<p>Who is the author of How to Live?</p>

<p>Sarah Bakewell is the author of How to Live.</p>

Biography & Memoir

How to Live Book Summary - How to Live Book explained in key points

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How to Live summary

Name: How to Live
Rating: 4.5 (489 reviews)
Author: Sarah Bakewell

Sarah Bakewell

Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

4.5 (489 ratings)

21 mins

Brief summary

How to Live by Sarah Bakewell is a biography of Michel de Montaigne. It tells the story of his life and explores his philosophy, which centers around questioning one's own beliefs and embracing uncertainty.

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Meaningful Living Inspiration Biographies Confidence Wisdom

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How to Live
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What’s in it for me? Get to know Montaigne and one of the most influential books ever written.

What’s the first thing you think about when you hear the word “essay”?

For many of us, it’s probably one of those formulaic papers we had to write back in our school days. But those snooze fests are a far cry from the original Essays – the first works of writing to be given that name. Written by Michel de Montaigne in the sixteenth century, they were bold, experimental, confessional, messy, and controversial pieces that turned him into one of the most influential authors who ever lived. After living a fairly unremarkable life and retiring in his 30s, Montaigne started writing in order to give his mind some focus, and ward off the “melancholy” he felt, now that he didn’t have much to do. Calling his pieces of writing a collection of “Essays,” he wrote in a raw, personal, digressive, and off-the-cuff way that gave birth to the genre of writing that bears their name.

In this Blink to Sarah Bakewell’s How To Live, we’ll learn the story of the man behind the Essays – the motivations that led him to write the way he did, the reasons his writing was so impactful, and the lessons we can still learn from him today. In this Blink, you’re going to discover how Montaigne’s approach to life and death, as well as to everyone and everything around him, can help you become more open to alternative ways of quantifying your existence and experiences. Hopefully that’ll inspire in you a fresh perspective on what it means to be you in the world around us.

In this Blink, you’ll learn

why Montaigne was a miserable young man;
how almost dying helped him lighten up in middle age; and
how he invented a whole new way of writing during his retirement.

A Morbid Obsession.

As a young man, Montaigne had a problem. It was making him miserable – but you wouldn’t know that if you looked at him from the outside.

On the surface, he seemed to be living a pretty nice life. For starters, he was a nobleman, born into a wealthy family in 1533. He had a cushy childhood, received a classical education, and then began a successful career in law and politics at the age of 24. For the next 13 years, he worked as a magistrate in the city of Bordeaux in southwestern France.

He also inherited a profitable winemaking business, a large chateau, and a sprawling country estate full of vineyards, about 30 miles from Bordeaux. He split his time between the estate and the city, living a double life: one urban, dedicated to public service; the other rural, dedicated to wine-growing.

Well, sort of. By his own admission, he was incompetent at managing the estate and neglectful of his duties. To avoid them, he’d often go horse riding instead. He spent the rest of his time visiting neighbors, socializing, and reading classical works by ancient Greek and Roman historians, poets, and philosophers.

But that’s where the problem began. Those ancient philosophers wrote a lot about death, and Montaigne became increasingly obsessed with the subject as he read them in his 20s.

The obsession grew even deeper in his 30s, as more and more of his loved ones passed away. First, his best friend died from the plague. Then, his father died, probably from complications arising from a kidney stone. Then, his younger brother died after getting hit in the head by a ball while playing a game of jeu de paume – the Renaissance-era predecessor of tennis. Then, his first child died when she was only two months old.

Meanwhile, people in France were keeling over left and right for all sorts of terrible reasons: famine, civil war, witch trials, smallpox – the list went on and on. Death was lurking everywhere, able to strike anyone at any time from anywhere. Montaigne’s preoccupation with it therefore seemed not only natural but rational and inescapable. With so much death around him, how could he stop thinking about it? And if he couldn’t stop thinking about it, how could he enjoy anything else in life? The idea spoiled everything, and there was no way of shaking it.

Or so he thought. But then something happened that would forever change his attitude toward death and give him a second lease on life.

A Life-Changing Accident.

The year was 1569 or ’70 – the exact date is unknown. Montaigne was about 36 – already middle age, relative to the average lifespan of his era.

He was out on one of his horse rides, accompanied by his servants and lost in his thoughts like usual. A few miles away from his chateau, they were winding their way down a forest path, when all of a sudden – wham! He felt a tremendous weight slam into him from behind. He went flying through the air, hit the ground, and lost consciousness.

An Uneasy Retirement.

Thanks to his almost fatal accident and the lessons he learned from it, Montaigne felt liberated from his fear of death and ready to enjoy the rest of his life with his newfound sense of lightness.

And so, soon after his recovery, he decided to retire from his career in law and politics and withdraw to his country estate. There, he wanted to spend the remainder of his days living a quiet, carefree life of contemplation – a life dedicated to “freedom, tranquility, and leisure,” as he wrote in an inscription he put on the wall of his library.

In Praise of Mediocrity.

Montaigne might have been a nobleman by birth, but, by his own estimation, he was just an ordinary person who’d accomplished nothing noteworthy in life. In fact, he described himself as being completely mediocre – a man with a lazy disposition, slow intellect, limited imagination, poor memory, unfocused reading habits, and a shocking lack of knowledge and understanding of most practical subjects.

He was probably exaggerating his shortcomings, but still, even if there was only an element of truth to them, what business did such a person have devoting his life to writing about himself? That seems like the sort of thing that should be reserved for great people who’ve done great things in the world. But for everyone else, it just seems kind of arrogant, narcissistic, and self-indulgent.

How to Write an Essay (If You’re Montaigne).

As a writer, Montaigne practiced what he preached. He stayed open minded; he considered alternative perspectives. In fact, he often did that right in front of his readers in the middle of an essay.

He’d look at a subject from one angle and follow a line of reasoning until he reached a new question, objection, or realization that put that line of reasoning into doubt. Then he’d look at the subject from another angle and start a new line of reasoning that often directly contradicted what he’d just said. But he wouldn’t go back and erase the first line and replace it with the second. Instead, he’d just keep moving forward and leave them both there on the page for the reader to follow.

Unfinished Business.

In today’s world, where it seems like everyone is constantly spewing their thoughts and feelings all over the internet, the idea of writing in the way Montaigne wrote might not seem that innovative. But someone had to be the first one to do it, and that person was Montaigne.

It was revolutionary at the time, and it made him a literary sensation almost immediately upon the publication of the first edition of his Essays on March 1, 1580, the day after his forty-seventh birthday. The book was highly popular among the members of French high society, even winning praise from Henri III, the king of France himself. It turned Montaigne into the Renaissance version of a celebrity.

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What is How to Live about?

How to Live (2010) is both a biography of the writer Montaigne and an overview of the monumental work for which he’s famous: the Essays – a genre of writing that he invented. Along the way, it suggests some lessons we can take from his life and apply to our own.

How to Live Review

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer (2010) is a captivating exploration of the life and philosophy of Michel de Montaigne. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It offers insightful reflections on how to live a meaningful life, drawing from the wisdom of Montaigne's essays.
Through engaging storytelling and thought-provoking anecdotes, the book provides a unique perspective on the complexities of human existence.
By seamlessly weaving together history, philosophy, and personal experiences, Sarah Bakewell creates a compelling narrative that is both enlightening and entertaining.

Who should read How to Live?

Students of the Stoics, Epicureans, or Skeptics who want to learn about one of their greatest prodigies
Fans of biographies about writers and thinkers
Anyone who wants to know more about the life and works of Montaigne

About the Author

Sarah Bakewell is a British non-fiction writer who focuses on the lives of philosophers, writers, and adventurers. Her other works include At the Existentialist Café and The English Dane. In 2018, she won the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in non-fiction.

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Biography & Memoir Personal Development Philosophy Motivation & Inspiration

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