Thank Your Mother's Boyfriend for Dying Young

Dr. Samuel Johnson famously said, "Life is a condition in which there is much to be endured and little to be enjoyed." We all know that life includes grief, betrayal, disappointment, and defeat. It is painful. But is there any way to escape needless pain? There is-and this book of wisdom contains ten rules for lowering life's suffering. Tom McBride has derived this advice from a blend of his personal experience and his lifetime of liberal arts study. Among the other benefits of the liberal arts and sciences is good counsel for living a more analgesic life. In this little book are suggestions, derived from the likes of Darwin and Wittgenstein, for diminishing the agony of grief and resisting unwelcome social pressure. Here you will learn how to sidestep the deceptions of language and to find the serenity of accepting the role of luck. Here are ten rules for lowering the misery index in your life. They range from "Thank your mother's boyfriend for dying young" to "Never take driver's ed. from Aristotle" and well beyond. Here is a lively, witty liberal arts guide for reducing the unnecessary pain of the human endeavor.