How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell

Michel de Montaigne, a famous French philosopher and writer of the sixteenth century, was deeply interested in the question: “how to live”. Indeed, his writings constantly grappled with this issue. However, his interest was not merely ethical or moral; rather, what he sought was a practical solution to the question: “how can we live a good life?”. To do this, he wrote a total of 107 essays on “how to live” and published what became his widely popular series of “Essais”. These essays were filled with humanist ideas and have had a profound impact on future generations.