The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers

by Eric Weiner

Overview

The New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the footsteps of history’s greatest thinkers and showing us how each—from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir—offers practical and spiritual lessons for today’s unsettled times.

We turn to philosophy for the same reasons we travel: to see the world from a dif­ferent perspective, to unearth hidden beauty, and to find new ways of being. We want to learn how to embrace wonder. Face regrets. Sustain hope.

Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and global travel in a pil­grimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to recon­nect with philosophy’s original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives. From Socrates and ancient Athens to Simone de Beauvoir and twentieth-century Paris, Weiner’s chosen philosophers and places provide important signposts as we navigate today’s chaotic times.

In The Socrates Express, Weiner invites us to voyage alongside him on his life-changing pursuit of wisdom and discovery as he attempts to find answers to our most vital questions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501129018
Publisher:	Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	680,590
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Eric Weiner is author of the New York Times bestsellers The Geography of Bliss (now a docu-series featuring Rainn Wilson) and The Geography of Genius, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God and The Socrates Express. A former international correspondent for NPR, his work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the anthology Best American Travel Writing. He lives with his family and a menagerie of animals in the Washington, D.C. area. For more information, visit: EricWeinerBooks.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Departure xiii

Part 1 Dawn

1 How to Get Out of Bed like Marcus Aurelius 3

2 How to Wonder like Socrates 15

3 How to Walk like Rousseau 39

4 How to See like Thoreau 55

5 How to Listen like Schopenhauer 77

Part 2 Noon

6 How to Enjoy like Epicurus 101

7 How to Pay Attention like Simone Weil 119

8 How to Fight like Gandhi 143

9 How to Be Kind like Confucius 169

10 How to Appreciate the Small Things like Sei Shonagon 183

Part 3 Dusk

11 How to Have No Regrets like Nietzsche 203

12 How to Cope like Epictetus 221

13 How to Grow Old like Beauvoir 243

14 How to Die like Montaigne 269

Epilogue: Arrival 285

Notes 289

Selected Bibliography and Further Reading 303

Acknowledgments 313

Index 315

Editorial Reviews

03/02/2020

Journalist Weiner (The Geography of Bliss) makes a convincing and winningly presented case for the practical applications of philosophy to everyday existence in the 21st century. With humor and thoughtfulness, he distills the wisdom of thinkers from throughout history—from Confucius, to Socrates, to Rousseau, to Gandhi, to de Beauvoir—into ways to slow down, ask questions, and pay attention. In his cogent exploration of “How to Listen like Schopenhauer,” he relates the German philosopher’s idea of the dark force of an insatiable “Will” in all living things to the addictive appeal of the internet, and recognizes that today, especially, “we confuse data with information, information with knowledge, and knowledge with wisdom.” Meanwhile, in Epicurus, Weiner finds a guide to achieving pleasure in the age of online retail, where “so many tantalizing options lie only a click away,” but, as Epicurus himself advised, “not what we have, but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.” Weiner travels physically as well as intellectually around the world, exploring the slower, more reflective transportation methods of traveling by train and walking. His book offers an appealing way to cope with the din of modern life and look at the world with attentive eyes and ears. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Geography of Genius:

"A witty, entertaining romp. Weiner’s vivid descriptions of modern-day life in each locale make the spots feel like must-visit destinations.”
— The New York Times Book Review

“There are some writers whose company is worth keeping, whatever the subject… And Mr. Weiner is blessed with this gift. He is a prober and questioner, a big-hearted humanist who will always take a colorful, contradictory reality over some unfounded certainty.”
— Wall Street Journal

"A global odyssey that seeks to discover why geniuses gather in certain places during certain eras and why these hot spots burn out, often after a half-century of grand achievements. Weiner is a superb travel guide: funny, knowledgeable, self-deprecating and always up for sharing a bottle of wine."
— Washington Post

"The Geography of Genius is witty, informative, and compulsively readable. Whether you’re getting genius tips from Freud in Vienna or hearing the secrets of high-tech powerhouses in Silicon Valley, you’ll emerge smarter after reading this delightful travelogue of ingenuity."
— Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of To Sell Is Human and Drive

"It’s rare to read a book that makes you laugh and learn, but Eric Weiner has done it again. This witty, wise explorer offers fascinating insights on how culture has inspired creativity across the ages—ripe for chats at water coolers and cocktail parties—and offers a practical map for how we can all become a bit more inventive."
— Adam Grant, Wharton professor and bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals

"Eric Weiner has single-handedly invented a new nonfiction genre in which a brilliant and hilarious writer leaves his home and family to circle the globe in search of the answer to a timeless question. The Geography of Genius is an intellectual odyssey, a traveler’s diary, and a comic novel all rolled into one. Smart, original, and utterly delightful, this is Weiner’s best book yet."
— Daniel Gilbert, Harvard professor and bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness


“An entertaining and thought-provoking book, a combination of history and travelogue… Part of the book's charm stems from the pure joy of experiencing these places alongside a narrator like Weiner… His wry wit shines through as he drinks sublime tea in China and contemplates a coffin collar in an Edinburgh museum; as he interviews figures such as Jack Ma, a Hangzhou native who founded multibillion dollar company Alibaba; and as he wanders the Ringstrasse of Vienna and the strip malls of Silicon Valley, pondering the conditions that lead to genius.”
— Christian Science Monitor

"Why do certain places produce a spontaneous eruption of creativity? What made Athens and Florence and Silicon Valley? This witty and fun book has an insight in every paragraph. It’s a charming mix of history and wisdom cloaked as a rollicking travelogue filled with colorful characters."
— Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of The Innovators and Steve Jobs

"Weiner is an affable tour guide and a lively, witty writer in the style of Bill Bryson; the connections he makes between places of genius are sharp and sometime unexpected."
— Booklist

From the Publisher

06/01/2020

Traveling by train to philosophers' physical terrains, former NPR journalist Weiner (The Geography of Genius) confronts 14 quotidian and existential "how to's"—how to walk, wonder, be kind, be attentive, and grow old and how to die. Along the way, he dispenses warm wisdom drawn from an eclectic set of succinctly put perspectives. The travelog takes readers by rail with Weiner to the spot where Gandhi was assassinated, to search for the Swiss boulder where Nietzsche was struck with the concept of Eternal Recurrence, and to find Confucian kindness riding the subway's F train to New York City's Chinatown. Amid his travels and personal reminiscences, Weiner loops back to Stoic voices: he depicts Marcus Aurelius struggling to get out of bed, joins a "Stoic Camp" in Wyoming to read Epictetus, and finds Stoic resonances in Montaigne and Simone de Beauvoir. VERDICT Weiner offers bubble gum philosophy that provides a quick, sweet taste and occasionally implies that the jaw exercise of chewing on philosophically challenging concepts is not rewarding. Readers seeking travelog will feel shortchanged, but those looking for lite insights will be drawn in gradually from the shallow (getting out of bed and walking) to the deep end (ageing and death).—Steve Young, McHenry Cty. Coll., Crystal Lake, IL

Library Journal

2020-02-19
Passing through middle age and wondering “what matters and what doesn’t,” a journalist undertakes figurative and literal journeys around the world to learn how philosophy might help answer his question.

Not all philosophy is concerned with helping us figure out how to live, but that’s the aspect that interests Weiner, the former New York Times reporter and author of The Geography of Bliss and other works. In joining the long line of writers who have heralded philosophy’s practical possibilities, he takes a place among the more catholic in taste. Sei Shōnagon, a 10th-century Japanese author and courtesan to the empress, has to be among the more surprising (and welcome) additions to the company of the better-known philosophers of ancient Greece, China, and modernity. Unencumbered by ideology, Weiner is free to find his way to philosophers—a designation, as with Shōnagon, he’s happy to apply loosely—who were interested not in the meaning of life but in “leading meaningful lives.” Thoreau teaches him how to see; Nietzsche, how to have no regrets; Shōnagon, how to appreciate the small things; and so on. Weiner’s challenge in these chapters is to give a sufficient overview of his subject while maintaining a brisk pace and distilling useful instruction. Such a globe-trotting tour of philosophy can only be as good as its guide, and Weiner proves to be a curious, sincere, and generous companion. His good cheer alone serves as a model for how to live, and many readers will appreciate his method of taking what’s useful for him and leaving what’s not (Plato, Kant, Sartre, to name a few). Each reader will cotton to certain of Weiner’s philosophers more than others; the author’s example teaches us that this is as it should be. We must all find our own teachers.

“The world needs more philosophical enthusiasts,” Weiner writes. This book is sure to generate its share.

Kirkus Reviews

Eric Weiner’s experience as a former radio correspondent is on display as he narrates his own work. Using a train journey as the metaphor for this overview of philosophers and their work, he emphasizes the practical aspects of how one lives these philosophies and how these ethics, so to speak, can make an impact on one’s life. He is especially fond of Gandhi although he does not shy away from mentioning some of his “interesting” habits. Weiner has a skilled voice and a laid-back and easygoing delivery that is very winsome. Transitions between chapters are delineated by the sound of trains traveling. Whether recounting the story of Socrates or poking fun at himself when recalling a conversation with his daughter, Weiner succeeds with an engaging and fun production. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile

Eric Weiner’s experience as a former radio correspondent is on display as he narrates his own work. Using a train journey as the metaphor for this overview of philosophers and their work, he emphasizes the practical aspects of how one lives these philosophies and how these ethics, so to speak, can make an impact on one’s life. He is especially fond of Gandhi although he does not shy away from mentioning some of his “interesting” habits. Weiner has a skilled voice and a laid-back and easygoing delivery that is very winsome. Transitions between chapters are delineated by the sound of trains traveling. Whether recounting the story of Socrates or poking fun at himself when recalling a conversation with his daughter, Weiner succeeds with an engaging and fun production. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile