The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy (original 2009; edition 2011)

by Michael Foley

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370	11	69,110	(3.97)	12
The good news is that the great thinkers from history have proposed the same strategies for happiness and fulfilment. The bad news is that these turn out to be the very things most discouraged by contemporary culture. This knotty dilemma is the subject of The Age of Absurdity - a wry and accessible investigation into how the desirable states of wellbeing and satisfaction are constantly undermined by modern life. Michael Foley examines the elusive condition of happiness common to philosophy, spiritual teachings and contemporary psychology, then shows how these are becoming increasingly difficult to apply in a world of high expectations. The common challenges of earning a living, maintaining a relationship and ageing are becoming battlegrounds of existential angst and self-loathing in a culture that demands conspicuous consumption, high-octane partnerships and perpetual youth. In conclusion, rather than denouncing and rejecting the age, Foley presents an entertaining strategy of not just accepting but embracing today's world - finding happiness in its absurdity.… (more)

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Member:	syncytium
Title:	The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy
Authors:	Michael Foley
Info:	London : Pocket, 2011.
Collections:	Your library
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Tags:	philosophy, everyday life, psychology, happiness

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The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy by Michael Foley (2009)

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One of the worst books I have read in a long while. Very much in 'old man yells at cloud' territory as the author condemns contemporary cultural and sexual mores, and finds the youth lacking. Anecdotes and wild conjectures abound, he spends pages critiquing BDSM based on an article in the free London paper Metro - that wasn't about BDSM. He likes walking, so decides that clearly Jesus Christ would have been constantly moving around when delivering sermons. He cites widely, and from reputable sources (in psychology, Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, Freud, Milgram...) but it's so shallow - these are the really obvious names that have reached popular awareness. And even then, where's the humanists, like Maslow and Rogers say?. If you don't know the terrain, it looks clever, but it's really a shallow examination of the field. (

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SimonChamberlain | Aug 28, 2021 |

Het duurde een tijdje voor ik dit boek naar waarde kon schatten. In het begin vond ik het een weliswaar goedgeschreven, maar toch vooral willekeurig samenraapsel van allerlei filosofische ideeen. Maar als je je laat meedrijven op de geweldige oneliners van Foley en niet te veel samenhang of Een Groot Idee zoekt, is dit een geweldig boek, dat het nodige tegengewicht biedt tegen alle hippe seth-godin-wisdom-of-the-crowds-het-nieuwe-werken-internet-of-things-boeken die je tegenwoordig gelezen moet hebben. (

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maartekes | Jan 1, 2014 |

For someone who easily quotes Spinoza, Kierkegaard, Cicero, and a host of others, Foley shows a startlingly poor grasp of human nature and history. Human beings are no more lazy, vapid, irresponsible, or plain ol' stupid than we ever were. Nor did we ever fail to make elaborate excuses for our behavior.

One cannot measure the most refined (or thoughtful, or selfless) of another era against the least so of today. Yes, today's popular culture is idiotic. Every age's popular culture is idiotic, Mr. Foley.

I love a good rant, but this book just came off as cranky. (

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7sistersapphist | Aug 29, 2012 |

This is a sharp, witty, highly intelligent and really quite brilliant book. Foley reminds us that our yearning for authenticity is not found only in novelty--a new place, a new lover, a new job: "More effective is to see the familiar with new eyes . . . to smash the crust of habit and see life anew." He exhorts us to "begin a new job in your current post, enjoy a holiday where you actually live, and most thrillingly, plunge into a tumultuous affair with your own spouse." (139)

The book is full of nuggets of learned information and wonderful quotes such as "understanding is itself transformation" (24). It is packed with impressive research into psychology and a review of the broad sweep of philosophy from the Stoics to Rousseau with Camus and the Buddha in between and beyond.

The style is easy flowing, lucid and full of distilled and simple but profound wisdom. Ideal for scholars, searchers and interested readers. This will become a classic. (

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GerardMDoyle | Apr 24, 2012 |

I found myself agreeing with almost all of Mr Foley's points about the absurdity of modern life and guilty of a high proportion of the delusions he condemns. But the thought that really struck me and stayed with me was that transcedence can only be achieved long term by application with a high degree of focus on difficult tasks. How true that is.
A very enjoyable book which hits a number of targets, admittedly bloated, slow moving targets. (

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Opinionated | Dec 4, 2011 |

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2009

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The good news is that the great thinkers from history have proposed the same strategies for happiness and fulfilment. The bad news is that these turn out to be the very things most discouraged by contemporary culture. This knotty dilemma is the subject of The Age of Absurdity - a wry and accessible investigation into how the desirable states of wellbeing and satisfaction are constantly undermined by modern life. Michael Foley examines the elusive condition of happiness common to philosophy, spiritual teachings and contemporary psychology, then shows how these are becoming increasingly difficult to apply in a world of high expectations. The common challenges of earning a living, maintaining a relationship and ageing are becoming battlegrounds of existential angst and self-loathing in a culture that demands conspicuous consumption, high-octane partnerships and perpetual youth. In conclusion, rather than denouncing and rejecting the age, Foley presents an entertaining strategy of not just accepting but embracing today's world - finding happiness in its absurdity.

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