This book transports the reader to the birth of philosophy 2,500 years ago in the Mediterranean's bustling harbor cities. Shaking off the mental domination of priests and god-kings, innovative minds dared to liberate themselves. Thinkers like Homer, Sappho, and Pythagoras offered new insights on the physical world, morality, and the process of human inquiry.

This book offers a sweeping view of the birth of Western philosophy. For me, it was too much. I never got a good sense of what the book was about. It's a ton of information. It's good information, and it's interesting. It just didn't feel coherent to me. It didn't seem to be telling a story. Maybe it wasn't supposed to, but the human mind responds better to stories than to disarticulated facts.

Also, I think the book title confused me. The purpose of the book isn't to offer life lessons from the early Greeks. It's a history of Western philosophy. In other words, it's a history book, not a philosophy book.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This a very interesting and comprehensive overview of intellectual history. Personally, I had a hard time staying focused and comprehending what I was reading. I constantly needed to look up the definition of words as I was reading, which made this reading experience a bit cumbersome. That being said, I have no doubt that people who have a lot of background knowledge on Greek history will enjoy this book. This simply wasn't a good starting point for me.

The question "how to be" is perhaps the most essential question humans have been trying to answer since our conscious existence on Earth began. Adam Nicolson's book with the same title takes us into the world of ancient Greeks and shines a new light on the famous philosophers, thinkers, and ordinary citizens of those distant lands.

This book was a pleasure to read, mainly because of the author's beautiful language, supported by extensive research, and excellent knowledge of the subjects. It can be devoured on many levels. The philosophical ideas are not scholarly exercises in disputing the meaning of life but are clearly explained in an easy-to-understand way, with numerous rather brilliant examples. Many times I caught myself thinking, "Oh, I didn't know that!" and was delighted to learn, for instance, that Pythagoras was not the author of the well-known mathematical theorem; moreover, that he never wrote a word but was a highly inspirational figure, with many followers. Another discovery was reading about Sybarites, whose love of pleasures transferred into our adjective "sybaritic," and learning that "they banned noisy occupations such as blacksmithing, carpentry and chicken keeping from within the limits of the city." Putting my noise-canceling headphones on as the construction work on a nearby building resumed on Monday, I couldn't resist thinking what a great idea it was.

I became immersed in learning details about Sappho, whose poetry I've been adoring, and who is described as a beautiful, sensitive woman with incomparable artistry of words (examples of her poems are included, with explanation). I enjoyed reading about Homer, Odysseus, and Zeno; as a matter of fact, I enjoyed reading about all the philosophers. And the details! Describing tiny coins, or beautiful vases, supported by illustrations, conveys the everyday day life of the ancient Greeks. But it's not just the artifacts that teach us about their owners. Adam Nicolson talks about social relations, at some point emphasizing slavery and explaining its impact.

"How to Be" is one of those books I want to return to repeatedly because I feel that reading about the world of the ancient Greeks and discovering their ideas connect us with the history of Western culture and helps us understand our world. We can learn from those people who lived many centuries ago and yet who seem to be not so "ancient" after all.

Vivid journey to the roots of Western thinking
This book takes the reader on an epic journey through the origins of Western thinking. It was a delightful discovery while browsing the offerings of netgalley and I just loved all those little gems of insight Nicolson accumulated and put into a vision which painted a very vivid picture of the origins of the way Western thinking emerged.
Nicolson who obviously sailed and surveyed the Mediterrenean seas and the adjacent landscape for many years, introduces the emergence of Greek thinking as a result of their connection with the sea and the establishment of trade and trade routes along the sea: the mindset of merchants, settled in harbours (Nicolson coins it the harbour mind), sailing their ships to accumulate money and knowledge is the driving force behind a new way of thinking.
I loved how Nicolson lets us visit those early harbours - literally walking us through to the acropolis overlooking the sea - how he introduces the early writers, poets and shows us how their writing is connected to the world of seafaring merchants, e.g. that the Odyssee (and not the Iliad) is the complementing poem to this new, enterprising world. He skillfully brings to life this ancient world and shows the „Sitz im Leben“ of the first thinkers about the universe.
I can only rave how Nicolson opens up a whole new view of the Greek exploration by pointing out how early navigation worked. And the discovery and description of the ancient krater (a large pot) with stellar constellations had me equally in awe as the author who revealed its existence. We look with Nicolson at the guiding star of The Great Bear, we walk up with him from the harbour to the acropolis of Old Smyrna, descent under an old church crypt into the pottery lane of ancient times … and from this visceral experiences Nicholson lets us take flight to connect with those early explorers, the mapmakers of times long ago to understand the very makings of Western thinking and its uniqueness.
Kudos from this nerd who loves antiquity to this masterful book which was an absolute delight to read and savour.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. The review is left voluntarily.

An introspective journey book. It took a bit to fully get into, but once you get used to the writing and the ideas, it flows very well.