John Kaag

From the celebrated author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, a compelling introduction to the life-affirming philosophy of William James. In 1895, William James, the father of American philosophy, delivered a lecture entitled 'Is Life Worth Living?' It was no theoretical question for James, who had contemplated suicide during an existential crisis as a young man...

Henry at Work invites readers to rethink how we work today by exploring an aspect of Henry David Thoreau that has often been overlooked: Thoreau the worker. John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle overturn the popular misconception of Thoreau as a navel-gazing recluse who was scornful of work and other mundanities. In fact, Thoreau worked hard surveying land, running his...

A concise and practical manual on developing reading, writing, and critical thinking skills in tandem.For college students learning how to write on scholarly subjects, writing and critical thinking go hand in hand. And yet most books on these topics are categorised separately: writing guides and critical thinking handbooks. This book is different, offering a manual for developing reading, writing, and...

Henry at Work invites readers to rethink how we work today by exploring an aspect of Henry David Thoreau that has often been overlooked: Thoreau the worker. John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle overturn the popular misconception of Thoreau as a navel-gazing recluse who was scornful of work and other mundanities. In fact, Thoreau worked hard—surveying land, running his family's...

A concise and practical manual on developing reading, writing, and critical thinking skills in tandem. For college students learning how to write on scholarly subjects, writing and critical thinking go hand in hand. And yet most books on these topics are categorised separately: writing guides and critical thinking handbooks. This book is different, offering a manual for developing reading, writing,...

From the celebrated author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, a compelling introduction to the life-affirming philosophy of William James. In 1895, William James, the father of American philosophy, delivered a lecture entitled 'Is Life Worth Living?' It was no theoretical question for James, who had contemplated suicide during an existential crisis as a young man...

Hiking with Nietzsche is a tale of two philosophical journeys in the Swiss Alps: one made by John Kaag as an introspective teenager, and the other seventeen years later in radically different circumstances—as a husband and father with his wife and small child in tow. Kaag travels to the peaks above Sils Maria where Nietzsche routinely summered, and where he...