1
of
1
Stories We Tell Ourselves
Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 445 ratings, 60 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still
learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Summary
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
Unit price
/
Unavailable
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER
Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks
Found a better price? Request a price match
Stories We Tell Ourselves
$2799
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
A thought-provoking and playful examination of how we make sense of the world, from the Sunday Times bestselling author.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
Throughout history, we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of our place in the universe. Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific, and philosophical journey to explore what he believes are the answers to the biggest questions.
He examines what we know about the universe into which we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life.
Thought-provoking, revelatory, compassionate, and playful, Stories We Tell Ourselves is a personal reckoning with life's mysteries by one of the most important and beloved thinkers of our time.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Richard Holloway's Stories We Tell Ourselves is lauded for challenging certainty in political and religious realms, providing a message of spiritual hope. Reviewers commend it for its blend of science, philosophy, and religion, describing it as engaging, thought-provoking, and humane. It's recognised for encouraging readers to reassess their belief systems with honesty and empathy, inspiring thoughtful reflection on the world's biggest questions.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781786899965
Publisher: Canongate Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 July 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Canongate Books
Edition: Main
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 17.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 184g
Pages: 272
About the Author
Richard Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. A former Gresham Professor of Divinity and Chairman of the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Leaving Alexandria won the PEN/Ackerley Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. His most recent book, Waiting for the Last Bus, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
Also by Richard Holloway
View all-
Leaving Alexandria
At fourteen, Richard Holloway left his working-class home north of Glasgow and travelled hundreds of miles to an English monastery to be trained for the priesthood. By twenty-five, he had been ordained and was working in the slums of Glasgow. In 2000 he controversially resigned as Bishop of Edinburgh, having lost heart with the Church over its condemnation of homosexuality....Paperback$3600Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
On Reflection
In On Reflection, Richard Holloway thinks back on some of the questions that have shaped his life, sharing the wisdom of poets, writers, musicians, and artists he has encountered along the way. How can we forgive? Where does creativity come from? How can we face loss and death? How can we live a good life? How do we find beauty...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Between the Monster and the Saint: Reflections on the Human
Provocative, wide-ranging and full of wisdom, Between the Monster and the Saint is a brilliant book about our place in the world. Being human isn't easy. We might think that consciousness and freedom will give us control over our lives, but our minds are dangerous and unpredictable places. We are susceptible to forces we don't understand. We are capable of...Paperback$3100Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
On Reflection
In On Reflection, Richard Holloway thinks back on some of the questions that have shaped his life. Here, then, are the big asks: is there a God? How can we forgive? Where does creativity come from? How can we face loss and death? How can we live a good life? And how do we find beauty in the world? To...Hardback$4500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
A Little History of Religion
A rich and inclusive history of belief, from humanity's earliest days to our own times Religion is distinctly human. We can't help wondering about where we come from and why we are here. Did some all-powerful being make the universe? When we die, is there anything else to come? And what will it be like? Questions like these have occupied...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The Heart of Things
Richard Holloway is one of our most beloved public thinkers. Throughout his life he has turned to poets and writers to help answer the big questions, and for solace and guidance in the face of life's challenges. Now he shares those poems and words which have been his own guide, offered in the hope they will help us too. The...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Heart of Things
Richard Holloway is one of our most beloved public thinkers. As Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, he put principle over Church policy to advocate for gay rights and women in the priesthood. He never shied away from confronting his own doubts and fears, whether questioning his own faith or facing the inevitability of death. Across...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Waiting for the Last Bus
Now in his ninth decade, former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway has spent a lifetime at the bedsides of the dying, guiding countless men and women towards peaceful deaths. A positive and profound exploration of the many important lessons we can learn, this is also a stirring plea to reacquaint ourselves with death. Doing so gives us the chance to...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
A Little History of Religion
βFor readers in search of a thoughtful, thorough, and approachable survey of the history of religion, this book is an excellent place to start.β βBooklist Written for those with faith and for those withoutβand especially for younger readersβA Little History of Religion sweeps us through the story of religion in our world, from the dawn of religious belief to the...PaperbackSold Out -
Last Words
Richard Holloway has been the archetypal 'turbulent priest'. Having risen to be the Primus (Head) of the Scottish Episcopal Church, he abandoned religion and ecclesiastical office to fight for the rights of minorities and to write a string of best-selling books, most famously Leaving Alexandria. He also became Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council. In this, his last book, Last...HardbackSold Out
More from History & Military
View all-
Saving Elli
One child. Two years in hiding. Three lives in mortal danger. In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, near Anne Frank's house, another Jewish girl is hidden. Her name is Elli. Her father has been executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Her mother is fleeing for her life. Elli is next. To save her, resistance couple Frits and Jo Hakkens must risk everything, concealing her...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a spellbinding Cold War thriller that unravels the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who risked everything to aid the British in the battle against Soviet oppression. In meticulously researched detail, Macintyre paints a vivid portrait of espionage, double-crossing, and unparalleled bravery, giving readers a riveting glimpse into...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseSuicidal Empathy
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Man's Search For Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the authorβs groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...Paperback$1800Elsewhere:$2100Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Betrayal
βTom Bower is the Inspector Morse of investigative biographers, a fluent, phlegmatic storyteller and a master of intricacies.β Sunday Times The British Crown is in crisis, with constitutional threats at home and abroad. At a landmark moment in royal history, can King Charles overcome the scandals that blight the Royal family? Can the broken bonds between the Houses of Sussex...Paperback$3499Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Chief and the Empire
The Chief and the Empire uncovers the extraordinary true tale of Te Tai Tokerau rangatira Te Pahi - the first influential MΔori leader to cross the Tasman - whose curiosity about the PΔkehΔ world forged alliances, saved lives, and ultimately cost him his own. On a visit to Sydney in 1805, Te Pahi was feted as a celebrity, building close...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Discipline
Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...Paperback$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Shattered Lands
'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' β PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation β¦ both original and important' β MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia β India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Goliathβs Curse
Goliathβs Curse by Luke Kemp offers a radical retelling of human history through the lens of collapse, delving into what this means for our uncertain future. This narrative spans from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. It's grounded in the latest research and a comprehensive database of more than 440...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseThe Good Settler
βWhere once I saw a view as I drove around the Taranaki coast along State Highway 45, I now see confiscated land from an invasion road. The creation story I used to subscribe to, the one in which hard-working people came here and settled the land, now jars. Weirdly, even the lawn looks different. The form of things just wonβt...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Banjara
A powerful literary debut from an astonishing new Kiwi voice, focusing on the Indo-Fijian indenture system and how it affected generations across the Pacific.Rajasthan 1888: Avani Rathod, a nomad of the Banjara community, is summoned to teach a blue-eyed colonial officer the trees of her region, but instead is misled into indenture to the sugarcane plantations of Fiji. While on...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
This Way Up
The debut book from the YouTube sensation and all-round cartographical nerds, The Map Men! In their long-awaited debut, YouTubeβs Map Men bring their highly infectious enthusiasm for everything map-related to the printed page for the very first time, in a brilliantly entertaining and eye-catching tome. Packed with humour and fascinating facts, This Way Up takes a deep dive into the...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
