The Good Book A Secular Bible

Description

The Good Book is a book of insight, inspiration, wisdom, solace and commentary on the human condition drawn from the great humanist traditions of thought and literature of the world. Its princi-pal concern is how life - the good life - should be lived. Stimulating, thoughtful, rational and rewarding, it is now published in a compact edition. The Good Book is an alternative, non-religious Bible and has been made in just the same way as the Judaeo-Christian Bible was made: by redaction, editing, paraphrasing, interpolation, arrangement and rewriting of texts from the last three thousand years of the great secular traditions. The Bible was made over many years by many hands; hundreds of authors and more than a thousand texts lie behind the fourteen books created by A. C. Grayling, who has distilled their teachings, their insights, their wit, their advice, their human stories, their tragedies, their yearnings, their love, their sorrow and their consolations into one humanist Bible. For a secular age in which many find that religion no longer speaks to them, this is a book of life and practice, focusing the light of great minds of the past on to the perennial challenge of being human.

Promotion info

The Good Book, A. C. Grayling's best-selling secular bible, is now published in a handsome, smaller format hardback at a competitive price.

Reviews

Undeniably thought-provoking Christopher Hart, Sunday Times Truly ... a good book, full of sage counsel, wise advice and comfort for the sorrowing Richard Holloway, Observer There is an immense depth of human wisdom on display here, and five minutes with any passage will have you contemplating all day Independent on Sunday There are many sentences, thoughts and sentiments in The Good Book that are illuminating, life-enhancing and revelatory on a personal level Glasgow Herald I am glad he put this book together and it will occupy a valuable place in my library as a source for inspiration and wisdom. **** Terry Waite, Sunday Express Grayling is ... a skilled writer of prose ... most impressively [he] demonstrates mastery of Greek history and culture in Histories and Acts Rabbi Ariel Abel, Jewish News Professor Grayling himself neatly exemplifies the values of calm rationality which are at the heart of Stoicism, and which influenced early Christian thought Church Times

Author description

A.C. Grayling is Master of the New College of the Humanities, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. Until 2011 he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London. He believes that philosophy should take an active, useful role in society. He is the author of many books, including The Meaning of Things and Towards the Light: The Story of the Struggles for Liberty in the Modern West, and has been a regular contributor to The Times, Financial Times, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Economist, Literary Review, New Statesman and Prospect. He has been a Booker Prize judge and is a frequent and popular contributor to radio and television programmes, including Newsnight, Today, In Our Time, Start the Week and CNN news.