A Real Life: Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends and a True Community
“We seem to have forgotten what life is all about…”

So begins this heartfelt, laugh-out-loud sequel to Máté’s cult classic, A Reasonable Life. He cautions us that as slaves to electronic devices and obsessed with material goods, we are becoming physically inert, intellectually blinkered, and devoid of deep emotion. Our blind lust for gadgets and possessions has displaced true and lasting joys such as our health, creativity, self-reflection, and fulfillment.
How has our unquestioned pursuit of the American dream left us? Financially insecure, estranged from our families, helpless without our wireless toys, overweight, pervasively
depressed and increasingly isolated. But don’t despair, a renaissance is underway.
In this new call for genuine, vibrant living, Máté challenges us to re-evaluate the meaning of “success,” “security,” technological “progress,” and how we work, eat, play, and love. With surprising statistics, eye-opening observations, and engaging anecdotes he rekindles in us a love of simple daily life: the forgotten pride and joy of independence, neighborliness, working with our hands, the revitalizing effect of closeness to nature, the irreplaceable value of lifelong friendships, and the enduring rewards of face-to-face conversation.
1112765144
A Real Life: Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends and a True Community
“We seem to have forgotten what life is all about…”

So begins this heartfelt, laugh-out-loud sequel to Máté’s cult classic, A Reasonable Life. He cautions us that as slaves to electronic devices and obsessed with material goods, we are becoming physically inert, intellectually blinkered, and devoid of deep emotion. Our blind lust for gadgets and possessions has displaced true and lasting joys such as our health, creativity, self-reflection, and fulfillment.
How has our unquestioned pursuit of the American dream left us? Financially insecure, estranged from our families, helpless without our wireless toys, overweight, pervasively
depressed and increasingly isolated. But don’t despair, a renaissance is underway.
In this new call for genuine, vibrant living, Máté challenges us to re-evaluate the meaning of “success,” “security,” technological “progress,” and how we work, eat, play, and love. With surprising statistics, eye-opening observations, and engaging anecdotes he rekindles in us a love of simple daily life: the forgotten pride and joy of independence, neighborliness, working with our hands, the revitalizing effect of closeness to nature, the irreplaceable value of lifelong friendships, and the enduring rewards of face-to-face conversation.
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A Real Life: Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends and a True Community

A Real Life: Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends and a True Community

by Ferenc M t
A Real Life: Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends and a True Community

A Real Life: Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends and a True Community

by Ferenc M t

Hardcover(Third Edition)

$24.95 
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Overview

“We seem to have forgotten what life is all about…”

So begins this heartfelt, laugh-out-loud sequel to Máté’s cult classic, A Reasonable Life. He cautions us that as slaves to electronic devices and obsessed with material goods, we are becoming physically inert, intellectually blinkered, and devoid of deep emotion. Our blind lust for gadgets and possessions has displaced true and lasting joys such as our health, creativity, self-reflection, and fulfillment.
How has our unquestioned pursuit of the American dream left us? Financially insecure, estranged from our families, helpless without our wireless toys, overweight, pervasively
depressed and increasingly isolated. But don’t despair, a renaissance is underway.
In this new call for genuine, vibrant living, Máté challenges us to re-evaluate the meaning of “success,” “security,” technological “progress,” and how we work, eat, play, and love. With surprising statistics, eye-opening observations, and engaging anecdotes he rekindles in us a love of simple daily life: the forgotten pride and joy of independence, neighborliness, working with our hands, the revitalizing effect of closeness to nature, the irreplaceable value of lifelong friendships, and the enduring rewards of face-to-face conversation.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780920256695
Publisher: Albatross
Publication date: 08/15/2011
Edition description: Third Edition
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

FERENC MATE was born in Hungary, escaped at the age of eleven, and has lived in Budapest, Vienna, Vancouver, Laguna Beach, New York, Paris and Rome. He is the author of 15 books translated into 14 languages, including New York Times Notable Book A Vineyard in Tuscany and the Dugger/Nello historical sea adventure fiction series. He lives with his family tending their vines and olives in the hills of Tuscany.

Table of Contents

Author's note 7

Chapter 1 The Pursuit of Happiness 11

Chapter 2 Time Was on Our Side 17

Chapter 3 Sunday, Lovely Sunday 21

Chapter 4 Love Thy Neighbor, Live Forever 30

Chapter 5 A Man's Neighborhood is His Castle 36

Chapter 6 The True Cost of a Thing 51

Chapter 7 The Steady Job: Now You See It, Now You Don't 75

Chapter 8 Gone Fishin' 92

Chapter 9 TGIM-Thank Goodness It's Monday! 99

Chapter 10 Honor Thy Vegetable Garden 110

Chapter 11 Financial Obesity 135

Chapter 12 Mortgage, Sweet Mortgage 141

Chapter 13 How Do You Hug an Electronic Friend? 165

Chapter 14 The Shallowing of our Minds 178

Chapter 15 Our Inner Depths 191

Chapter 16 Talk to Me 199

Chapter 17 Strangers in the Night (and Day) 204

Chapter 18 Let Us Play 215

Chapter 19 Teach Your Children Well 225

Chapter 20 All You Need Is Love 239

Appendix 1 253

Appendix 2 257

Acknowledgments 275

Endnotes 277

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