Philosophy in the Garden

Damon Young

“Erudite, yet witty and accessible, [Philosophy in the Garden] is intellectual history at its most completely pleasurable.”

Oliver Burkeman, author of The Antidote

“A brilliant philosophical and literary meditation that helps us rethink our relationship with the natural world—and with ourselves.”

Roman Krznaric, author of Empathy and How to Find Fulfilling Work

View all reviews

“A gentle dig for ideas about how to live—this book will grow your mind and put a glow in your cheeks.”

Deborah Levy, author of Swimming Home

Why did Marcel Proust have bonsai beside his bed? What was Jane Austen doing, coveting an apricot? How was Friedrich Nietzsche inspired by his ‘thought tree’?

In Philosophy in the Garden, Damon Young explores one of literature's most intimate relationships: authors and their gardens. For some, the garden provided a retreat from workaday labor; for others, solitude's quiet counsel. For all, it played a philosophical role: giving their ideas a new life. What unites the authors—Proust, Woolf, Colette, Rousseau, Orwell, Emily Dickinson, Kazantzakis—portrayed in Philosophy in the Garden is not any one ideal, but a devotion to the garden itself: to its philosophical fertility. Despite being bookworms and paper moths, they did some of their best thinking al fresco. (Even Jean-Paul Sartre, whose hero in Nausea was sickened by a chestnut tree.)

Philosophy in the Garden reveals the profound thoughts discovered in parks, backyards, and pot-plants. It does not provide tips for mowing overgrown couch grass, or mulching a dry Japanese maple. It is a philosophical companion to the garden's labors and joys.

“Erudite, yet witty and accessible, [Philosophy in the Garden] is intellectual history at its most completely pleasurable.”

Oliver Burkeman, author of The Antidote

“A brilliant philosophical and literary meditation that helps us rethink our relationship with the natural world—and with ourselves.”

Roman Krznaric, author of Empathy and How to Find Fulfilling Work

View all reviews

Buy from IndieBound

BUY EBOOK

Details

Format:Hardback

Size: 7.8in × 5.1in

Extent:208pp

ISBN (13):9781950354078

RRP:$18.00

Pub date:6 Apr 2020

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

CATEGORIES / tags

AUTHOR

Damon Young

Damon Young is a prize-winning philosopher and writer. He is the author or editor of thirteen books, including The Art of Reading, How to Think About Exercise, Philosophy in the Garden, and Distraction. His works have been translated into eleven languages, and he has also written poetry, short fiction, and children’s fiction. Young is an Associate in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne.

HOME

Books

Authors

Blog

Events

About Us

Contact Us

Books

Authors

Blog

Events

About Us

Contact Us

We publish books that matter — narrative and literary nonfiction on important topics, and the best of local, international, and translated fiction.

NO ITEMS

LOG IN