Life Is Hard

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 *At last a philosopher tackles the meaning of life and comes up with useful answers – James McConnachie * The Sunday Times *Through carefully crafted examples, [Kieran Setiya] makes the case that philosophy can help us navigate the adversities of human life … No life worth living is free of suffering and pain. Better to face it with the clarity to which philosophy, at its best, aspires * Guardian *

Attentive readers of this humane, intelligent book will come away with a firmer grasp and better descriptions ofwhatever it is that ails them or those they cherish

* Economist *Kieran Setiya argues that certain bracing challenges-loneliness, failure, ill health, grief, and so on-are essentially unavoidable … But it’s good, the book shows, to acknowledge hard experiences and ask how they’ve helped us grow tougher, kinder, and wiser – Joshua Rothman * New Yorker *Exceptionally rich and subtle – Jonathan Derbyshire * Financial Times *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. Kieran Setiya is both an unusually gifted writer and as imperfect a human being as the rest of us, which is to say the perfect companion for the journey. – Oliver Burkeman, author of FOUR THOUSAND WEEKSWhile there is no skimping on academic rigour, he makes existential inquiry relatable - offering gentle advice on how one might approach such experiences as grief and failure. * Irish Times *Life may be hard, but Kieran Setiya shows us better ways to think about it and how, despite everything, that can give us hope. – Katherine May, author of WINTERINGIn LIFE IS HARD, Kieran Setiya shows us the gift that philosophy becomes when it removes its mask of impersonality to reveal its human face. His insights are stunning, his compassion sustaining. Anyone susceptible to life’s hardships must read this book – which means that everyone must read it. – Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of PLATO AT THE GOOGLEPLEX