Everything: A Book of Aphorisms

by Aaron Haspel

Aphorisms are often derided as trivial, yet most people rule their lives with five or six of them. This collection contains five or six hundred, some of which you wouldn't want to rule your life with."The Rochefoucauld of the Twitter generation has arrived. Aaron Haspel's crisp, curt, cold-eyed aphorisms pack the maximum amount of truth into the minimum amount of space — and do it with elegance and wit." —Terry Teachout, drama critic, The Wall Street Journal"Aaron Haspel is good, very good." —Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Antifragile and The Black Swan"My favorite aphorist of the 21st century." —Colin Marshall, Boing Boing"Extremely good...wry, wise rules." —James Geary, author of The World in a Phrase and editor of Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists

Genres: Philosophy

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2015

Reviews

[Tatyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Only women who dress well undress well."

"Failure is always an option. Often it is the best option."

"Women lead, pretending to follow; men follow, pretending to lead."

"When we can no longer tell ourselves that we are good, we tell ourselves that we are exceptional"

"When God wants to test you, He sends a person of good character who shares none of your opinions. When God wants to punish you, He sends a person of bad character who shares all of your opinions."

"The worst hangover is the morning after you finish a bad book."

"In hell you are forced to reread continuously all the books you loved before you were twenty."



"The more you know how things work, the less you expect them to."

[Nicholas Teague · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haspel prefaces the book by pointing out that books should rarely be read straight through, and that reading this one straight through would "be like eating the whole pint of ice cream.” I think that would even be true of reading this book in the space of a week or two. An aphorism at it’s best (of which many of these are) is in effect a distilled novel, each short passage containing the theme of what could easily be fleshed out into a full novel. Reading these aphorisms compares to reading novels like drinking aged scotch vs. drinking light beer, and thus should be sipped and not gulped.

Nassim Taleb has said that aphorisms are different from conventional text, recommending to read no more than four aphorisms in one sitting, preferably selected randomly. This is perhaps not the ideal approach for ‘Everything.’ Each chapter builds on a theme, with surrounding passages providing context and complement to the adjacent texts. I would suggest reading this book in chapter size chunks, though perhaps chapters selected randomly.

There were a few aphorisms in Everything that spoke to me profoundly:

"First you do not write what you think, then you do not say what you think, then you do not think what you think."
=> There are some people in which prose and verbiage flow off their pen with great ease. Others of us can get caught in loop of second guessing and questioning wisdom of each thought. The great lesson of this aphorism is that poverty of speech can lead to poverty of thought, and efforts should be taken to avoid.

"Life has heuristics, only games have rules."
=> There are no certainties in life, heuristics are of use because they can simplify complicated decisions, even though there are inherent weaknesses - every heuristic has an exception. Another aphorism here is that “every logical fallacy is also a valid heuristic”, and thus the balance of heuristics vs. avoiding error is one of life’s complicated dances, and perhaps the reason that people are inherently unpredictable (see “one is human insofar as one is difficult to model.”)

“Today we hear silence as our ancestors heard music.”
=> A perfect snapshot of modernity, our lives are now overflowing with content, music, Facebook posts, television shows - everywhere a distraction. The beauty of an aphorism is best realized when contrasted with moments of ponder and reflection. That is why this book should be sipped and not gulped, because it is only in so doing that one avoids the funnel trap of modernity.


Though the art form of the aphorism is not a new one, Haspel is still a pioneer in an age where we all are becoming our own aspiring aphorists. For what is Facebook, and especially Twitter with its 140 character limit, but an attempt to distill the lessons of our days in concentrated form? As our number of friends grow and the collective din of the circle becomes more overwhelming, there will be less room for extended prose amongst our connections, and only through condensing into our own personal aphorisms will our message be heard. I thank the author for in his writings there is much that I have learned.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book of bite-sized wisdoms. If you've ever wondered what Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Nietzsche or Oscar Wilde might say about life in today's America, this is the closest you'll get without a time machine. Haspel's aphorisms aren't just clever and concise, they have an almost existential power to clear out the sediment that accumulates on cultural assumptions and social "truths" that are little more than forgotten metaphors.

The title of the book, Everything, is apt. Not because of its range of topics, but because Haspel gives us fresh eyes with which to see.

[Noel N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting aphorisms. Not all good, but a few diamonds worth digging for.