Death might seem to render pointless all our attempts to create a meaningful life. Doesn鈥檛 meaning require transcending death through an afterlife or in some other way? On the contrary, Dean Rickles argues, life without death would be like playing tennis without a net. Only constraints鈥攁nd death is the ultimate constraint鈥攎ake our actions meaningful. In Life Is Short, Rickles explains why the finiteness and shortness of life is the essence of its meaning鈥攁nd how this insight is the key to making the most of the time we do have.
Life Is Short explores how death limits our options and forces us to make choices that forge a life and give the world meaning. But people often live in a state of indecision, in a misguided attempt to keep their options open. This provisional way of living鈥攁lways looking elsewhere, to the future, to other people, to other ways of being, and never committing to what one has or, alternatively, putting in the time and energy to achieve what one wants鈥攊s a big mistake, and Life Is Short tells readers how to avoid this trap.
By reminding us how extraordinary it is that we have any time to live at all, Life Is Short challenges us to rethink what gives life meaning and how to make the most of it.
Awards and Recognition
- A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year
Dean Rickles is professor of history and philosophy of modern physics at the University of Sydney, Australia, where he is also a director of the Sydney Centre for Time. His many books include Covered with Deep Mist: The Development of Quantum Gravity and A Brief History of String Theory.
"Illuminating. . . . Rickles aims to provide a panacea for those facing death anxiety. . . . Bound to be ameliorative for any member of the human species."鈥擲kye C. Cleary, Times Literary Supplement
"Rickles, a philosophy of modern physics professor at the University of Sydney, investigates how to live a meaningful life in this charming and profound outing. . . . This brief volume packs a punch."鈥�Publishers Weekly
"A meditative gem that is as intellectually astute as it is accessible. Readers will find much to help them in their efforts to live more mindfully鈥攁nd with significantly greater appreciation."鈥�Shelf Awareness starred review
"Engaging."鈥擠avid Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer
"A sophisticated yet accessible reflection on how the reality of death makes human choices meaningful."鈥�Choice Reviews
鈥淎 stirring and useful reminder that the key to a fulfilling life is not more time but time spent more intentionally. Dean Rickles draws on philosophy and science to show us that the future is open: our life stories aren鈥檛 written yet because we鈥檙e the ones who have to help write them. An inspiring read.鈥濃�擜manda Gefter, author of Trespassing on Einstein鈥檚 Lawn
鈥淎 brilliant and brilliantly condensed dose of perspective, jolting the reader into a fresh understanding of the paradoxical truth that death is what makes life worth living. We can鈥檛 wriggle free from our human limitations鈥攂ut Dean Rickles demonstrates, with clarity and wit, how to be free within them.鈥濃�擮liver Burkeman, New York Times bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
鈥淥ur lives are limited鈥攊n space, in time, in possibility. In Life Is Short, Dean Rickles encourages us to stop trying in vain to transcend these limits and instead to appreciate them, to properly situate ourselves in the flow of time, and to find meaning in our relationship with our present and future selves.鈥濃�擲ean Carroll, author of The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
