The Weight of Things

The Weight of Things: Philosophy and the Good Life (Wiley-Blackwell 2007)
Available at Amazon
Translated into Korean and Portuguese
 
"Warmly written... lucid and humanely engaging." Stephen Poole, The Guardian

"While academic philosophy continues to indulge its arguments about arguments, a burgeoning crop of popular philosophy books is engaging a wider audience. Alongside the “What do you think?" kind of introductory texts, another question is increasingly being asked: “How should we live?” Kazez’s warm and lucidly written book is in this camp." Mark Vernon, Church Times

"This book fills an important niche between academic analyses of the meaning of life and overly popularized 'tips for good living'. I've read quite a few books in this area and there is more insight, wit, and wisdom per page in this one book than in almost any of the others." Edward Langerak, St Olaf College

"The Weight of Things is clear, provocative, tightly-argued, and rich with memorable examples. Written in an informal yet careful style, this examination of how we ought to live is philosophically acute and a delight to read." Marcia McKelligan, DePauw University

"The Weight of Things is a wonderfully accessible work of philosophy, addressing one of the most important of all philosophical questions: What makes a good life? Philosophy, I think, is the original self-help movement, though it has almost completely lost claim to that area, which is now dominated by pop psychology, new age metaphysics, and spirituality. At their best, these other sources of self-help offer good common sense; more frequently they mix common sense with metaphysical nonsense. Wayne Dyer often does this, as does The Secret. So although Jean Kazez does not explicitly conceive of her book as self-help, I’m very glad to see a work of philosophy aimed at the general public that addresses the topic of the good, happy life."  William Irwin, editor of Blackwell's Philosophy and PopCulture series