
Life Is Hard
How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way
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Narrated by:
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Kieran Setiya
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By:
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Kieran Setiya
About this listen
“Life Is Hard is a humane consolation for challenging times. Reading it is like speaking with a thoughtful friend who never tells you to cheer up, but, by offering gentle companionship and a change of perspective, makes you feel better anyway.” —The New York Times Book Review
There is no cure for the human condition: life is hard. But Kieran Setiya believes philosophy can help. He offers us a map for navigating rough terrain, from personal trauma to the injustice and absurdity of the world.
In this profound and personal book, Setiya shows how the tools of philosophy can help us find our way. Drawing on ancient and modern philosophy as well as fiction, history, memoir, film, comedy, social science, and stories from Setiya’s own experience, Life Is Hard is a book for this moment—a work of solace and compassion.
Warm, accessible, and good-humored, this book is about making the best of a bad lot. It offers guidance for coping with pain and making new friends, for grieving the lost and failing with grace, for confronting injustice and searching for meaning in life. Countering pop psychologists and online influencers who admonish us to “find our bliss” and “live our best lives,” Setiya acknowledges that the best is often out of reach. Instead, he asks how we can weather life’s adversities, finding hope and living well when life is hard.©2022 Kieran Setiya (P)2022 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews
“A humane, consoling guide to this vale of tears, with a glimmer of hope.”—The Economist
“Reflects what philosophy at its most helpful and humane can do. . . . insightful and empathetic”—Los Angeles Review of Books
“An eloquent, moving, witty and above all useful demonstration of philosophy's power to help us weather the storms of being human—not with rarefied theories about the best way to live, but by making the best of life as it really is.”—Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks
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As a top-level sport psychologist and performance consultant, Dr. Stan Beeham knows what it takes to succeed - on the playing field, in the board room, and in all aspects of life. This award-winning book takes you inside the minds of major-league athletes, Olympic medal winners, and world-class business leaders to reveal the key motivators and mental processes that drive people to victory.
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Some things you’ve heard before and some things you haven’t
- By Kathleen Ruzicka on 12-04-23
By: Stan Beecham
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The Wisdom of Morrie
- Living and Aging Creatively and Joyfully
- By: Morrie Schwartz, Rob Schwartz - editor
- Narrated by: Rob Schwartz, Steven Weber
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Morrie Schwartz, the beloved subject of the classic, multimillion-copy number one bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, explores these questions and many more in this profound, poetic, and poignant masterpiece of living and aging joyfully and creatively. Later life can be filled with many challenges, but it can also be one of the most beautiful and rewarding passages in anyone’s lifetime. Morrie draws on his experiences as a social psychologist, teacher, father, friend, and sage to offer us a road map to navigate our futures.
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Genuine Advice for all us as we age
- By Richard on 05-16-24
By: Morrie Schwartz, and others
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Weird in a World That's Not
- A Career Guide for Misfits, F--kups, and Failures
- By: Jennifer Romolini
- Narrated by: Em Eldridge
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Jennifer Romolini started her career as an awkward 27-year-old misfit, navigated her way through New York media, and became a boss - an editor in chief, an editorial director, and a vice president - all within little more than a decade. Her book, Weird in a World That's Not, asserts that being outside the norm and achieving real, high-level success are not mutually exclusive, even if the perception of the business world often seems otherwise, even if it seems like only office-politicking extroverts are set up for reward.
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Women's Career Guide
- By Spence on 02-03-18
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Success Habits
- Proven Principles for Greater Wealth, Health, and Happiness
- By: Napoleon Hill
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, has been immortalized for his contributions to the self-help genre. In this never-before-published work, Hill shares his principles of success and key habits that provide the basis for life-changing success. Success Habits explains the fundamental rules that lead to a prosperous life. Hill’s principles offer a new way of thinking about intention, self-discipline, and the way we lead our lives. Originally a series of radio talks delivered in Paris, Missouri, Success Habits is filled with anecdotes and stories....
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Wow!
- By tony gagliardotto on 01-27-19
By: Napoleon Hill
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Write It Down, Make It Happen
- Knowing What You Want and Getting It!
- By: Henriette Anne Klauser
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In Write It Down, Make It Happen, Henriette Anne Klauser, PhD, explains how simply writing down your goals in life is the first step toward achieving them. Writing can even help you understand what you want. In this book, you will hear stories about ordinary people who witnessed miracles large and small unfold in their lives after they performed the basic act of putting their dreams on paper. Klauser's down-to-earth tips and easy exercises are sure to get your creative juices flowing. Before you know it, you'll be writing your own ticket to success.
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Great Content
- By A. Baker on 03-16-18
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Can the Mind Be Free of Thought?
- Berkeley 1969 - Public Talk 1
- By: Jiddu Krishnamurti
- Narrated by: Jiddu Krishnamurti
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Original Recording
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So memory, experience, knowledge is the background of thought. But thought which is always old can never be free, it may express itself freely but it is always old; and therefore thought can never see anything new. So when I understand that, very clearly, the mind becomes quiet.
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Confidence
- How to Overcome Your Limiting Beliefs and Achieve Your Goals
- By: Martin Meadows
- Narrated by: John Gagnepain
- Length: 1 hr and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Sometimes we lack discipline or motivation. However, there's another reason why you might struggle to make changes in your life - you have low self-efficacy. What is self-efficacy? What are the main four sources of it? How can you develop more confidence in your abilities? These are some of the questions I'll answer in this short book. The advice you're about to read is based both on scientific research and my personal experience.
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Condensed tips
- By eva on 09-04-15
By: Martin Meadows
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Didn't See It Coming
- Overcoming the Seven Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences
- By: Carey Nieuwhof
- Narrated by: Carey Nieuwhof
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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Carey Nieuwhof wants to help you avoid and overcome life's seven hardest and most crippling challenges: cynicism, compromise, disconnectedness, irrelevance, pride, burnout, and emptiness. These are challenges that few of us expect but we all experience at some point. If you have yet to confront these obstacles, Carey provides clear tools and guidelines for anticipation and avoidance. If you already feel stuck in a painful experience or are wrestling with one of these challenges, he provides the steps you need to find a way out and a way forward into a more powerful and vibrant future.
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Pretty Good
- By David on 09-22-18
By: Carey Nieuwhof
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The Science of Self-Discipline
- The Willpower, Mental Toughness, and Self-Control to Resist Temptation and Achieve Your Goals
- By: Peter Hollins
- Narrated by: Peter Hollins
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Your best intentions are not enough. Learn how to scientifically engineer a disciplined existence, become relentless, and never give up. Whatever you want in your life, self-discipline is the missing piece. Goals will remain dreams if you make the mistake of relying on motivation and your best drawn plans. The Science of Self-Discipline is a deep look into what allows us to resist our worst impulses and simply execute, achieve, produce, and focus. Every principle is scientifically-driven and dissected to as be actionable and helpful as possible. You'll learn how top performers consistently exercise self-discipline, as well as what drives us on an instinctual, psychological level to act.
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Same old tired rehash of studies and common sense
- By A. Molnar on 07-12-18
By: Peter Hollins
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You Can Win
- By: Shiv Khera
- Narrated by: Susheel Kumar
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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A practical, common-sense guide that will lead you from ancient wisdom to modern-day thinking, You Can Win will help you to establish new goals, develop a renewed sense of purpose and generate fresh and exciting ideas about yourself and your future. Shiv Khera guarantees, as the title suggests, a lifetime of success. The audiobook enables you to translate positive thinking into attitude, ambition and action, all of which combine to give you the winning edge.
By: Shiv Khera
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The Road to Better Habits, Updated and Expanded
- A Simple Framework for Transforming Your Habits
- By: Darius Foroux
- Narrated by: Darius Foroux
- Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Covid-19 has changed our habits whether we like to admit it or not. We've become more distracted than ever, which is impacting every aspect of our lives. In this updated and expanded version of The Road to Better Habits, you’ll learn how to transform your habits in a simple way. Ultimately, where you are in your life is a result of your habits. The American historian and philosopher, Will Durant, said it best: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
By: Darius Foroux
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Positive Parenting
- An Essential Guide
- By: Rebecca Eanes
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Popular parenting blogger Rebecca Eanes shares her hard-won wisdom for overcoming limiting thought patterns and recognizing emotional triggers, as well as advice for connecting with kids at each stage, from infancy to adolescence. This heartfelt, insightful advice comes not from an "expert," but from a learning, evolving parent.
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It saved my life
- By Samantha khalil on 05-22-17
By: Rebecca Eanes
What listeners say about Life Is Hard
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- chetyarbrough.blog
- 07-18-23
HERES TO LIFE
In the beginning of Kieran Setiva's book something seems awry. It is written by a PhD graduate of Princeton who is working as a professor at MIT. What does a philosopher who is admittedly happily married (with one child), working as a professor at a prestigious university know about life being hard? Stick with it, and by the end of the book, Setiva's point becomes clear and worth more than one listen. The "Economist" calls Setiva's book one of the best of 2022. Being an acolyte of the magazine, it seems prudent to review "Life is Hard".
Hope is the insight Setiva reveals to one who is faced with hardship in life. Whether one is a university professor, wealthy industrialist, penniless beggar, or cloistered saint, hardship is a part of their life. Hoping to grow old is all that remains, and its value seems circumspect if not useless. Setiva's book may be one of the best of 2022 but like the hope he describes in the last chapter, it's a mixed blessing.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-18-22
This book delivers the goods!!!
This book delivers on the promise of its title. The author is brilliant and humble in the way that he teaches us to use philosophy to find our way, despite life being hard.
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- Micah B.
- 10-09-22
Fantastic listen!
Probably the most relatable and interesting philosophical book I've come across. It's a deep dive into a lot of the perils and conflicts we're going through as a society given the pandemic and other world events
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- Erik C Stabell
- 10-29-22
Loved the author’s personal perspective.
Philosophy can be dry, but when applied to someone’s life experience, it becomes an enthralling story.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jason Blum
- 10-24-22
Solid
Enjoyed it. I think people who make fun of philosophy majors are doing a disservice to life and are ultimately afraid of their own mortality. If not for a life lived well, what are we here for anyway?
Jason Blum
Washington DC
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4 people found this helpful
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- Jamie jones
- 03-27-23
underwhelming
I was extremely disappointed with this book. Very little philosophy here , but if you are left of center politically, you may enjoy this book or at least find more to appreciate here. Part autobiography, part liberal talking points , all disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I usually don't care about peoples personal politics, but this was too much of that and not enough of what I paid for.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Francis
- 10-18-23
Meh Just Ok
Started off relatively strong and interesting. But by midway, for some unknown reason, the author inject his political ideology which I found to be largely irrational. Kind of the exact opposite of what philosophy should mean to humanity. The author comes across as the typical university educated ideologue and pretty much meets all stereotype characteristics. From about chapter 4 to the end of the book, one could consider the words useless. One thing the author gets right, is the immediate need for him to find more courage. I don’t write long critical reviews for fun. This one deserved it unfortunately.
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- Jeff
- 10-20-22
Meandering
I bought this book after listening to the author on the Making Sense podcast with Sam Harris, which was interesting.
This book, on the other hand, is much less so. I was frequently bored while listening, but soldiered on, determined to find a useful or meaningful perspective which had motivated me to purchase the book, originally. By the last chapter, I realized it was a waste of time. There is not a single memorable insight I will take away from this book, other than I should be more willing to leave one unfinished (and early on) when I find it to be this pointless.
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- BE
- 12-15-22
Boring
i did not find it useful. Kind of a big nothing-burger for me. For a great book with a similar theme I recommend "When Bad Things Happen to Good People."
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1 person found this helpful
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- jeffrey goldstein
- 12-18-22
Banal Tautogies
this book is a real barker woof woof. please save your money: there is no there there!
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1 person found this helpful