University of South Carolina Prof. Jennifer A. Frey reviews Prof. Kiernan Setiya’s new book “Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way” for The Wall Street Journal. Frey writes that Setiya's analysis "combines philosophical arguments and personal reflections on his own experience. He offers this in the hope that it will help readers better understand their own suffering and perhaps ease the weight of it."
Writing for The Guardian, Prof. Kieran Setiya explores the pursuit of happiness. “What, then, should we strive for? Not happiness or an ideal life, but to find sufficient meaning in the world that we are glad to be alive, and to cope with grace when life is hard,” writes Setiya. “We won’t achieve perfection, but our lives may be good enough.”
Prof. Kieran Setiya’s new book, “Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way,” is a “lovely, empathetic book,” writes Boston Globe reporter Meredith Goldstein. In a discussion with Goldstein about self-help and philosophy, Setiya noted that in his view “the ideal form of engagement with philosophy is active rather than passive.”
Prof. David Kaiser discussed the significance of Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger’s research conducting experiments concerning quantum entanglement, for which they were honored with the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics. “Clauser got a lot of pushback from scientists who didn’t think this was even part of science,” said Kaiser. “He had to have a lot of stick-to-itiveness to publish his result.”
In a review for The New York Times, University of Bonn Prof. Irina Dumitrescu spotlights Prof. Kieran Setiya’s new book “Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way” Dumitrescu writes: “Setiya’s main goal is not to describe how things should be; in his view, given that there is much in life that makes us miserable, and that we can neither change nor ignore, we might as well find ways of dealing with the reality.”
In his new book, “Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way,” Prof. Kieran Setiya “aims to show how living well and hardship can go together,” reports The Economist. “Attentive readers of this humane, intelligent book will come away with a firmer grasp and better descriptions of whatever it is that ails them or those they cherish.”
Boston Globe reporter Kate Tuttle spotlights Prof. Kieran Setiya’s new book, “Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way,” which provides “a road map for thinking about life through trials both mundane and catastrophic.” Says Setiya: “You can’t really approach life without hope. The question isn’t really whether we should hope or whether hope is good, it’s always what should we hope for.”
Los Angeles Times book critic Bethanne Patrick spotlights Prof. Kieran Setiya’s new book“Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way.” Patrick writes that Setiya’s book demonstrates how “philosophy contains equipment that can help you survive and find renewed hope, if you know how to use it.”
MIT Press has published In The Black Fantastic by Ekow Eshun, reports Nina MacLaughlin for The Boston Globe. Eshun defines the book as “works of speculative fiction that draw from history and myth to conjure new visions of Africa diasporic culture and identity.”
Joseph Coughlin, Director of the MIT AgeLab, writes for Forbes about Serena William’s recent retirement announcement and the evolving concept of retirement. “Tennis star Serena Williams announced her ‘retirement’ from tennis this week while challenging the very idea of retirement,” writes Coughlin. “Williams is not alone. Many people, far older than her 41 years, are declaring retirement a dated term best left to past generations and another era.”
Knight Science Journalism Director Deborah Blum speaks with Science Friday host Ira Flatow about the best science books to read this summer.
Prof. Sherry Turkle writes for The New York Times spotlighting “The Fight to Save the Town,” a new book by Michelle Wilde Anderson. “Anderson’s book is an artful mixture of ethnography, narrative history, in-depth interviews and legal scholarship,” writes Turkle.
Knight Science Journalism Director Deborah Blum writes for The New York Times about Frank Close’s book ‘’Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass,” which highlights Nobel Prize winner Peter Higgs. “Using the known rules of physics, from electromagnetism to quantum mechanics, Higgs raised the possibility of an unstable subatomic particle that, through a series of fizzing interactions, could lend mass to other particles,” writes Blum.
Boston Globe reporter Brittany Bowker spotlights the work of Amy Brand, director and publisher of the MIT Press, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this month. “I feel like I have one of the best jobs in the world because I’m living in this realm of exciting ideas and discoveries,” Brand says. “I’m getting to walk and work with such brilliant and amazing people at the press, but also in general. Authors who are passionate about what they do and passionate about the potential for knowledge.”
Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee speaks with Innovator News reporter Jennifer L. Schenker about his upcoming book, “The Geek Way,” which explores how tech companies found the best way to operate their businesses. “If you want your company to be a tech company, then you will be competing against geeks,” says McAfee. “These are people who look at things differently, go deep on a problem, get obsessed with it and fiercely work at it until they think they find a good solution.”