{"product_id":"the-path-9780241970423","title":"The Path","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Puett\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of Chinese History at Harvard and has lectured widely at the world's leading universities. His course in Chinese philosophy is among the most popular at Harvard and in 2013 he was awarded a Harvard College Professorship for excellence in undergraduate teaching. This is his first trade book. \u003cb\u003eChristine Gross-Loh\u003c\/b\u003e has written for the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eAtlantic\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e. She has a PhD in East Asian history from Harvard and is the author of \u003ci\u003eParenting without Borders\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI couldn't wait for this. \u003cb\u003eBrilliant.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eThis is where it's at now . . . \u003c\/b\u003eso fascinating * Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI can't think of anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading \u003ci\u003eThe Path\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, from my youngest son to the future President of the USA. It's accessible, realistic and far from being an ordinary self-help book. \u003cb\u003eIt gives immediate\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ereassurance that this chaotic life can be mastered\u003c\/b\u003e and it challenges you to strive for better -- Patrick Neale * Bookseller *\u003cbr\u003eVery good. Based on Puett's popular class at Harvard, it's \u003cb\u003ea great introduction to Eastern philosophy\u003c\/b\u003e, which I always chide myself for not studying enough -- Ryan Holiday\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Path\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003every interesting . . . makes you want to read further\u003c\/b\u003e -- Nigel Warburton\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Path\u003c\/i\u003e is in part a\u003cb\u003e pleasing debunking of fashionable self-help disciplines . . . \u003c\/b\u003eI can testify that Puett is one of the nicest people - if not the nicest person - I have ever interviewed: attentive, generous and patient -- Tim Dowling * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eI have been talking about it to \u003ci\u003eeveryone\u003c\/i\u003e. It's\u003cb\u003e brilliant, mesmerizing, profound - and deeply contrarian\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003cb\u003eIt points the way to a life of genuine fulfillment and meaning\u003c\/b\u003e -- Amy Chua, author of 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother'\u003cbr\u003eCan you turn a Chinese theory class into a smart self-help book? US academic Michael Puett did. \u003cb\u003ePuett's book encourages us to chuck away our stiff, encrusted western notions, and to adopt a more fluid, less didactic approach to life. \u003ci\u003eThe Path\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e is not your classic self-help book\u003c\/b\u003e, and not just because it dismantles the self. It doesn't serve up an easy set of how-to activities ... you are also advised that any changes you make will be slow, incremental, the result of constant daily work ... \u003cb\u003eTo talk to Puett is to view our western tradition through an entirely different lens\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eI couldn't wait for this. \u003cb\u003eBrilliant.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eThis is where it's at now ... \u003c\/b\u003eso fascinating * Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA new book from a cult Harvard professor turns contemporary thinking around happiness on its head\u003c\/b\u003e...There can't be many cult professors. Especially ones that lecture Chinese philosophy to undergraduates. But Professor Michael Puett of Harvard is one of them. Via word of mouth, his courses became full. And now he's written a book, with co-author and journalist Christine Gross-Loh, based on his course. \u003cb\u003eThe Path looks at the teachings of ancient Chinese philosophers and explains how we can apply these largely forgotten teachings to our everyday lives\u003c\/b\u003e. Granted, it sounds like a tough read. It sounds specialist and niche and intimidating. It sounds all of those things. But it is none of those things. It's a big ask in under 200 pages. But \u003cb\u003ethere's something wonderfully simple and refreshing about the ideas. There is a simplicity to this book: all we have is ourselves, let's try and make things better\u003c\/b\u003e -- Marisa Bate * The Pool *\u003cbr\u003eHis course has become \u003cb\u003ethe most popular on campus, even with those studying other subjects\u003c\/b\u003e, and that's because he talks about how to have a good life, and \u003cb\u003eusing ancient Chinese philosophy challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish in life\u003c\/b\u003e -- Sarah Montague * Today programme *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA worthy introduction to thinkers rarely taught in British universities\u003c\/b\u003e -- Matthew Syed * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt's on my night stand\u003c\/b\u003e -- Gwyneth Paltrow\u003cbr\u003eOffer[s] \u003cb\u003einteresting alternatives to some of our modern ideas of self and society\u003c\/b\u003e ... worth the cover price * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIdeas in this book ... authentically contradict modern common sense\u003c\/b\u003e ... Noting the current fad for mindfulness, the authors point out that Buddhism in the west \"has often been distorted as a way of looking within and embracing the self\". Such navel-gazing, they and the Chinese sages agree, may be a kind of imprisonment -- Steven Poole * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA very accessible and inspiring piece of work\u003c\/b\u003e ... Anyone willing to put the work in might find that \u003cb\u003ethis book really can change your life\u003c\/b\u003e * The Sentinel *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book is a revelation, a practical way through a fractured, distracting world\u003c\/b\u003e. I thought I knew these philosophers - and I was wrong. Rigorous, concise, deeply informed, \u003ci\u003eThe Path\u003c\/i\u003e retires our facile shorthand about ideas \"from the East\" and presents a powerful intellectual case to engage, to care, and to remember -- Evan Osnos\u003cbr\u003eThis is a book that turns the notion of help - and the self, for that matter - on its head. Puett and Gross-Loh bring seemingly esoteric concepts down to Earth, where we can see them more clearly. The result is \u003cb\u003ea philosophy book grounded in the here and now, and brimming with nuggets of insight\u003c\/b\u003e. No fortune-cookie this, \u003ci\u003eThe Path\u003c\/i\u003e serves up a buffet of meaty life lessons. I found myself reading and re-reading sections, letting the wisdom steep like a good cup of tea -- Eric Weiner\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Path \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ewill not only change your life - -it will change the way you see history and the world.\u003c\/b\u003e From its wondrously fresh take on Confucius to its quietly profound read of just what it is the great sages have to say to us, this book exemplifies all that can come of the radical openness of Chinese philosophy.\u003cb\u003e Read it and be transformed\u003c\/b\u003e -- Gish Jen, author of Tiger Writing and The Love Wife\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Path\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates a little-known spiritual and intellectual landscape: the rich body of Chinese thought that, starting more than two millennia ago, charted new approaches to living a meaningful life. But Puett \u003cb\u003egoes a lot further, creatively applying this ancient thought to the dilemmas of modern life. The result is a fresh recipe for harnessing our natural energies and emotions to strengthen social connection and build islands of order amid the chaos that sometimes surrounds us\u003c\/b\u003e -- Robert Wright, author of The Language of God\u003cbr\u003ePuett's dynamism translates well from his classroom theater onto the page, and\u003cb\u003e his provocative, radical re-envisioning of everyday living through Chinese philosophy opens wide the 'possibilities for thinking afresh about ourselves and about our future.'\u003c\/b\u003e With its ... spirited, convincing vision, \u003cb\u003erevolutionary new insights can be gleaned from this book on how to approach life's multifarious situations with both heart and head\u003c\/b\u003e * Kirkus Reviews *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIf you're looking to get out of a rut, or rise above the doom and gloom of our present global situation, Puett's channeled knowledge from the Chinese masters will be a wake-up call.\u003c\/b\u003e We sometimes forget that our problems are as old as civilization, and maybe the answers have always been hidden in plain sight. * Publishers Weekly Staff Pick *\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eLaozi\u003c\/i\u003e actually offers a much \u003cb\u003emore expansive-and revolutionary-vision of innovation\u003c\/b\u003e [than \u003ci\u003eThe Art of War\u003c\/i\u003e. It] questions the very idea that we should try to come up with innovative strategies within a defined, predictable arena, whether that is the battlefield or dinner table, the boardroom or the steel industry. Instead, the \u003ci\u003eLaozi\u003c\/i\u003e assumes \u003cb\u003ea world in constant flux and motion\u003c\/b\u003e. Those who aspire to innovate are better off seeing the world through a Laozian, not Sunzian, lens * Fortune *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003every accessible \u003c\/b\u003ework * i *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThere's a lot in it...fascinating.\u003c\/b\u003e [It] is challenging the conventions of Western philosophy -- Philippa Thomas * BBC World *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThought-provoking and stimulating\u003c\/b\u003e work. The authors carry an admirable modesty -- Paddy Kehoe * RTÉ *\u003cbr\u003ePuett's book is \u003cb\u003edesigned to make the reader think\u003c\/b\u003e, and it fulfils that objective. He \u003cb\u003epresents complex philosophies lucidly\u003c\/b\u003e -- Krishnan Srinivasan, former Indian Foreign Secretary * The Statesman *\u003cbr\u003eThe Importance of Breaking Free of ... Yourself * LinkedIn post viewed over 0.5 million times *\u003cbr\u003eWelcome and unusual. Its genesis rests in the enormous teaching success of Puett, a professor of Chinese history at Harvard. His freshman survey course on Chinese philosophy now ranks as the most popular humanities class on the campus, requiring the august venue of Sanders Theatre to accommodate its 700-plus regulars. The result? A remarkable combination of self-help guide and iconoclastic take on ancient Chinese wisdom * Chronicle of Higher Education *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49083447279959,"sku":"9780241970423","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241970423.jpg?v=1725548974","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-path-9780241970423","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}