Life Is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making It More Meaningful
- Downloads：6156
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2023-01-02 06:52:16
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Dean Rickles
- ISBN：0691240590
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Why life's shortness--more than anything else--is what makes it meaningful
Death might seem to render pointless all our attempts to create a meaningful life。 Doesn't meaning require transcending death through an afterlife or in some other way？ On the contrary， Dean Rickles argues， life without death would be like playing tennis without a net。 Only constraints--and death is the ultimate constraint--make our actions meaningful。 In Life Is Short， Rickles explains why the finiteness and shortness of life is the essence of its meaning--and how this insight is the key to making the most of the time we do have。
Life Is Short explores how death limits our options and forces us to make choices that forge a life and give the world meaning。 But people often live in a state of indecision， in a misguided attempt to keep their options open。 This provisional way of living--always looking elsewhere， to the future， to other people， to other ways of being， and never committing to what one has or， alternatively， putting in the time and energy to achieve what one wants--is a big mistake， and Life Is Short tells readers how to avoid this trap。
By reminding us how extraordinary it is that we have any time to live at all， Life Is Short challenges us to rethink what gives life meaning and how to make the most of it。
Death might seem to render pointless all our attempts to create a meaningful life。 Doesn't meaning require transcending death through an afterlife or in some other way？ On the contrary， Dean Rickles argues， life without death would be like playing tennis without a net。 Only constraints--and death is the ultimate constraint--make our actions meaningful。 In Life Is Short， Rickles explains why the finiteness and shortness of life is the essence of its meaning--and how this insight is the key to making the most of the time we do have。
Life Is Short explores how death limits our options and forces us to make choices that forge a life and give the world meaning。 But people often live in a state of indecision， in a misguided attempt to keep their options open。 This provisional way of living--always looking elsewhere， to the future， to other people， to other ways of being， and never committing to what one has or， alternatively， putting in the time and energy to achieve what one wants--is a big mistake， and Life Is Short tells readers how to avoid this trap。
By reminding us how extraordinary it is that we have any time to live at all， Life Is Short challenges us to rethink what gives life meaning and how to make the most of it。
Reviews
Jenny
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Deep
Maggie
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If it hadn’t been such a crazy short audiobook， I wouldn’t have finished it。 Although I found all of the philosophical ideas explored in this book interesting， it felt too surface level to really hold any meaning。 Loved the idea of a short book on life being short， but you can’t do a deep dive into philosophy in a really short time （at least not successfully， anyway）。 Loved the narrator！ Thank you Libro。fm for the ALC！
Sasha
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I read this book to screen as a potential present for a relative， and it was pretty dissapointing。 I was hoping for discussion on being gentle， kind， intentional， and patient with yourself and instead got more of a pull yourself up by your bootstraps energy from it。 The author also uses examples of celebrities who died young， as cautionary tales， which felt icky; life is hard and people are human。 We don't need to use people who went through hard stuff to prove a point。 Overall， this did not fee I read this book to screen as a potential present for a relative， and it was pretty dissapointing。 I was hoping for discussion on being gentle， kind， intentional， and patient with yourself and instead got more of a pull yourself up by your bootstraps energy from it。 The author also uses examples of celebrities who died young， as cautionary tales， which felt icky; life is hard and people are human。 We don't need to use people who went through hard stuff to prove a point。 Overall， this did not feel like a book I can recommend。 Considering this was written during covid lockdown， I was anticipating a very different and gentle read。 **two stars given mostly because I love the narrator， Simon Vance。 。。。more
Ashley
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I really struggled with how to rate this。 As someone who likes philosophy and wants to figure out how to waste less time and live better， I'm fairly glad I read it。 It's a really dense philosophical book about life and how the shortness of it gives it meaning for us。 And when I say really dense， I mean really dense。 It may be the densest thing I've read since graduating college， and that's included War and Peace。 It made some good and interesting points about life as well as some points that I d I really struggled with how to rate this。 As someone who likes philosophy and wants to figure out how to waste less time and live better， I'm fairly glad I read it。 It's a really dense philosophical book about life and how the shortness of it gives it meaning for us。 And when I say really dense， I mean really dense。 It may be the densest thing I've read since graduating college， and that's included War and Peace。 It made some good and interesting points about life as well as some points that I don't agree with， which isn't something I mind （as long as things aren't racist， sexist， transphobic， etc）。 Overall， I'd say you should only read this if you really like philosophy。 It's definitely not a self-help or how-to guide， but it could end up helping。 （Also， it may be short but it still took me about a month to get through。） Thank you to Libro。fm and the publisher for the ARC！ 。。。more
Eric
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I was given a prepublication edition of the audiobook。 Parts were highly disturbing， some was inspiring。 Over all I found it ponderous
Jessica
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"By viewing the present self as simply the future self of our past self， we can project our present self onto the future self more readily。 That is， our present self just is the future self of our past self。 Treat every future time as equally as now because it will be now later and it will be your now。"3。5 Stars for this one。 I enjoyed this quick audiobook。 It is a very well-researched analysis of support for being present。 It offered some interesting points about the value of incorporating empa "By viewing the present self as simply the future self of our past self， we can project our present self onto the future self more readily。 That is， our present self just is the future self of our past self。 Treat every future time as equally as now because it will be now later and it will be your now。"3。5 Stars for this one。 I enjoyed this quick audiobook。 It is a very well-researched analysis of support for being present。 It offered some interesting points about the value of incorporating empathy， emotional self-awareness， and what Rickles presents as "temporal economics" into the education system。 Not only as a way to inspire observation and appreciation of life but as a way to nurture ambition and willpower。 If you like philosophy and are up to face evidence that humans have basically been trying to figure out how to "be present" for many centuries， this is a good， thought-provoking listen。Thank you to netgalley for an audio version of this book。 。。。more
Kit Ledvina
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In Life is Short Dean Rickles makes a case for why the limitation of a short life makes living meaningful。 I’m not sure who the target audience of this book would be。 It’s too complicated and technical for most people to read casually， and not novel or complex enough for those who are typically interested in philosophy。 I didn’t dislike reading this but compared to 4，000 weeks， another short book covering the same material， I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it。Thank you to the author， publisher， In Life is Short Dean Rickles makes a case for why the limitation of a short life makes living meaningful。 I’m not sure who the target audience of this book would be。 It’s too complicated and technical for most people to read casually， and not novel or complex enough for those who are typically interested in philosophy。 I didn’t dislike reading this but compared to 4，000 weeks， another short book covering the same material， I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it。Thank you to the author， publisher， and NetGalley for access to the audiobook in exchange for my opinion。 。。。more
MJKF
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