- Hardcover: 136 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press (6 Nov 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195158121
- ISBN-13: 978-0195158120
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 964,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Envy
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
erudite and entertaining (Julian Baggini, The Guardian (Review) )
'Simon Blackburn on lust and Joseph Epstein on envy have produced little classics: written, researched and argued exemplarily, they take their topics seriously but discuss them with elegance and humour as well as insight. Francine Prose on gluttony joins them at the top of the list with a kind and thoughtful meditation.' (A.C. Grayling, Financial Times Magazine )
'Simon Blackburn on lust and Joseph Epstein on envy have produced little classics: written, researched and argued exemplarily, they take their topics seriously but discuss them with elegance and humour as well as insight. Francine Prose on gluttony joins them at the top of the list with a kind and thoughtful meditation.' (A.C. Grayling, Financial Times Magazine )
Financial Times Magazine, 29 April 2006
'Simon Blackburn on lust and Joseph Epstein on envy have produced little classics: written, researched and argued exemplarily'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love Joseph Epstein. He makes me laugh, he stimulates me to reflect, he writes like a (somewhat iconoclastic) angel. Buy this and all his other books - he's wonderful.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A Touch of Schadenfreude
23 Feb 2006
Format:Hardcover
There are few things more satisfying to enviers than the demise or expense of their targets. If you can't have it, whatever it is, all the more better that they should suffer humiliation and misery; a trademark of envy, according to the author, known as "Schadenfreude". In this book, the author looks at envy in nearly all of its incarnations, ranging from envy of the youth, envy of beauty, envy of the Jews, and makes an unusual case in pointing out that societies designed to purge envy from the people instead create more envy within (a bit hard to follow for me, personally). He provides tips on "Spotting the Envious" people, and also helps better define "envy" from its related forms, such as resentment, ressentiment, and jealousy. He says while jealousy involves matters of the heart, envy involves matters of other's possessions; jealousy, despite popular thought, is not envy.
Of all the books I've read in the Seven Sins series so far, this has provided the easiest read. It's easy to follow, and the author makes his points with a humorous edge, and without delving too much into inner psychiatry or politics.
Of all the books I've read in the Seven Sins series so far, this has provided the easiest read. It's easy to follow, and the author makes his points with a humorous edge, and without delving too much into inner psychiatry or politics.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Let us all praise those we envy
17 July 2005
Format:Hardcover
Epstein is an artful and insightful essayist. His thoughts on ' envy' will I believe help most readers better understand the subject, and reflect more deeply upon their own relation to it.
He points out that ' envy' of all the vices has the least positive to be said about it. About this I am not so sure. Surely most of us are ashamed of envying especially when the other person or persons envied is someone close to us who we should want the good fortune of as much as our own. But envy is not necessarily the worst of sins. We after all often by envying express a certain kind of admiration , and recognition of the value others have which we would like to. Envy becomes truly evil only when it moves us to action to truly hurt another or deprive them of their good. And even then in many instances such ' action'( Think of various kinds of ' fair competition') is not necessarily sinful.
Epstein points out that we are jealous of what is our own, and envious of what is others.(which we ourselves do not have) Epstein writes a series of short essays some of which deal with qualities and characteristics of others that we envy, Shakespeare's ' this man's art and that man's scope'.
One central point on the whole subject of envy is how foolish we so often are in envying others when they have their own life and story, and fate. Often we envy someone who we believe to have a better fortune than our own only to learn that they have sufferings and troubles beyond those we imagined.
'Envy' is a seemingly inescapable element of our nature. And this little book may do an enviable job of helping us understand it a bit better.
And this said with the minor praise of one who might envy Mr.Epstein's talent and success which is considerable.
He points out that ' envy' of all the vices has the least positive to be said about it. About this I am not so sure. Surely most of us are ashamed of envying especially when the other person or persons envied is someone close to us who we should want the good fortune of as much as our own. But envy is not necessarily the worst of sins. We after all often by envying express a certain kind of admiration , and recognition of the value others have which we would like to. Envy becomes truly evil only when it moves us to action to truly hurt another or deprive them of their good. And even then in many instances such ' action'( Think of various kinds of ' fair competition') is not necessarily sinful.
Epstein points out that we are jealous of what is our own, and envious of what is others.(which we ourselves do not have) Epstein writes a series of short essays some of which deal with qualities and characteristics of others that we envy, Shakespeare's ' this man's art and that man's scope'.
One central point on the whole subject of envy is how foolish we so often are in envying others when they have their own life and story, and fate. Often we envy someone who we believe to have a better fortune than our own only to learn that they have sufferings and troubles beyond those we imagined.
'Envy' is a seemingly inescapable element of our nature. And this little book may do an enviable job of helping us understand it a bit better.
And this said with the minor praise of one who might envy Mr.Epstein's talent and success which is considerable.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Soul Sickness
23 Sep 2003
Format:Hardcover
The first of a projected series about the 7 deadly sins by various authors, commissioned by the Oxford University Press, Joseph Epstein's small book, ENVY follows on the heels of his treatise on SNOBBERY: The American Version. His research of these maladies make him a kind of connoisseur of soul sickness. Examples from literature, observation, and introspection document their pervasiveness and the possible utility of these psychological phenomena. He differentiates between jealousy and envy which are often confused; jealousy being applied to one's own possessions and envy to that of others. Envy, he says, is felt in varying degrees causing discomfort from a twinge to a holocaust. The ability to deal with such subjects with candor and a soupcon of humor is the mark of a very special mind.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry
- Books > History > Religious History > Other Religions
- Books > Humour > Essays
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Ethics
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology > Philosophy
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Philosophy
- Books > Science & Nature > Reference > Psychology & Psychiatry
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Academic Philosophy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
