How to Live Audiobook By Derek Sivers cover art

How to Live

27 Conflicting Answers and One Weird Conclusion

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

How to Live

By: Derek Sivers
Narrated by: Derek Sivers
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.95

Buy for $14.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Not quite non-fiction, not quite self-help. It’s a work of art about conflicting philosophies.

Many books believe they know how you should live. But each book disagrees with the next. In How to Live, each chapter believes it knows how you should live. And each chapter disagrees with the next.

One chapter makes a compelling argument for why you should be completely independent, keeping all options open. The next chapter argues why you should commit to one career, one place, and one person.

One chapter persuades you to be fully present, and experience each moment. The next, to delay gratification and invest for the future.

Which one is right? Which does the author believe? All of them. It's a philosophy of conflicting philosophies.

A very unique and thought-provoking book. Meant for reflection as much as instruction.

An incredibly succinct audiobook of profound insights. No philosophers are quoted. No -isms are named. Only actionable directives. The end result feels more like poetry than prose.

©2021 Sivers Inc (P)2021 Sivers Inc Alternative & Complementary Medicine Meditation Philosophy
Nuanced Delivery • Concise Elegant Style • Great Narration • Complex Thought Collection • Conversational Vibe
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
everything in this book is a contradiction and that's the point. great presentation of the ends of a bell curve that is called life

if you get it you get it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very much enjoyed. Lots of food for thought! Derek does at great narration, it's almost like you are having an actual conversation rather than just the basic audio book vibe.

Mark Manson brought me here

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Honestly, I feel like I wasted my time. Each answer to how to live is obviously flawed. I expected his personal final take on how to combine the good in every answer.

A fan of Derek but not this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Love how Derek Sivers puts everything in a concise and elegant way. Loved the last chapter especially!

Loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very thought provoking. Easy to listen and follow. No wasted words or fluff. It made me think about my own life, decisions and the world. I recommend this book to everyone.

Unconventional ways of living that don’t seem so unconventional anymore after listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Challenges you - makes you think. Compels you to think about your life in reverse. Listen to it multiple times for the best effect.

Thought provoking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found several ideas interesting. But the many contradictions made me think it was just an odd book. This might be exactly what the author was trying to achieve. Life is full of contradictions.

Odd, but interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Read this. Read this. Read this.

Honestly just read the book - brilliantly executed . Thought provoking without being condescending.

Tonic for a polarised world, where nuance is out of fashion

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I originally didn't understand this book. After rethinking it, I realized it's one of the most profound philosophies we need. Embrace paradoxes. Often, there is no right answer.

Confusing and Truly Enlightening!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A lot of our conditioning (especially in the Western world) doesn't allow advice and inspirational/self help books to have a nuanced delivery.

Most books with self help themes are commodities of polarization and lots of people are unable to digest books on thought collections like this one. I surmised that you see lots of low ratings on this book because of this fact. We are even schooled into thinking that writing opposite ideas in one sentence, without overtly explaining that's what you are doing, is bad.

But, if you understand the author's purpose in explaining the nuances and complexity of what it means to live holistically human, you'll get his point and actually enjoy it.

The only thing I was uneasy with is his narration style. I love this author and followed much of what he's written over the years, and I understand his passion and style because of that, I think. But I can see how his deep breaths and creepy sounding forcefulness with certain phrases would be off-putting and weird for lots of folks....and for that reason I wished someone else would have narrated it.

For those of us sick of the same old thing in the books we read with how to live better as a theme, this is a nice reprieve as it includes every possible truth very clearly and the author makes you the driver of when in your life to use each piece of truth.

That's why I liked it.

Most people will not appreciate this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews