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How To Live: Rules For People Who Don't Like Rules

by Scott Berkun (Goodreads Author)

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Tina said: " Scott Berkun opens How to Live with praise from the dead. Descartes thought, and therefore bought two copies. Sisyphus gives it five stars, and the same five stars tomorrow. Pandora opened it and has no regrets. Narcissus is grateful that someone fin Scott Berkun opens How to Live with praise from the dead. Descartes thought, and therefore bought two copies. Sisyphus gives it five stars, and the same five stars tomorrow. Pandora opened it and has no regrets. Narcissus is grateful that someone finally wrote a book about his favorite subject. I laughed through the whole page. By the end of it I knew how Scott would handle the rest of the book. He jokes at his own expense and keeps his care for the questions.

The book has 26 rules. Rule 1 is “Don’t Die,” and Scott earns it with a story from an ICU in Pittsburgh. Hospital staff had unplugged his monitors and left his bed in an empty hallway. He was severely anemic and fought to stay awake, afraid that if his heart stopped, no one would know. A page later he observes that dead people get terrible scores on reading comprehension tests. He moves between mortality and punchlines like this all through the book, and he gives his reason: “Laughing means your mind is open.” While his readers are laughing, he brings in Montaigne, Nietzsche and the Stoics, whom he calls “the wisest wet blankets we have,” along with practical advice on feelings, decisions and showing up.

My favorite pages are at the back. “Recommended Doing” is one paragraph of instructions that I’d love to hear Scott read over a slow beat, the way Baz Luhrmann set Mary Schmich’s “Wear Sunscreen” to music. A few of my favorites are “Learn a bird’s name,” “Proudly make something ugly,” “Let people merge” and “Start a band even if you can’t play an instrument.” He also suggests asking a child the meaning of life, then asking your cat. I’m still deciding about the one involving a glass of water and the bathroom. The colophon lists 34 bowls of phở consumed and 12 fists shaken at the sky. The last page has a secret message, which I’ll leave for you to find.

Like Descartes, I bought two copies. My mother, who is 78, took one right away. Scott closes the book by handing the rule-making over to his readers: “There is no Rule 4. From here on, you make them.” ...more "

Oct 22, 2026 06:00PM · see review