On Purpose: Ten Lessons on the Meaning of Life

by Ben Hutchinson

Ten essays on how reading and meaningfully engaging with literature can help us live better, more purposeful lives.

How do we live fully?

How do we live successfully?

Adrift in an anchorless world, we often worry about where we are heading. What meaning can we hope to find our modern, secular life? The answer, Ben Hutchinson explains, can be found by looking to writers and thinkers to help us live more purposefully, more mindfully – more fully.

Interweaving his own (mis-)adventures with those of authors such as T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust and Joan Didion, On Purpose proposes ten ways in which reading and writing encourage us to ask difficult questions, project our minds into the past and future, and see ourselves and others differently.

Engaging, uplifting and aphoristic, this book is for anyone who has lost their sense of direction or wishes to radically transform the way they live.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

209 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 14, 2023

Reviews

[Tom Mooney · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Well, there's plenty to think about in this interesting look at literature but overall I found both the book and particularly the narrator too pompous.

[Cristina Golubovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

would like to read again but I feel like I got a lot out of the first read

[D.J. Desmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a book on literature and purpose. He talks about why reading and writing are so important to life, while discussing the general purpose of living that seems to be a central question for all.

It's really good, but definitely not for everyone. I like to read and write, so hearing a guy say reading and writing is good is like an academic handy. So nah, not for everyone. If you find purpose in things other than reading or writing though, you probably wouldn't stumble upon this book anyways.

[Ravi Warrier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it articulates the necessity of reading and forming a habit of doing it regularly and frequently much better than I have been able to in the past several years.

But it lost a star because at times I found it unnecessarily verbose than it should have been.

[Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Liang Yen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating is a little harsh and probably unfair, but the first 2 chapters were really good. I think this was a 4-5 star if it was just an essay. The remaining chapters felt shoehorned. I did take away a line that I think will stay with me forever, so thank you Mr Hutchinson. I hope to read promiscuously for the rest of my life.