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Ideas to Save Your Life: Philosophy for Wisdom, Solace and Pleasure
Ideas to Save Your Life follows Michael McGirr’s much-loved Books that Saved My Life (2018). This time, McGirr shares his love of philosophy, looking at the works of twenty eminent thinkers across history.
The book goes back to Pythagoras and comes forward to the contemporary Australian Frank Jackson; back to Mungo Woman and forward to Martha Nussbaum, by way of Simone Weil and Iris Murdoch. It is animated by two related questions: from where do we draw a sense of life’s purpose, and how can philosophy make life better? It ranges widely across subjects: from solitude to community, language to order, experience to ecstasy, the idea of good to that of a good idea.
McGirr’s approach is warm and inviting. Drawing on many years’ experience teaching philosophy to teenagers, he shares stories from his life and discusses how philosophers have shed light on them. Ideas to Save Your Life is often funny, but it is serious about philosophy. It makes the impenetrable accessible, the indescribable palpable, and invites you to change the way you see the world.
The book goes back to Pythagoras and comes forward to the contemporary Australian Frank Jackson; back to Mungo Woman and forward to Martha Nussbaum, by way of Simone Weil and Iris Murdoch. It is animated by two related questions: from where do we draw a sense of life’s purpose, and how can philosophy make life better? It ranges widely across subjects: from solitude to community, language to order, experience to ecstasy, the idea of good to that of a good idea.
McGirr’s approach is warm and inviting. Drawing on many years’ experience teaching philosophy to teenagers, he shares stories from his life and discusses how philosophers have shed light on them. Ideas to Save Your Life is often funny, but it is serious about philosophy. It makes the impenetrable accessible, the indescribable palpable, and invites you to change the way you see the world.
- GenresNonfictionPhilosophy
336 pages, Paperback
Published November 2, 2021
23 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
Michael McGirr
20 books16 followersMichael McGirr is the author of Things You Get for Free and The Lost Art of Sleep. His book Bypass: The Story of a Road has been a popular Year 12 English text in Victoria. He has reviewed over 900 books for the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is currently dean of faith at St Kevin’s College in Melbourne.
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February 11, 2022The following book reviews have been shared by Text Publishing – publisher of Ideas to Save Your Life
‘Michael McGirr is a bit of a twenty-first century alchemist with words: nothing is too deep to be made understandable, his aim is consolation and kindness always, and the result is often magic.’
Geraldine Doogue
‘A wonderful excursion through a host of ideas and thinkers.’
Meredith Lake, ABC RN Soul Search
'A tonic…A book to unscramble your brain and help refresh your perspective.’
Happy Mag
‘A lively, often comic, narrative combined with a romp through some of the key ideas of ancient philosophy…What McGirr draws from the well of philosophy serves his purpose as a storyteller and a critic of society, and he leads us from the personal to the philosophical in an entertaining and often insightful way.’
Janna Thompson, Australian Book Review
‘A bracing romp…Definitely add it to the Christmas list.’
Fullers Weekly
‘McGirr’s survey of more than twenty major philosophers, including Socrates, Montaigne, William James, Simone Weil and Mary Midgley, is very much about which of their ideas retains authentic traction in a vocational life dedicated to making the world a more just and humane place…[This is an] erudite yet chatty collection of essays…New lights turned on for me as I read Ideas to Save Your Life. I’m thankful for the laughs too.’
Gregory Day, Age
‘Humorous and passionate…The life that McGirr commends is one that risks insecurity, is sensitive to one’s fragility and fallibility, compassionate to other human beings, and full of wonder at a beautiful and death-marked world. The natural response to such a world is one of gratitude.’
Eureka Street
‘Michael McGirr is a bit of a twenty-first century alchemist with words: nothing is too deep to be made understandable, his aim is consolation and kindness always, and the result is often magic.’
Geraldine Doogue
‘A wonderful excursion through a host of ideas and thinkers.’
Meredith Lake, ABC RN Soul Search
'A tonic…A book to unscramble your brain and help refresh your perspective.’
Happy Mag
‘A lively, often comic, narrative combined with a romp through some of the key ideas of ancient philosophy…What McGirr draws from the well of philosophy serves his purpose as a storyteller and a critic of society, and he leads us from the personal to the philosophical in an entertaining and often insightful way.’
Janna Thompson, Australian Book Review
‘A bracing romp…Definitely add it to the Christmas list.’
Fullers Weekly
‘McGirr’s survey of more than twenty major philosophers, including Socrates, Montaigne, William James, Simone Weil and Mary Midgley, is very much about which of their ideas retains authentic traction in a vocational life dedicated to making the world a more just and humane place…[This is an] erudite yet chatty collection of essays…New lights turned on for me as I read Ideas to Save Your Life. I’m thankful for the laughs too.’
Gregory Day, Age
‘Humorous and passionate…The life that McGirr commends is one that risks insecurity, is sensitive to one’s fragility and fallibility, compassionate to other human beings, and full of wonder at a beautiful and death-marked world. The natural response to such a world is one of gratitude.’
Eureka Street
July 10, 2022
I love the premise of this book; it’s what drew me to pick this up. I love the philosophy genre and a book that claimed to give readers ideas from philosophy that can “save your life” was one I was quick to reserve. By “save your life”, think: ideas that give life meaning, give us perspective and the recognition of the common human experience. It’s about opening yourself to the mysteries of human life and the world.
At the start of every chapter I was intrigued and interested because McGirr would begin with an experience from his own life (or someone in his life) and then link it up to a larger question and philosopher. However I often found myself becoming disengaged through the middle to end of some chapters as McGirr got into the details of the particular philosopher in question. He covered a lot of ground with over 20 philosophers discussed in the book & I did get a bit lost as a result. I didn’t find it easily able to grasp the meaning or relevance of each section.
In saying that, I did enjoy reading this book and it gave me some things to think about. I think I just had high expectations from the premise and probably wouldn’t recommend unless you’re a philosophy buff!
Trigger Warnings ⚠️: Suicide
At the start of every chapter I was intrigued and interested because McGirr would begin with an experience from his own life (or someone in his life) and then link it up to a larger question and philosopher. However I often found myself becoming disengaged through the middle to end of some chapters as McGirr got into the details of the particular philosopher in question. He covered a lot of ground with over 20 philosophers discussed in the book & I did get a bit lost as a result. I didn’t find it easily able to grasp the meaning or relevance of each section.
In saying that, I did enjoy reading this book and it gave me some things to think about. I think I just had high expectations from the premise and probably wouldn’t recommend unless you’re a philosophy buff!
Trigger Warnings ⚠️: Suicide
July 2, 2022
Such a disappointment :(
The premise of this is that it is an easy intro to some of the great philosophers but it is definitely not that.
Firstly, the writing style is choppy and the ends of chapters feel unfinished to me, it just didn't hold my attention. The 'lessons' in the book don't end up shining through, they just got lost.
Secondly, I didn't find it funny when he tried to be, it was all just quite dull. I probably enjoyed the first quarter of the book the most.
Nevertheless, there were some takeaways:
- The story of philosophy is like a game of hide and seek; profound meanings or explanations come into the light for a while, sometimes centuries, before historical circumstances send them back to inaccessible corners.
- Philosophy can shed light in the darkest corners and create a bond between people who lived hundreds of years apart.
- Turns out Pythagoras was all about numbers being apart of ratio and harmony. He believed everything is a number, and that numbers are the essence of design, and if everything is a number it means there is harmony and relationship between them.
- Foucalt believes that illness reveals the fault lines of knowledge and power in society. This was true for bubonic plague, AIDS, COVID 19
- Dementia is a baffling illness, one which murdoch described several times in its early days as sailing into darkness. it can be traumatic for lose left on the shore, who are invariably left with questions about the identity of the person being carried away from them by the tide.
The premise of this is that it is an easy intro to some of the great philosophers but it is definitely not that.
Firstly, the writing style is choppy and the ends of chapters feel unfinished to me, it just didn't hold my attention. The 'lessons' in the book don't end up shining through, they just got lost.
Secondly, I didn't find it funny when he tried to be, it was all just quite dull. I probably enjoyed the first quarter of the book the most.
Nevertheless, there were some takeaways:
- The story of philosophy is like a game of hide and seek; profound meanings or explanations come into the light for a while, sometimes centuries, before historical circumstances send them back to inaccessible corners.
- Philosophy can shed light in the darkest corners and create a bond between people who lived hundreds of years apart.
- Turns out Pythagoras was all about numbers being apart of ratio and harmony. He believed everything is a number, and that numbers are the essence of design, and if everything is a number it means there is harmony and relationship between them.
- Foucalt believes that illness reveals the fault lines of knowledge and power in society. This was true for bubonic plague, AIDS, COVID 19
- Dementia is a baffling illness, one which murdoch described several times in its early days as sailing into darkness. it can be traumatic for lose left on the shore, who are invariably left with questions about the identity of the person being carried away from them by the tide.
April 4, 2022
A little gem of a book.
. Great introduction to philosophy
. Great humour
. Love of fellow man
. Anecdotes about his students, his children, his working life make it personal and add so much. See especially family visit to the Louvre!
. Great introduction to philosophy
. Great humour
. Love of fellow man
. Anecdotes about his students, his children, his working life make it personal and add so much. See especially family visit to the Louvre!
January 2, 2022
Beautifully written. Michael takes complex philosophical ideas and meanders through them in ways that are occasionally heartbreaking and occasionally hilarious. Highly recommended.
April 12, 2023
The study of philosophy tends to tie itself up in knots.
Michael McGirr is able to write about his own experiences and intersperse them in a way of understanding many seminal philosophers. Their breakthroughs, origins and obsessions.
McGirr writes that this book is a quest for order in a perplexing world.
And further: Philosophy is about going beyond yourself to find light; it is about embracing thoughts that strangers had before you.
There are many unanswered questions about anger, grief and pain.
We want control in a place where you are given an illusion that this may be possible, but everyday I find a world around me doing crazy things and people stuck in old ways who fear any form of change.
Looking through the lens of different philosophers is an exercise in how much we don't know about human behaviour.
I took a long time to finish this book. Perhaps subconsciously I didn't want it to end?
Michael McGirr was a teacher who tried to instil a love for philosophy in his students and has collected a lifetime of hard won wisdom. I would happily read another instalment of this accessible philosophy.
Michael McGirr is able to write about his own experiences and intersperse them in a way of understanding many seminal philosophers. Their breakthroughs, origins and obsessions.
McGirr writes that this book is a quest for order in a perplexing world.
And further: Philosophy is about going beyond yourself to find light; it is about embracing thoughts that strangers had before you.
There are many unanswered questions about anger, grief and pain.
We want control in a place where you are given an illusion that this may be possible, but everyday I find a world around me doing crazy things and people stuck in old ways who fear any form of change.
Looking through the lens of different philosophers is an exercise in how much we don't know about human behaviour.
I took a long time to finish this book. Perhaps subconsciously I didn't want it to end?
Michael McGirr was a teacher who tried to instil a love for philosophy in his students and has collected a lifetime of hard won wisdom. I would happily read another instalment of this accessible philosophy.
April 24, 2025
Ideas To Save Your Life by Micheal McGirr (Book Review)
https://youtu.be/Dskj5DaBnT0
https://youtu.be/Dskj5DaBnT0
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews