesiastes, which is that pleasure is a waste. Ecclesiastes points out that it's fleeting, but it's one of the best things you can do in this ephemeral world. "Enjoy your wine with your wife all the pointless days of your life, you slob."
The teaching method that he says he was forced into at the Great Books school in Florida is the same one promoted by St. John's College, which I attended. The tutor is just the midwife assisting you in birthing a knowledge of the text that you must acquire yourself. Rather than teaching, you're modeling learning for them. They switch up the classes taught by the teachers at St. John's so frequently, that very frequently you are reading the text for the first time with the tutor. (Tutor is what they call the professors there).
So far, Gibbs' confessional, self-denigrating tone rings just a tad hollow to me. I think that he's underestimating the degree to which almost every young person has to bash their head through books they don't understand only to later see the value in them. That's kind of how life goes. The way he talks about his personal trajectory makes it sound like he thinks some kid raised in a crack-house without running water would have the same access to the discoveries he's made for himself. That's not true. I'm sure Gibbs' parents, former teachers, and wife are all relieved that he finally pulled his head out of his a$$, but the way in which he talks about everything as if it's a novel discovery that he just made by himself that anyone could make if they were honest with themselves-- that's not quite right. He completely downplays the importance of his early ability to mimic the voice of adults in his head. That "adult voice" actually has a lot of generational wisdom distilled in its assumptions. He was already carrying in his mind the "software" that enabled him to see the wisdom in Boethius. AND THAT SOFTWARE WAS BEATEN INTO HIM BY THE PEDAGOGICAL EMPHASES OF THE SCHOOLS THAT HE WENT TO THAT HE CLAIMS FAILED HIM! Way to bite the hand that feeds you, Gibbs. Many, many, many kids just don't get that. They don't go to Christian schools. No one they're surrounded by actually reads at all or has real thoughts. Etc. Etc.
I certainly think he's right that some Classical Christian schools treat great authors as Satan's hockey players trying to make slapshots into the goals of children's minds... but honestly, I don't think that approach is that bad. Satan's pretty good at hockey, man.
Chapter 2
This chapter is a trip.
My youth was spent at least partially in the same obsessive, categorical collection of cds that Gibbs was. I bought almost exclusively used cds. Never got beyond 800 cds, I don't think. Had to get rid of all of them when I joined the military. Back up to a couple hundred. Similarly had to be broken of the obsessive, acquisitive nature of the whole thing.
I'm listening to New Order's "Power Corruption and Lies" (the album that he contrasted with All-Night Vigil by Rachmaninoff) as I write this. I am not sure that there is anything more eternal about Rachy's tunes than New Order's.
The focus on death and suffering at the beginning of the chapter was good. I've been ruminating for the past year or so that something that Catholics get right that most protestants don't is a theology of suffering. ANY suffering not directly brought on by your own sin is seen as a possible entrance into the sufferings of Christ, I believe. All pain can expurgate. I think that's a much more radical, helpful way to view it. Actually training yourself to embrace it. Like those super OOrah military guys you hear saying stuff like, "Embrace the suck."
Very thankful that he made the distinction between the Bible's actual teachings on emotion and stoicism's. I was a little worried he was going full stoicism.
Chapter 3
I appreciate his comments on a church service supposedly resembling heavenly worship of God and our future state of existence. I think he maybe overlooks the fact that the Lamb's Wedding Feast certainly has a role in the heavenlies.
I'm not sure that his claim that all moderns disbelieve in Typicality is framed correctly. I think I understand the claim he's trying to make, but wish that he framed it more appropriately in a rejection of Nature rather than a shying away from Traditional Wisdom.
I certainly am all for being honest with students, but letting drop the little fact that he doesn't tithe 10% seems weird. I have always viewed that as something that you just DO otherwise you are openly admitting high-handed, knowing sin and lack of trust in God. I feel like rather than confessing that sin to his students, he should repent and always pay 10%. Lol.
Interesting argument that he's making that "Saved by faith through grace" has been used by the enemy to make Christians anti-rational when it comes to good works. I think I agree. I mean, the Mormons certainly are an attractive bunch with their emphasis on "works." I think Bible-believing Christians should be humble enough to take a page from their book (so long as the book is not the book of Mormon).
Chapter 4
His blow-by-blow description of temptation is probably the best I've ever heard.
I'm would be very curious to know if studying this chapter with a pre-teenage boy would be an effective prophylactic against temptation. I'm not sure that it would, but it would be amazing if it were.
As mere mortals who have by definition limited experience, I think it's a pretty safe assumption to assume that the Devil is better at the sort of argumentation that he seeks to engage us in than we are in resisting it. I think that most of the time "resist the Devil and he will flee from you" looks more like Joseph saying "no" once to Potiphar's wife and then getting the heck out of dodge when she goes to fondle him. Jesus was capable of staying until the bitter end of Satan's peep show where he tantalized the Lord's desires for world-domination and adoration and basic fulfillment of bodily needs, but I don't know that us normies ever are.
Gibbs does a great job explaining how sin is not a positive action, but a failure to be able to do the positive good of its opposite (i.e.- lusting is not really taking an action, but demonstrates your inability to be chaste and true). The entire framing of the narrative given in his extended description of the young man being tortured by the "porn mosquito" while trying to write an essay is a great one. The tortuous prospect of spending the foreseeable future attempting to NOT DO or even to NOT THINK of the thing that's buzzing maliciously in your ear seems unendurable. However, it seems like maybe it could be couched more nobly and constructively by teaching the youth that we are actively constructing a positive (chastity, temperance, fortitude, endurance, etc.) by not allowing ourselves to be led around by the nose. This ties back into what I said about Protestantism lacking a sufficient theology of suffering. Similarly, we lack a conception of a hard-won road to constructing a positive virtue. Too much emphasis is laid on NOT DOING the bad thing. If the positive virtues are ever spoken of, they are made to sound as consisting of nothing more than an absence, which is totally wrong. They cannot exist in the presence of their attendant vices, but it is just the opposite, the sin itself is a NOT DOING of a thing-- it is the abortion of the development of the necessary virtue. That is a very helpful reframing.
The "shake-down" at the end of the chapter was interesting. I can see this approach being helpful in a church setting with young men parishioners. However, in a church setting, we explicitly bind ourselves to oaths in which we promise to take such active roles in the lives of the children of the church. I'm curious how parents of Gibbs' former or current students find the information that he does this periodically in class? If I were the father of a young girl in his class, I'd be worried that my daughter was skirting some sexual sin and would go confess it to him. Lol. Very good point that he made, though about how you can't have an open receptive mind to learning without a clean conscience. That's something that definitely gets overlooked in most learning environments.
Chs. 5-8 (Not that these chapters were inferior, but I took fewer notes)
Chapter 5's Talk of the trouble of "other people's sin" (with the example of the cousin playing the vile videogame) that was great. Such a great picture of the difficulty of involving yourself in other people's trainwrecks. It's necessary, but so tricky.
Chapter 6 shows him saying that he doesn't think the internet was worth all the headache. LOL. I very much disagree and think that the fact I'm streaming the audiobook version of his words is kind of proof in the pudding, but whatevs.
7 + 8 he starts getting more heavily into the Eastern Orthodox stuff. Lots of talk of icons. Makes a passing mention of Theosis and Annihilationism (maybe that was in 6?).
IN CONCLUSION:
This book was a very welcome kick in the pants encouraging me to focus on eternal things. He does a great job of breaking down philosophical matters and making them practical. Thank God for what the HS has done in Gibbs life that have brought him to these realizations. May there be many more to come!
July 18, 2022
This was an effort to get through, and I only did it because it is for the co-op’s upcoming school year.
Honestly, the whole CD collection story was long, irritating, and completely without a point. Actually I found the whole book to be meandering without coming to a point. At the very end, there are some good thoughts, but it isn’t anything new.
Honestly, the whole CD collection story was long, irritating, and completely without a point. Actually I found the whole book to be meandering without coming to a point. At the very end, there are some good thoughts, but it isn’t anything new.
July 31, 2024
3.4/5
August 31, 2019
Fantastic. Convinced me that I should read Boethius on an annual basis. Will certainly be returning to this one again.
August 13, 2018
How to Be Unlucky is a bit odd, in that it does not easily fit into one category. This book offers wonderful insight into teaching. It offers some interesting reflections on Gibbs' own educational and life experiences. Finally, it offers some compelling thoughts on Boethius' classic work. This is a book worthy of contemplation. It is unique in its scope and purpose. A quick, thoughtless read will not yield as much fruit as a more methodical and close look. This is a book that I see myself revisiting from time to time. As the school year approaches, I am motivated, inspired, and challenged by this work.
August 5, 2025
Josh Gibbs was a teacher at Veritas, a classical Christian school in Richmond, VA. While this book is occasionally well written, and thought provoking at times, it would have benefited from a stronger editor’s hand. It reads like a collection of notes and thoughts that were published in book form before they had been arranged and edited. I am confident if a student had turned this into the author, he would not have given it an “A”.
The title of the book is How to Be (Un)Lucky. Given the title, I expected a theme to be developed, arguments put forth in support, and conclusions reached, but that is not really how the book is structured. Having read it, I’m still not sure how to be (Un)Lucky. But, the confusing title is the least of the issues with this book.
The subtitle of this book is Reflections on the Pursuit of Virtue. If you consider it as a series of reflections and insights, it can be very illuminating. If you are looking for it to follow a thesis and prove it at the end, you will be disappointed. The book starts with the importance of cultivating virtue, and towards the beginning of the book he lists the virtues to which he aspires. Notably absent from the virtues to which he aspires is humility. While not all lists of the virtues include humility, some do, we are poorer for the omission.
Gibbs uses Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy as the framing device for his book. Boethius is both the author of the Consolation, and a character in it, along with the Lady Philosophy. As Gibbs makes his way through The Consolation, he uses it as a launching point both to reflect on his younger self, and to describe how he is teaching teenagers today. Particularly when he is talking about his younger self, this can be very effective. When he talks about his classroom teaching style, it is less so. Particularly since his description of his teaching style does not match the picture of his teaching style as described by his students.
The author repeatedly creates straw men with sweeping statements that beg for empirical evidence which is not provided. Numerous sentences include something along the lines of “most American Christians believe….”, “most Americans believe…”, “all teenagers…”, etc. He may be right, but the reader is left to wonder how reliable the subsequent statement is and how the author knows them to be true. Personal observation? Empirical data? The answer generally appears to be, he believes it to be so, therefore it must be so.
He has interesting stories to tell about his youthful self. He admits he was a slacker, but he was really good at being a slacker, building a successful CD reselling business among other things. As you get further into the book, he begins to display what appears to be true humility, and frequently delivers a funny turn of phrase.
At times, he offers very insightful analysis of others thoughts and actions. More than once I found myself nodding along, thinking he was doing an amazing job of explaining an interior monologue.
Unfortunately, rather than build on these strengths, he wanders off in a different direction. The last 20-30 pages turned into a philosophical discussion about why do anything? As it went on and on, I found myself thinking, “ok, is he going to be able to wrap this up and stick the landing?” Unfortunately, the answer was, not really. He eventually arrives at the same conclusions Solomon reached 3,000 years ago. Which is interesting I guess, but definitely seems tacked on to a different book.
This book contains some good insight and good writing. Unfortunately, these strengths cannot overcome its flaws. It really suffers from not knowing what it wants to be – memoirs, pedagogy, or philosophy? There is probably a good, shorter book in here somewhere.
The editing and quality control of the book I bought were also terrible, with more than one chapter ending being marred by large chunks of text missing from the page.
If you are interested in Josh Gibbs' early life, you can learn some interesting things here. Otherwise, go straight to Boethius, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes.
The title of the book is How to Be (Un)Lucky. Given the title, I expected a theme to be developed, arguments put forth in support, and conclusions reached, but that is not really how the book is structured. Having read it, I’m still not sure how to be (Un)Lucky. But, the confusing title is the least of the issues with this book.
The subtitle of this book is Reflections on the Pursuit of Virtue. If you consider it as a series of reflections and insights, it can be very illuminating. If you are looking for it to follow a thesis and prove it at the end, you will be disappointed. The book starts with the importance of cultivating virtue, and towards the beginning of the book he lists the virtues to which he aspires. Notably absent from the virtues to which he aspires is humility. While not all lists of the virtues include humility, some do, we are poorer for the omission.
Gibbs uses Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy as the framing device for his book. Boethius is both the author of the Consolation, and a character in it, along with the Lady Philosophy. As Gibbs makes his way through The Consolation, he uses it as a launching point both to reflect on his younger self, and to describe how he is teaching teenagers today. Particularly when he is talking about his younger self, this can be very effective. When he talks about his classroom teaching style, it is less so. Particularly since his description of his teaching style does not match the picture of his teaching style as described by his students.
The author repeatedly creates straw men with sweeping statements that beg for empirical evidence which is not provided. Numerous sentences include something along the lines of “most American Christians believe….”, “most Americans believe…”, “all teenagers…”, etc. He may be right, but the reader is left to wonder how reliable the subsequent statement is and how the author knows them to be true. Personal observation? Empirical data? The answer generally appears to be, he believes it to be so, therefore it must be so.
He has interesting stories to tell about his youthful self. He admits he was a slacker, but he was really good at being a slacker, building a successful CD reselling business among other things. As you get further into the book, he begins to display what appears to be true humility, and frequently delivers a funny turn of phrase.
At times, he offers very insightful analysis of others thoughts and actions. More than once I found myself nodding along, thinking he was doing an amazing job of explaining an interior monologue.
Unfortunately, rather than build on these strengths, he wanders off in a different direction. The last 20-30 pages turned into a philosophical discussion about why do anything? As it went on and on, I found myself thinking, “ok, is he going to be able to wrap this up and stick the landing?” Unfortunately, the answer was, not really. He eventually arrives at the same conclusions Solomon reached 3,000 years ago. Which is interesting I guess, but definitely seems tacked on to a different book.
This book contains some good insight and good writing. Unfortunately, these strengths cannot overcome its flaws. It really suffers from not knowing what it wants to be – memoirs, pedagogy, or philosophy? There is probably a good, shorter book in here somewhere.
The editing and quality control of the book I bought were also terrible, with more than one chapter ending being marred by large chunks of text missing from the page.
If you are interested in Josh Gibbs' early life, you can learn some interesting things here. Otherwise, go straight to Boethius, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes.
March 14, 2025
January 2024:
As good, if not better, the second time through. Many of Gibbs' throwaway lines deserve a few hours contemplation on their own, and his main points deserve weeks.
January 2022:
Simultaneously an accessible companion to Boethius (and Ecclesiastes!), a challenging primer for classical teachers, and inside-out discussion of virtue for modern Christians, this book ranks as one of my favorite non-fiction works. My only regret is that I read it in my last year (for the time being) as a teacher and not in the first!
As good, if not better, the second time through. Many of Gibbs' throwaway lines deserve a few hours contemplation on their own, and his main points deserve weeks.
January 2022:
Simultaneously an accessible companion to Boethius (and Ecclesiastes!), a challenging primer for classical teachers, and inside-out discussion of virtue for modern Christians, this book ranks as one of my favorite non-fiction works. My only regret is that I read it in my last year (for the time being) as a teacher and not in the first!
June 4, 2022
Some parts were written unclearly though overall a thoughtful reflection on Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy. Certainly worth rereading and discuss with others.
December 18, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. It's different, well-written, and contains good insights.
November 28, 2018
Books on virtue are as old as Aristotle’s Ethics and Aesop’s fables and as new as William Bennett’s Book of Virtues and Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue. Virtue eludes the pursuer as St. Paul says, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” The quest for holiness is the topic of Joshua Gibbs’ book How To Be Unlucky.
Josh Gibbs was my poetry, short fiction, and aesthetics teacher in high school. My class of all girls was shocked by his erudite humor, his strange sense of fashion, his growing beard, and his daughters with seven names.
The book has three elements: biography, medieval philosophy, and exhortation. He begins by describing himself as a classical education “failure.” His transformation came about when he got a teaching job and wanted to debunk an Abeka textbook on the Middle Ages. This intellectual pursuit and another teaching job lead him to read Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy. From Lady Philosophy he gleans the interesting claim that it is better to have bad luck than good luck because bad luck is honest while good luck is deceptive. The guiding question for Boethius and Gibbs is “why be good?”. He scripts haunting conversations between a man and the devil. He also provides samples of class lectures on shakedowns and guilty consciences. The final chapter focuses on Solomon’s proverb “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” After giving a plenitude of reasons for being detached from worldly success, he defends the active life for the Christian.
Gibbs repeatedly refers to the proverb “One drink is just right, two is too many, three is too few.” He praises temperance, exposes false worldly pleasures, and describes man’s plausible fall into sin. He focuses on Lady Fortune’s fickleness, the impassibility of God, and man’s growth in holiness through suffering.
This book resembles Augustine’s Confessions in its tone of devotion, self-laceration, and wandering philosophical speculation. Gibbs has Augustine’s gift for rhetoric, his proclivity for paradox, and his love of dramatic staging.
At one point the author includes a picture of his wife and daughter. He tells the story of taking his family out to dinner and buying Camilla a root beer. He calls the picture “a profound icon of innocent joy.” This image reminds him not to sin for in sinning he undoes his child’s happiness.
This book belongs to the tradition of self-deprecation. Saint Peter told our Lord, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” The centurion claimed, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.” St. Moses the Black averred, “My sins run out behind me and I do not see them.” Such claims to unholiness echo Mary Magdalen’s weeping and washing Jesus’ feet with her tears.
As Josh has said himself, you do not need to read this book. You must read Plato, Homer, and Dante, but no one is required to read a book written in 2018. But if you want the confessions of a holy man who claims to be unholy, you should read How to Be Unlucky. And then go read the Consolation of Philosophy.
Josh Gibbs was my poetry, short fiction, and aesthetics teacher in high school. My class of all girls was shocked by his erudite humor, his strange sense of fashion, his growing beard, and his daughters with seven names.
The book has three elements: biography, medieval philosophy, and exhortation. He begins by describing himself as a classical education “failure.” His transformation came about when he got a teaching job and wanted to debunk an Abeka textbook on the Middle Ages. This intellectual pursuit and another teaching job lead him to read Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy. From Lady Philosophy he gleans the interesting claim that it is better to have bad luck than good luck because bad luck is honest while good luck is deceptive. The guiding question for Boethius and Gibbs is “why be good?”. He scripts haunting conversations between a man and the devil. He also provides samples of class lectures on shakedowns and guilty consciences. The final chapter focuses on Solomon’s proverb “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” After giving a plenitude of reasons for being detached from worldly success, he defends the active life for the Christian.
Gibbs repeatedly refers to the proverb “One drink is just right, two is too many, three is too few.” He praises temperance, exposes false worldly pleasures, and describes man’s plausible fall into sin. He focuses on Lady Fortune’s fickleness, the impassibility of God, and man’s growth in holiness through suffering.
This book resembles Augustine’s Confessions in its tone of devotion, self-laceration, and wandering philosophical speculation. Gibbs has Augustine’s gift for rhetoric, his proclivity for paradox, and his love of dramatic staging.
At one point the author includes a picture of his wife and daughter. He tells the story of taking his family out to dinner and buying Camilla a root beer. He calls the picture “a profound icon of innocent joy.” This image reminds him not to sin for in sinning he undoes his child’s happiness.
This book belongs to the tradition of self-deprecation. Saint Peter told our Lord, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” The centurion claimed, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof.” St. Moses the Black averred, “My sins run out behind me and I do not see them.” Such claims to unholiness echo Mary Magdalen’s weeping and washing Jesus’ feet with her tears.
As Josh has said himself, you do not need to read this book. You must read Plato, Homer, and Dante, but no one is required to read a book written in 2018. But if you want the confessions of a holy man who claims to be unholy, you should read How to Be Unlucky. And then go read the Consolation of Philosophy.
September 3, 2022
I read this book in preparation for a homeschool co-op tutor training retreat. I probably wouldn’t have thought to read it on my own, so I’m glad it was assigned and given to me. It turned out to be a REALLY fantastic book.
There is a lot of wisdom inside these pages and I appreciate the author’s way of sharing it. He does a good job explaining things in a way that almost anyone should be able to relate. Much of the writing could be separated into stand alone snippets of advice on how to live your life.
He poses interesting questions such as “If you knew you would die in a car crash hours after receiving your diploma, would you still find it worthwhile to attend school?” There is a difference in seeking out an education that inspires students to desire God, to yearn for beauty, to strive for piety, holiness, and virtue versus an education where you memorize things for a short time to receive good grades that can be used as bartering chips to trade up for scholarships and higher paying jobs.
He discusses pleasure vs. satisfaction and contentment vs. idolatry. He who has much, wants much. He rejects satisfaction in favor of pleasure. If a man wants to turn down vicious pleasures in moments of temptation, he must practice turning down allowable pleasures in his daily life.
If you knew you were going to die in one year, how would you spend your time? What if you knew you were going to die in one month? One week? One day? One hour? An imminent death makes the point of life embarrassingly clear.
The “power to tell a lie” is not really a power, but rather the inability to tell the truth. The “power to steal” is just the inability to be content with what God has given you. The power of lust is just the inability to enjoy chastity. Temptation presents itself as power and while sin may produce pleasure, it will never satisfy.
When it comes to students and education, good grades lead to scholarships, which lead to more prestigious colleges, which lead to elite jobs, to fame, renown, and envy. At no point along the way is a student necessarily virtuous, happy, content, or selfless. This is an example of why we must pursue virtue.
God is known in the simplicity of experience, not the volume of substance. A human life shouldn’t just labor for earthly goods. All of your life is a gift, which means you don’t have to deal with the stress and anxiety of holding on tightly to anything other than Jesus Christ.
Much of Gibb’s writing was inspired by “The Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethis (which I now feel I must seek out and read!) and the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.
There is a lot of wisdom inside these pages and I appreciate the author’s way of sharing it. He does a good job explaining things in a way that almost anyone should be able to relate. Much of the writing could be separated into stand alone snippets of advice on how to live your life.
He poses interesting questions such as “If you knew you would die in a car crash hours after receiving your diploma, would you still find it worthwhile to attend school?” There is a difference in seeking out an education that inspires students to desire God, to yearn for beauty, to strive for piety, holiness, and virtue versus an education where you memorize things for a short time to receive good grades that can be used as bartering chips to trade up for scholarships and higher paying jobs.
He discusses pleasure vs. satisfaction and contentment vs. idolatry. He who has much, wants much. He rejects satisfaction in favor of pleasure. If a man wants to turn down vicious pleasures in moments of temptation, he must practice turning down allowable pleasures in his daily life.
If you knew you were going to die in one year, how would you spend your time? What if you knew you were going to die in one month? One week? One day? One hour? An imminent death makes the point of life embarrassingly clear.
The “power to tell a lie” is not really a power, but rather the inability to tell the truth. The “power to steal” is just the inability to be content with what God has given you. The power of lust is just the inability to enjoy chastity. Temptation presents itself as power and while sin may produce pleasure, it will never satisfy.
When it comes to students and education, good grades lead to scholarships, which lead to more prestigious colleges, which lead to elite jobs, to fame, renown, and envy. At no point along the way is a student necessarily virtuous, happy, content, or selfless. This is an example of why we must pursue virtue.
God is known in the simplicity of experience, not the volume of substance. A human life shouldn’t just labor for earthly goods. All of your life is a gift, which means you don’t have to deal with the stress and anxiety of holding on tightly to anything other than Jesus Christ.
Much of Gibb’s writing was inspired by “The Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethis (which I now feel I must seek out and read!) and the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.
February 15, 2019
I did not know what to expect from this book, but I found myself deeply engaged with the wisdom and insights of its pages. I ended up savoring it a few pages at a time because there was so much I needed to think on and process after each reading. I highly recommend it to anyone who is either a parent or educator of middle/high schoolers. I also appreciated the memoir aspect of it in that I think Mr. Gibbs and I must be similar in age and I related to the context of his own story and reflections. I valued Mr. Gibbs' self-introspection and humble admissions of areas of sin, many of which I also share but was perhaps unaware. This book reminded me a bit of C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, though it has been a while since I read it. Coincidentally, our pastor has been preaching through Ecclesiastes and this book paired beautifully with our recent sermons at church. Overall, a very good read. Much underlining. I am sure I will read it again.
February 28, 2019
I enjoy books like this one where the author uses an ancient book to gain wisdom and guidance in our modern world. The primary text that Gibbs works with is the 6th century Consolation of Philosophy written by Boethius. The Consolation was written while Boethius was awaiting his execution. He was caught up in the political turmoil of the day.
Gibbs is a classical high school teacher. He uses the Consolation as the means to understand why and how a person may live a virtuous life.
Gibbs' style is take a few sentences from either Boethius or Lady Philosophy who visits Boethius in prison. He then expounds, probes, and questions those sentences. Along the circuitous way, Gibbs shares stories from his own and family's life and of his interactions with students. At times I wished he would cut to the chase already, but I realized that the road trip was worth it in the end.
After all, wisdom and insight are not quickly gained. Nor, it seems, is virtue.
Gibbs is a classical high school teacher. He uses the Consolation as the means to understand why and how a person may live a virtuous life.
Gibbs' style is take a few sentences from either Boethius or Lady Philosophy who visits Boethius in prison. He then expounds, probes, and questions those sentences. Along the circuitous way, Gibbs shares stories from his own and family's life and of his interactions with students. At times I wished he would cut to the chase already, but I realized that the road trip was worth it in the end.
After all, wisdom and insight are not quickly gained. Nor, it seems, is virtue.
July 7, 2020
4.5 stars. Although my theology doesn’t align with everything in this book, it was well-written, well-composed, made me want to read The Consolation of Philosophy, and gave me a lot to think about and consider. I underlined passages because they were intriguing and worth pondering, and I underlined more because they were beautifully crafted. This was a great set of “reflections on the pursuit of virtue.” I am sure to return to this book again.
I also learned a lot about teenage boys from this book. If Gibbs is accurate (I have no reason to believe otherwise), they are a completely different sort of creature from what I was as teenager. That should come in handy for a mother whose oldest son will be in high school a few years from now.
I’m interested to hear Gibbs’ thoughts on these reflections in another 20 or so years.
I also learned a lot about teenage boys from this book. If Gibbs is accurate (I have no reason to believe otherwise), they are a completely different sort of creature from what I was as teenager. That should come in handy for a mother whose oldest son will be in high school a few years from now.
I’m interested to hear Gibbs’ thoughts on these reflections in another 20 or so years.
March 24, 2024
I think I will have to read this a few more times to really understand everything he is getting at, but it is also the type of book I would love to read a few more times.
I appreciated how it was structured around teaching Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy. I feel invited into deeper thoughts about virtue, convicted over how I regard my sin, and excited about the idea of what it means to teach well.
While it is sometimes hard to follow the train of thought for certain sections, hence my desire to read it again in the future. Nevertheless, I love the stories he uses and the raw honesty with which he writes and speaks of the reality of the human condition.
I appreciated how it was structured around teaching Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy. I feel invited into deeper thoughts about virtue, convicted over how I regard my sin, and excited about the idea of what it means to teach well.
While it is sometimes hard to follow the train of thought for certain sections, hence my desire to read it again in the future. Nevertheless, I love the stories he uses and the raw honesty with which he writes and speaks of the reality of the human condition.
December 19, 2019
I am reading this in my book club and it’s an odd book. It’s a teacher’s manual for those going through The Consolation of Boethius with high school students that delves in philosophy and religion using several other texts and the author’s life experiences. While there were many excellent quotes and ideas there were just as many faulty ones. My overall feel was that this was a (relatively) young man who just doesn’t have the life experience to weight his arguments yet.
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