On Kindness

A brief and beautiful exploration of the pleasures of kindness - for an age that seems ready to forget themWhat is kindness? Does it make us happier? And does it have a place in a selfish world?Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and historian Barbara Taylor present an elegant, thoughtful and concise analysis of kindness in history, in life and in the modern world. Suggesting that acts of kindness occur when we are at our most open and honest, they ask why it is that our faith in kindness has been shaken - and why we are all too ready to believe that antagonism has taken its place.

“Praise for Side Effects : 'Erudite sparks from art, literature, science and philosophy . . . refreshingly lucid observations . . . Phillips is riveting . . . he bangs nails on heads, and into coffins, with such eloquent precision' Telegraph 'Frequent moments of brilliance, sentences that sing out as containing perfect sense . . . brilliant, baffling and fascinating' Observer”

Praise for Side Effects:

'Erudite sparks from art, literature, science and philosophy . . . refreshingly lucid observations . . . Phillips is riveting . . . he bangs nails on heads, and into coffins, with such eloquent precision' Telegraph

'Frequent moments of brilliance, sentences that sing out as containing perfect sense . . . brilliant, baffling and fascinating' Observer

Praise for Side Effects:

'Erudite sparks from art, literature, science and philosophy . . . refreshingly lucid observations . . . Phillips is riveting . . . he bangs nails on heads, and into coffins, with such eloquent precision' Telegraph

'Frequent moments of brilliance, sentences that sing out as containing perfect sense . . . brilliant, baffling and fascinating' Observer

Adam Phillips, formerly Principal Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital, London, is a practising psychoanalyst and a visiting professor in the English department at the University of York. He is the author of numerous works of psychoanalysis and literary criticism, including most recently On Wanting to Change, Attention Seeking, In Writing, Unforbidden Pleasures and Missing Out. He is General Editor of the Penguin Modern Classics Freud translations, and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.

What is kindness? Does it make us happier? And does it have a place in a selfish world? Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and historian Barbara Taylor present an elegant, thoughtful and concise analysis of kindness in history, in life and in the modern world. Suggesting that acts of kindness occur when we are at our most open and honest, they ask why it is that our faith in kindness has been shaken - and why we are all too ready to believe that antagonism has taken its place. 'A true tract for difficult times' The Times 'Rewarding reading' Evening Standard 'Elegantly argued' Irish Times

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