Description

Book Synopsis

What is kindness? Does it make us happier? And does it have a place in a selfish world?

Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and historian Barbara Taylor present an elegant, thoughtful and concise analysis of kindness in history, in life and in the modern world. Suggesting that acts of kindness occur when we are at our most open and honest, they ask why it is that our faith in kindness has been shaken - and why we are all too ready to believe that antagonism has taken its place.



Trade Review

Praise for Side Effects:

'Erudite sparks from art, literature, science and philosophy . . . refreshingly lucid observations . . . Phillips is riveting . . . he bangs nails on heads, and into coffins, with such eloquent precision' Telegraph

'Frequent moments of brilliance, sentences that sing out as containing perfect sense . . . brilliant, baffling and fascinating' Observer


Praise for Side Effects:

'Erudite sparks from art, literature, science and philosophy . . . refreshingly lucid observations . . . Phillips is riveting . . . he bangs nails on heads, and into coffins, with such eloquent precision' Telegraph

'Frequent moments of brilliance, sentences that sing out as containing perfect sense . . . brilliant, baffling and fascinating' Observer

On Kindness

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    £7.99

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 7 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Adam Phillips, Barbara Taylor

    3 in stock

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      View other formats and editions of On Kindness by Adam Phillips

      Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
      Publication Date: 27/11/2009
      ISBN13: 9780141039336, 978-0141039336
      ISBN10: 0141039337

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      What is kindness? Does it make us happier? And does it have a place in a selfish world?

      Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips and historian Barbara Taylor present an elegant, thoughtful and concise analysis of kindness in history, in life and in the modern world. Suggesting that acts of kindness occur when we are at our most open and honest, they ask why it is that our faith in kindness has been shaken - and why we are all too ready to believe that antagonism has taken its place.



      Trade Review

      Praise for Side Effects:

      'Erudite sparks from art, literature, science and philosophy . . . refreshingly lucid observations . . . Phillips is riveting . . . he bangs nails on heads, and into coffins, with such eloquent precision' Telegraph

      'Frequent moments of brilliance, sentences that sing out as containing perfect sense . . . brilliant, baffling and fascinating' Observer


      Praise for Side Effects:

      'Erudite sparks from art, literature, science and philosophy . . . refreshingly lucid observations . . . Phillips is riveting . . . he bangs nails on heads, and into coffins, with such eloquent precision' Telegraph

      'Frequent moments of brilliance, sentences that sing out as containing perfect sense . . . brilliant, baffling and fascinating' Observer

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