100 books like Life Is Hard

I was absolutely blown away by the late Paul Kalanithi’s memoir about his life and cancer struggle because of his beautiful writing and the philosophical thinking behind that writing. The author reviews and comes to terms with his life’s meaning and value for himself and, ultimately, for the reader.

So many parts of this book made me ponder my life’s meaning and worth and how I would have dealt with what Kalanithi was going through. As a physician, he relates his situation to the inherent vulnerability of the human form and the shortcomings of modern medicine. This makes his story so moving, as he is denied blissful ignorance.

I love that this tragic story of a life cut short contains humor, beauty, and Kalanithi’s final satisfaction with the life he lived. 

This book is a bit of a gut punch, as it’s asking one of the hardest questions for those of us who are parents: how do we raise our kids in this scary, modern world? The heart of the dilemma buried in this question is that we want to do everything we can for our kids, but in a world of dwindling resources, spending so many of them and passing on as much privilege as we can feels like trying to best position our children on a sinking ship.

While I have come to terms with the idea that I ought to sacrifice my own interests in the name of calming a world on fire, it’s quite something else to realize that perhaps I ought to sacrifice some interests of the person whom I love most in the world—that perhaps they’re not entitled to everything I want to give them.… show more.

I love Kate Manne’s writing. In many ways, her first book, Down Girl, impacted me more, but it was published by an academic press. And my (totally made up, but I’m sticking to them!) rules for this list is that the books must be published with a trade press, so they genuinely intend to do philosophy with everyone.

This is Manne’s second trade book, but it is the work of hers that I found most immediately gripping, personal, and a bit haunting. As someone who has struggled with body image throughout my life and who has come slowly and haltingly to an uneasy truce with my aging and often disobedient body, so many of the stories Manne tells about fatness, fatphobia, and our cultural attitudes about body size hit pretty hard. 

Michael Schur is not a philosopher—he’s a comedian and the creator of the hit TV show The Good Place. Thus, since I am a professional philosopher, perhaps I’m supposed to be snide about the fact that Schur wrote a philosophy book. But I’m not. I really love the book, and I’ve recommended it to many friends who want a light and airy introduction to philosophy.

It’s funny and irreverent and does an impressive amount of really good philosophy. I laughed out loud while reading it, and even though I teach a lot of the fairly introductory material that Schur covers, I learned a lot just due to the breadth of what he discusses in this wide-ranging book. I came away thinking that perhaps more comedians should do philosophy!

I loved this book. It was a thought-provoking guide to navigating life's challenges and complexities. I especially loved the way Jordan Peterson drew on psychology, philosophy, and personal anecdotes to impart practical principles for finding meaning and purpose.

Each rule serves as a roadmap for self-improvement, urging you to confront challenges, take responsibility, and strive for a meaningful existence. Jordan Peterson's insights are both profound and accessible, providing me with a framework for personal growth in a world often marked by chaos.

Whether exploring the nature of truth or the importance of standing tall, this book is a compelling and enriching read.

You’ll have to work to find a copy of this book, but it will be worth your while. Morris is a brilliant philosopher (PhD from Yale, formerly on the faculty at Notre Dame) who has a flair for public speaking and accessible writing. (He wrote the Philosophy for Dummies book also.) In this volume, he champions the French scientific and philosophical genius Blaise Pascal to show the relevance of Pascal’s thought to our time and to our most pressing concerns.

Reading This is Water is a heartbreaking but beautiful experience, because the author, a philosophical and literary giant, took his own life. Wallace gave us so much in his too-short life. And, he had so much more to give. Nevertheless, this tender little book will fill you with compassion for yourself and for humanity in general. It is not a manual for living, but for seeing the world around you more clearly so that you can let more beauty and goodwill into your mind and heart while spreading the same to others. This is a little treasure.

A Field Guide to a Happy Life is an outstanding example of what a modern Stoic book can and should be. Pigliucci has taken the famous Handbook (Enchiridion) of the Roman Stoic teacher, Epictetus, and reworked it to reflect a more modern approach to the philosophy. As such, this field guide is a portable, practical guide to applying Stoic wisdom in your day to day life.

What I most appreciate about A Field Guide to a Happy Life is that the author’s update of the philosophy is clearly described in a later section of the book. This allows the reader to compare and contrast the ancient with the modern. What does it mean to adopt and adapt a two thousand year old philosophy? This unique book is both a practical philosophical guide, and a jumping off point to deeper study.

Like many emotions, shame seems like a double-edged sword. Shame seems to notify us that we haven’t lived up to our own ideals – that we’re not the people we thought or hoped we were. But shame has, as Thomason carefully delineates, a dark side: Shame can lead us to withdraw from the world in order not to be seen, and too often shame is a precursor to self-destructive behaviors. Naked ultimately argues that we need shame despite these drawbacks. Thomason’s book is also among the very best of recent books to use philosophical tools to investigate social media; her discussion of online shaming should not be missed.

Giebel succeeds brilliantly at the challenging task of weaving together ancient philosophical insight from both East and West, modern psychological research, and stories from the lives of exemplary individuals. Each strand of the book expands on and reinforces the others: Confucians fill out gaps in Socratic theory, and vice versa; psychologists test, tweak, and confirm ancient theories; and contemporary lives give richness and realism to the ideals. The whole tapestry, conveyed in Giebel’s lovely, accessible prose, is nothing short of a master class in how to cultivate a better, more meaningful life for oneself and all those for whom one cares.