The Form of Things: Essays on Life, Ideas and Liberty in the 21st Century

by A.C. Grayling

"Grief and loneliness, depression, despair and failure—those things . . . are the common human lot at least at times in all our lives." Yet it is philosophy which, while not providing an answer to these problems, can enable people to prepare for them, and create strategies with which to deal with them. This is the fifth in a series of essay miscellanies from foremost philosopher A. C. Grayling, reflecting upon the form of the world and its multiplicity. He argues that it is only through reflecting upon the world, reading, thinking, questioning, enjoying, that one can inculcate understanding, tolerance, and the courage to live one's life. The essays are grouped by theme into reflections upon life and the standards people live by, including vivid polemics and perceptive pieces on significant thinkers, contemporary rights, and liberties issues. This book brilliantly articulates the philosophical debate and reflection that is needed to prepare for life in the 21st century.

Genres: Philosophy, Essays, Nonfiction, Politics

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Anthony Clifford "A. C." Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, an independent undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991. He is also a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

He is a director and contributor at Prospect Magazine, as well as a Vice President of the British Humanist Association. His main academic interests lie in epistemology, metaphysics and philosophical logic. He has described himself as "a man of the left" and is associated in Britain with the new atheism movement, and is sometimes described as the 'Fifth Horseman of New Atheism'. He appears in the British media discussing philosophy.

Reviews

[Frank Ashe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely written short essays, but nothing outstanding.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Handy to read on the bus. Short little 100o word essays on philosophies of life.

[Srikanth Turaga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read!

[Rosalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A C Grayling, using philosophy as his base, takes us through a series of mostly short essays on a rang of topics. The book is divided into 4 sections: Reflections; Polemics; People; and Rights and Liberties The last section is mainly concerned with proposed legislation in Britain, in 2006 when the book was written. As a result, it is perhaps not as relevant as the other 3 sections.
A C Grayling doesn’t really attempt to change our minds on any of these topics, rather he is giving us the opportunity to think about and question our own opinions. We don’t have to agree with everything he says (nor should we), but at least we should think about what he is saying.
Section 1 - Reflections- covers a series of topics from “Aiming For the Good”, “Beauty” Funerals” “Time”, just to name a few. The essays are just short pieces usually one a single aspect of the topic.
Section 2 - Polemics - covers more controversial topics (which is what polemics are), and the topics that include “Biotechnology”, New Age Religion”, Fox Hunting” Humanism and Religion” “Divorce” “Self Education”, and the list goes on. Again the essays are short, but with enough material to think about.
Section -3- People, talks about famous people Charles Darwin, Bertrand Russell, Horace Walpole, Henry Fielding, Lawrence Durrell to name a few. These pieces are just short anecdotes that don’t try to give us any new information about these people, they are just some small personal tales that make these people a bit more human.
A C Grayling is clear, concise and brief in his essays. There is no preaching, just a discussion of his point of view as a philosopher.

[Christopher Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

It doesn't take much to write a half-decent essay. The internet is full of them, and there's plenty of material on Medium that's worth checking out. The question is - what separates a good essay from a great essay? What makes an essay worth including in a book celebrating the form - especially if all of those essays spring forth from the same mind?

The answer in the present case is that the essays must represent the possibilities of the form. There are a multitude of different essay types, from the exploratory, meandering essays of Montaigne, the exclamatory, iconoclastic works of recent masters such as Christopher Hitchens.

A. C. Grayling covers much of that territory in this superb book. His writing has a timeless quality, and very literally so: reading it, I at first forgot that Grayling is a contemporary writer (and in fact he appears in many YouTube videos, so if you want to put a voice to the man it's easily done). But when you read Grayling you might imagine a writer of antiquity stepping forth to offer elucidation on a philosophical point - his sentences are so well-constructed, his paragraphs so well-crafted, and his point so well-made that it feels very much like reading from the pantheon of great essayists already.

[Fezile Simelane]

Good book all in all. However, the author clearly has a shallow understanding of counterterrorism and what is required to keep our societies safe. He can't honestly believe that "the right response to attempts by violent enemies to coerce our society is to reassert the very liberties and values that make them attack us in the first place". Another colourful display of his naivety comes in his characterisation of Islamic extremism as a "smaller and more intermittent threat" than an invading German ARMY.

[Emma Laskowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great essays on things that are interesting but not always given much thought to. I enjoyed many of the passages, but some were only relatable it seemed to people who live in the same region as the author. The book was well written and good for picking up a few bits of knowledge.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few wise comments in this book of comments. There is a long section about why ID cards are an invasion of privacy. But over all this book is tedious to read.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a secular "thought for the day" - most of this book shied away from saying anything worthwhile - Grayling has a really nice way of saying precisely nothing, in fact.

Only really heats up when he's having a go at religion or "post-modernism", but even then, it's only that he doesn't like them. In this short form Grayling never feels he has to justify what he's saying, beyond maybe quoting a proverb. Dance is the best and greatest art form... because he likes dance. Later, he says there's a better way to mourn than the approach we take in this country. BUT he spends half the time celebrating multiplicity. This is just a sequence of unrelated nicey nice garbage.

Might try Grayling in a longer form some time - the final chapter, on ID cards and the reasons we should reject them strongly, is actually worthwhile. That, maybe is worth 2*.

[Victor Chizi Ihunda]

A.C Grayling's The Form of Things: Essays on Life, Ideas and Liberty is a down to earth and yet brilliant opinion of a philosopher on what could be said to be non traditional subject matters of Philosophy which are basic problems faced by humans.
The book contains a brilliant take on the socio-political scenario of the 21st century with well constructed arguments in defense of Liberty.
Moreover, the book contains much more than the socio-political ideas but essays on certain persons like Charles Darwin, Voltaire etc.
It's quite simple, witty, and short.

[Ian Caithness · Rating 4 out of 5]

A.C Grayling writes a series of short essays on life, polemics, people and a vicious attack at the end of this book on the introduction of ID cards. Many of his essays consider religion as being a force of regression in society and his views on this subject are to be widely appreciated by humanists across the nation.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply articles about complex matters. As it happens, I agree with most of his positions on life which makes it easy to say "what a great little book". But even if you don't agree with all his positions, because are they are presented with clarity and precision, you can engage in the debate effectively.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some excellent and thought provoking essays - short, to the point and worth reflecting on. Grayling has an easy, engaging style, for an intellectual, and he picks really interesting topics to talk about.

[Nat Chomcherngpat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very entertaining. If you like suspense/thriller and a bit of horror, this is the book for you. It's very addictive too. It's the type of book that once you start, you don't want to put it down until you finish it.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Grayling's essays on humanism are an enjoyable workout for the brain; in this book the anti-religion rants are far more severe than in the others - caveat lector!

[Elie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining reading. Some things are important but you don't really know or have forgotten why? this book will set things straight again.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Grayling's essays which were originally published serially in a British newspaper.

[Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, short and interesting though in many parts a little bit forceful and at times being too hasty about things. Overall was still an entertaining read.