Name: How To Live
Rating: 4.394230769230769 (52 reviews)

Derek Sivers

This is an homage to the great book Sum by David Eagleman, which has forty conflicting (and dreamy) answers to the question “What happens when you die?”

How to Live includes 27 conflicting (and useful) answers to the question of how to live.

27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

How To Live

Ritik Sahni

This is an homage to the great book “Sum”, which has forty conflicting (and dreamy) answers to the question “What happens when you die?”

How to Live

Dani

Is it possible to agree with absolute contradictions? This book presents 27 incompatible ways of living, with each chapter completely adopting a singular worldview. You will find yourself convinced by one philosophy, only to be equally invested in its direct opposite in the next chapter.<br /><br />What is an effective life strategy? This book is very effective at proving that it is rarely within a single, rigid framework.

Interesting to find some pieces in every way of living which fits to one self. Not in all ways of living thoug. 

Markus

A buffet of distilled, self-contradictory words worth considering. Read like a long fortune cookie and a daily devotional had an exceedingly well-educated baby.

Matt Stein

Keven Wang

This book has two of my favorite qualities. Short and impacted

Daniel Santos

Many books believe they know how you should live. But each book disagrees with the next. In “How to Live”, each chapter believes it knows how you should live. And each chapter disagrees with the next.

One chapter makes a compelling argument for why you should be completely independent, keeping all options open. The next chapter argues why you should commit to one career, one place, and one person.

One chapter persuades you to be fully present, and experience each moment. The next, to delay gratification and invest for the future.

Which one is right? Which does the author believe? All of them. It's a philosophy of conflicting philosophies.

A very unique and thought-provoking book.Meant for reflection as much as instruction.

113 incredibly succinct pages of profound insights. No philosophers are quoted. No -isms are named. Only actionable directives. The end result feels more like poetry than prose.

Wojciech Waśniewski

Big fan of Sivers and this couldn't be more Sivers in many ways. Brilliant stuff, but it's frustrating at the same time. Lack of narrative makes it read almost like a book of aphorisms (not my thing). The whole point of the book, conflicting advice, is fascinating, but doesn't leave much space to really digest and reflect on each chapter. Might be better idea to read each chapter separately, e.g. one a day, rather than all in a handful of sittings like I did.

Harsha G

Sivers has reached an epitome of clarity in his latest masterpiece that would make Hemingway want to come out of his grave. It’s full of contradictions by design (almost bringing clarity through confusion) and there is not one unnecessary word or article. It’s Sivers reaching his purest form in writing, with lessons that bewilder and make you think more.

Elsa Saks

my go-to book for quick and brilliant marketing advice! a book i want to read each year to remind myself what's important.

Amit Gawande

I don’t remember the last book before How to Live by Derek Sivers that made me contemplate so many times while reading. The moment I was done with the last page, I had my diary out to capture my understanding from each of the 27 answers to that one principal question, how should I live.

As Derek says in the subtitle of the book, they are all conflicting answers. But the conclusion is not weird at all — for one, Derek is a masterful and a deep thinker. Each short chapter has most knowledge presented in the least number of words possible. Wisdom to words ratio is pretty high with this gem of a book.

At the surface, the book is pretty straightforward to read. Short chapters. Short, easy sentences. But, dig deep, and it is one of the most difficult books to fathom. It will force you to question what you have believed throughout your life, and it’s that questioning that will leave your mind unclouded.

It’s easy to write long, elaborate prose. But it takes time to shorten it, and I am glad Derek took that time. In his words, it took him four years, often writing 16 hours a day, to condense it down from the first draft of 1300 pages to 115.

What results is one of the most powerful and important books ever written. Take time and read it slowly. 

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First published at my blog.

Kevin S Perrine

Great little book packed with wisdom to pickup and re-read regularly as a reminder to live better.

Ervin Szerdocz

Some chapters are true masterpieces!
A short and to the point book, that will for sure make you wiser by the end of it. I need to read it again.

How To Live 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

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