Schopenhauer, the "philosopher of pessimism," makes it very plain that he regards the world and our life in it as a bad joke. But if the world is indifferent to our fate, it doesn't thwart us on purpose. The world's fa├ºade is supported by what Schopenhauer calls the universal Will—blind and without purpose. This Will brings on all our misery and suffering; our only hope is to liberate ourselves from its power and from the trappings of individualism and egoism that are at its mercy.
In Schopenhauer in 90 Minutes, Paul Strathern offers a concise, expert account of Schopenhauer's life and ideas and explains their influence on man's struggle to understand his existence in the world. The book also includes selections from Schopenhauer's writings, a brief list of suggested readings for those who wish to delve deeper, and chronologies that place Schopenhauer within his own age and in the broader scheme of philosophy.
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“As effective in its biographical and philosophical summarizing as we’ve come to expect from Paul Strathern…convey[s] both Schopenhauer’s prickly nature and its contradictions with the ascetic renunciation of the material world that he propounded in his writings.”
— Amazon.com, editorial review
" Light on the philosophy, interesting personal stories though. Schoenpenhauer studied English in Wimbledon, London? "
— M, 8/19/2013" I needed a quick introduction to Schopenhauer but this book gave me more of a chronology of his life and some quotes from him, not much substantive information on his philosophy. "
— Adil, 1/26/2010" Sir, true I eat three times as much as you, but I have three times as much brains as you. "
— Kate, 5/1/2007Paul Strathern earned a degree in philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, and has lectured in philosophy and mathematics. The author of many nonfiction books and of articles for numerous publications, he has also written several novels and has won the Somerset Maugham Prize. He lives and writes in London.
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.