There are many ways to try to improve our lives - we can turn to the wisdom of philosophers, the teachings of religions or the latest experiments of psychologists. But we rarely to look to history for inspiration - and when we do it can be surprisingly powerful. Showing the lessons that can be learned from the past, cultural historian Roman Krznaric explores twelve universal topics, from work and love to money and creativity, and reveals the wisdom that we've been missing. There is much to be learned from Ancient Greece on relationships, from the industrial revolution on job satisfaction, and from Ming-dynasty China on bringing up our children. Just as a Renaissance 'Wunderkammer' was a curiosity cabinet full of fascinating objects, each with a story behind it, The Wonderbox is full of stories and ideas from history, each of which sheds invaluable light on the decisions we make every day, whether we think about the different uses of the senses or changing attitudes to time. History is usually read for pleasure or for insight into current affairs, but The Wonderbox, stepping into the territory of Alain de Botton and Theodore Zeldin, is 'practical history' - using the past to think about our day to day lives.
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'A cornucopia of delights. Completely fascinating, beautifully written and brimming with insights' --Michael Wood, historian, film maker and author of 'The Story of England'
'A fascinating rattlebag of intelligent, stimulating essays on everything from work to love, time to empathy' --FT
'A fascinating rattlebag of intelligent, stimulating essays' --FT
'After reading The Wonderbox, endlessly shopping for stuff you already have will seem distinctly strange' --Reader's Digest
'Entertaining and instructive' --The Times
'A guaranteed pick-me-up for the early days of January! And a book I'm going to be returning to for years.' --BBC Radio Scotland
'Inspiration for bold experiments in living' --Oxford Times
A treasury of history and philosophy that manages also to be truly, practically motivational' --John-Paul Flintoff
'A fascinating rattlebag of intelligent, stimulating essays on everything from work to love, time to empathy' --FT
'A fascinating rattlebag of intelligent, stimulating essays' --FT
'After reading The Wonderbox, endlessly shopping for stuff you already have will seem distinctly strange' --Reader's Digest
'Entertaining and instructive' --The Times
'A guaranteed pick-me-up for the early days of January! And a book I'm going to be returning to for years.' --BBC Radio Scotland
'Inspiration for bold experiments in living' --Oxford Times
A treasury of history and philosophy that manages also to be truly, practically motivational' --John-Paul Flintoff
Book Description
What three millennia of human history can tell us about how to live today
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By Hugh Warwick
Format:Hardcover
Roman Krznaric's Wonderbox is an amazing combination of high intellect, deep empathy and accessibility. Covering the 'big' issues, of death, family, nature, love, travel etc he draws on the wisdom of the ages and melds those ideas into something far bigger than the sum of their parts. But by setting itself such a high mark as to offer us a guide to life it is a shame that there are gaps - and my main criticism is that these gaps included some of the things that mean most to me - music and animals for example. However, this is still an exciting and entertaining book. It is one of those books that makes you feel cleverer and better about yourself on completion - and perhaps there will be another ... filling in some of those gaps ...
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is quite the best book of 'popular' wisdom I have read in a very long time and I warmly recommend it to all customers. It is superbly written, tendering well-argued and humbly offered suggestions on how one can, at the very least, perform some very useful fine-tuning of one's general outlook on life, whilst bravely confronting some of the 'big' issues. The final chapter, on Deathstyle, is masterly. There is nothing hectoring, preachy, partisan, sectarian or unrealistic about any of the conclusions the author comes to, and, whilst at 63 I do not consider myself wholly without some insight into the important elements of what constitutes a well-lived life, I wish I had been able to read it 20 years ago. It is truly an edifying read for all ages.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Secular society has failed to provide us with a guide on how to live. As Krznaric suggests, the self-help literature and the psychology of happiness seem unsatisfactory and superficial. His approach, which seems so obvious and compelling once embarked upon, is to seek guidance from history. This beautiful book draws inspiration from how those before us have made sense of the things that matter most to us: love, family, empathy, work, time, money, creativity, belief, and death. Krznaric effortlessly draws on the vast richness of how people have lived in the past. We discover that despite our many forms of progress, often those before us had far deeper conceptions of how to live. Love has a far more subtle and varied form in Confucian, Buddhist and ancient Greek thought. Time, "the tyranny of the clock" which Krznaric describes, has not always been our master. Rushing to achieve more we often succeed only in experiencing and understanding less. There are wonderful alternatives, such as the Balinese concepts of "full days" and "empty days". Nothing in this book is predictable, or dull. Intriguingly, family conversation is something we have struggled with as much in the past as the present. But the ways in which we have failed, and the examples of cultures that succeed, can provide guidance. The range of sources and relevance of this book is impressive. But Krznaric keeps his erudition hidden; his wisdom comes to the fore. This book is not just a guide on how to live. Reading this book is an end in itself. It is a deep, moving, pleasure.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating
A wonderbox indeed: the author links out quest for the good life to some surprising facets of history. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Mr G
5.0 out of 5 stars
How to see the world from many different angles
This book really is a wonderbox that challenged what I had taken for granted and exposed the flux of western culture for good or ill. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mike Finch
5.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating and wonderful...
a fascinating and interesting read about history and what it can teach us, i was unsure about this book and took a chance, I'm so glad i did, what a great way to spend a few... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jacko
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Alternative to the Self-Help Book
This is a book about the history of ideas about how to live - ideas put into practice. Krznaric divides the book into innovatively themed chapters on topics such as Deathstyle,... Read more
Published 10 months ago by C. Whalen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and engaging
I second what the other reviewers have written but what hasn't been mentioned much is how entertainingly Krznaric writes. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Rogue Eyebrow
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!
What can I say, great book.. one of those keep sakes!
A must read.. practicalities we all know, right at our face.
Thank you to the seller for a prompt delivery..
A must read.. practicalities we all know, right at our face.
Thank you to the seller for a prompt delivery..
Published 13 months ago by GJ
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enthralling
This book is brilliant. It makes you think and consider whether the way we live now is actually better than in the past. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Kitty
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Treasure Trove
Normally, books that tell me how to live an authentic life leave me cold. But this is different. It is a compendium of how learned (and sometimes unlearned) people from a different... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. C. J. Forse
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some of the answers we all seek?
Loved this book: I enjoyed, too, the writing style and also how the author discussed examples from his own life which added interest and gave it more grounding. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Duncurin
5.0 out of 5 stars
The chamber of surprises
Kznaric's Wonderbox is a chamber of surprising revelations, full of fascinating links between the past and the present. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Dr. Quentin Spender
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