The Existentialist’s Survival Guide audiobook

I’ll say at the start that I enjoyed reading this book, partly because I’m an easy sell for the intellectual self-help genre –the book could easily be called “How Kierkegaard and the Existentialists Can Save Your Life”—and also because the author (for the most part) deftly navigates around the perils that this literary form presents. The author, Gordon Marino, a philosophy professor at St. Olaf College, has clearly engaged with the texts at the heart of the book for decades, and is evidently well practiced at delivering existentialist bullion for inquiring but distracted minds seeking intellectual direction and life advice. Like other “How X Can Save Your Life” books, this book is, in essence half intellectual-memoir and half canonical author discussion. The author of this type of book usually goes through some life crisis that is ultimately solved through an encounter with a particular literary giant (Proust, Austen, Montaigne, Tolstoy, Dante, etc.). To carry this off effectively, the author requires a striking but not too inside baseball engagement with the intellectual figure in question and has to be likeable. They also have to have problems that are relatable and plausibly salved through a proper application of literary and/or philosophical insights. Crucially, readers must be convinced that they, too, can achieve enlightenment through their own encounter with the spotlighted intellectual now that the book’s author has shown them that it is all really within their grasp. As alluded to above, the hero of the book is Søren Kierkegaard, and the book contains a number of arresting quotes from K sprinkled throughout. Each chapter highlights some familiar challenges or philosophical topics that populate human life (Anxiety, Despair, Death, Morality, Love, etc.) with a discussion of how K, with help from Sartre or Dostoevsky, say, showed Marino how to avoid easy but mistaken approaches to these travails. I especially enjoyed the chapter on anxiety (one K’s specialties) and generally found Marino’s chosen anecdotes for the various chapters relevant and illuminating. He didn’t try to make himself into a sage and he shares plenty of unflattering anecdotes, and not just from his younger self. A weakness of some writers in this genre is a kind of self-satisfaction at having come through the other side of the crisis, and I didn’t get much of that in this text. While the book might strike some readers as saccharine at some points, I found it pleasantly earnest and more vulnerable than many other books in the genre (and certainly more than most philosophy books). If you are fairly familiar with existentialist texts, you won’t find much that is new here (though I encountered a few quotes from K that were new to me). Marino summarizes and quotes from several classic existentialist texts across the ages, though I think it would have been nice for him to give a “Suggested Readings” for inspired readers who are not sure where to start. If they follow him through the whole of the book and trust his judgment, he could have done them a kindness by directing them to suggested texts for readers with varying degrees of philosophical experience, or perhaps he could have included an annotated bibliography so that readers know what books might be more or less difficult and what hitherto unmentioned treasures they might encounter. As another reviewer noted, the chapters are more of an appetizer than main course in terms of its philosophical depth, which is standard for this kind of book. The book also contains plenty of boxing metaphors from Marino’s experiences as a trainer that are “hit and miss” though I sense that the author just couldn’t help himself. Overall, I am not sure that the book will change my life, though I have been changed through my reading of the authors that Marino discusses and that, I’m guessing, would be good enough for him.

Near the end of this book, Marino uses an apt metaphor, that reading about Kierkegaard, Sartre, Camus Nietsche, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, particularly Kierkegaard, is like mining for ore. There are veins of particularly rich meaning, and others that are more meager, and the accumulation that comes out of the mine depends upon many forays. Marino combines their various insights into the notion of “authenticity” Keeping this metaphor in mind, Marino does a creditable job of introducing some of their key ideas, and interestingly often integrates them into his own experiences. He includes seven chapters, all of which point toward authenticity – anxiety, depression and despair, death, authenticity, faith, morality, and love, followed by an epilogue. Anxiety, to begin, is always about the future, and it can impede our ability to live in the present. Marino uses his own experiences as a boxer to illustrate how fear of the future, fear of being struck, can unnerve and ruin a boxer unless he can successfully throw punches in the present and move the future to the rear of his consciousness. It’s a balancing act, the concern about the future never disappears, but it has to kept within the context of the present. . One idea leads to another. Kierkegaard recognized that he was a depressive, ridden with anxiety, but he suggested that we need to step outside our selves and be aware that we are subject to depression, almost a normal condition, but at the same time not be defined by it. If that happens, depression has turned into despair which leads to suicide. Depression, in fact, can be a good thing for Kierkegaard as it helps keep a person aware of his shortcomings.. One constant in the book is that our feelings, good or bad, do exist, but how we relate to them is more important than the feelings themselves. There is a progression in the book, the first chapters lay out these feelings, our attitude to death being one of the most important ones. A viscera awareness of it affects every other aspect of our lives. The thought of our own finite lives that lead to death brings a kind of liberation that all of the existentialists recognize. Awareness comes first. In Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” the people around Ivan, oblivious to their own impending deaths, lead empty and meaningless lives. Only Ivan, dying, recognizes what his priorities should have been. These priorities depending on the writer, vary from Kierkegaard’s search for God to Camus’ universe of a Godless absurdity. The last three chapters on faith, morality, and love are all concerned with definitions of what those qualities entail. I was impressed with one definition of “faith”, that the very questioning of it is an act of faith in itself, that existence needs to be scrutinized and acted upon, however tenuous may be any conclusions reached. The epilogue emphasizes that this book is not a self-help book on how to live a happy life. Leading an “authentic” life is a demanding and never-ending questioning. Happiness is irrelevant. All of these writers, Marino stresses, see life as a difficult challenge, but one worth pursuing. Despite their differences as to the specific details of what constitutes authenticity, I think all would agree that to go through life without questioning our ordinary habits and practices means an empty existence, a lack of authenticity.

Marino summarizes the classic philosophical works with utmost ease. Reading his book made me want to sit in on his lectures. This is not so much a self help book, as it is a summary and reflection on the existential thinkers of our time. I couldn't put the book down and the bibliography has inspired me to read many more of the classics from Satre, Kierkegaard, Camus and others.

Read it an weep not!

4.5 stars.Pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It is a very accessible text that breaks down the core teachings of existentialism from a very modern perspective, without being patronising or preachy. What I think sets this book apart from others is that Marino focuses heavily on Kierkegaard as his main reference, which I didn't dislike because I do like Kierkegaard. Marino dissects his ideas of angst, fear and faith but does so without getting lost in Kierkergaard's heavy theism (apart from in the faith chapter obviously). Nietzsche and Sartre are the other two discussed well in this book, and the author brings in references to Camus, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and de Beauviour where relevant. I just really liked to see a modern book on existentialism that looked at some of the core philosophers rather than the romanticised French idea of it we have become well known with today.Would recommend this if you are someone who is well versed in Sartre and Camus and are looking for a way into Kierkegaard and Neitzsche. At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails is also a great book that takes you way back to phenomenology and the core of existential thinking if you are looking for more of a chronological history of the thinkers and their respective ideas.

In their blurb on the back this book, Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein claim that Gordon Marino’s The Existentialist’s Survival Guide is “a remarkable book.” I heartily agree. While there are many books on the existentialists out there, with some notable exceptions most are written by academics for academics. This one is of an entirely different ilk. Not only does Dr. Marino elucidate complex ideas so that a nonspecialist like myself can get the gist of them, but more importantly he shows how vital the philosophy of the existentialists is to the concerns of men and women in the 21st century. What is most unique about this book is the author’s level of self-disclosure, revealing how at one of the darkest periods of his life, Kierkegaard and company literally tossed him a lifeline. I appreciate Dr. Marino’s candor in sharing so much personal history and the deft way he connects it to the insights of the existentialists, thinkers who were as courageously honest as the author of this compelling read.

This was a very good read. A nice, concise synopsis of existentialist thought, recapping key insights from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sarte, Dostoyevsky and others. Made me want to go back to reading their original works, while having a nice flow to chapters Anxiety, Depression and Despair, Death, Authenticity, Faith, Love. Doesn't shy away from the religious connections while neither does it require religious beliefs to understand the concepts. Much like life.

Loved the break down in sections. Great book, a philosophy class in college I think helped me appreciate this book a little more and I am grateful for that, it is an interesting one. Psych lovers would love this too.

“May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the RingI was lucky enough to be one of Professor Marino's students a decade ago, and I took his Kierkegaard class. I had no experience reading existentialist authors before the semester, and I'll admit that some of the characteristic existentialist writing (sentence structure, syntax, vocabulary etc.) was pretty intimidating. Aside from being translated from other languages, the concepts themselves take time to soak in and can be frustrating to someone who is used to absorbing everything they read on the first pass. If you can commit your curiosity to sticking with the text, the messages the existentialists want to share with you are incredible. As a nineteen-year-old student, some of the concepts completely blew my mind, but Prof. Marino was an incredible instructor who led us on repeated dives into the text to understand the concepts so we could discuss them. I loved this book because it because it offered the same guiding light through these difficult concepts as Prof. Marino did when he led our class. He shares with readers the circumstances that led him to him discovering Kierkegaard and the other existentialist authors, and the combination of his personal experiences and examples from the contemporary writers create an incredible, real-life context for why these concepts are so important to us (I apologize if that sounds vague - I do not have the writing skill to discuss concepts like depression, anxiety, love, etc. at the level this book offers, but I have the highest respect for Prof. Marino for being able to navigate these topics and share his insights with readers as well as he does). At first glance, this book did not appear to be overwhelmingly long (even the weight of the book was deceivingly light...), but you find out pretty quickly that the pages are packed with meaning. Prof. Marino does not waste words. I'm excited to read it again because there are concepts that I either missed or glossed over while reading the first time, and I want to make sure that I didn’t miss anything that this book had to say. To readers new to existentialism – do not be intimated by the first few pages of the introduction. Surveying a history of any topic is a challenge, so be prepared for some densely packed info to get you caught up. If a summarized explanation of the existentialists proves to be too overwhelming (even with some experience in the topic, I stumbled a little bit through the first half of the intro to make sure I didn't miss anything), absolutely DO NOT SKIP the second half of the intro. Once the brief survey of existentialist history wraps up, Prof. Marino shares some of the reasons why he wrote this book. It’s his story to tell so I’m not going to summarize it – but seriously, don’t skip the intro. Reading this section will help you understand how the existentialist ideas and writings highlighted in the book can pull you out of some of the darkest places your consciousness will ever visit. I could not recommend this book more.

"Personal meaning is the bull's eye of existentialist investigation," writes Gordon Marino in The Existentialist's Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age. Marino's text was, for me, a reading and thinking treat. Gordon Marino is a veteran boxing trainer, an award-winning boxing writer for the Wall Street Journal, an author, and professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College. He is also a Kierkegaard scholar. Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), the Danish philosopher, was also a Lutheran theologian, poet, and leader (father?) of the group of philosophers known as existentialists. Marino will march a number of existentialists across his stage (Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Camus, Sarte, Heidegger), but Kierkegaard is the star of this show. Why? Kierkegaard prodded us to think about life from a first-person, inside-out vantage point. On his reckoning, philosophers from Plato to Hegel in their ex-cogitations were guilty of living in theory, of "forgetting their existence." (Page 94)A frequent chord is The Existentialist's Survival Guide is that our feelings are one thing, the way we relate to them another. Existentialists are, therefore, "riveted to the idea of unifying thought and action." (157) They are, like Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, "apostles of self-honesty, courage, and boundless passion." (179)There is so much to appreciate in these pages. Here are a few of my reflections/notations:1. The historical and philosophical lessons: If Kierkegaard is a name you know, but a person whose writings and thoughts are foreign, pick up this book. That will change. I have both print and audible versions. Between Marino's prose and Joe Knezevich's narration, I was introduced to and became better acquainted with this man now 150 years in the grave.2. The difference between feelings and "earnestness." Marino writes, "[T]he moods that sweep over us, no matter how powerful, are not to be confused with earnestness, that is, with a profound, personal concern about the sort of human being we are becoming." (Page 98) Working out that idea, I identified with Marino when he spoke of students who grapple with vocation, i.e. what they will do for a living, but not about what kind of human being they want to become. (181-182)3. Camus' line, "In order to be, never try to seem." Oh, that's good!4. Grappling with anxiety in a society that wants to medicalize it: "Anxiety is not simply a disrupting affect accompanied by sweaty palms and an increased pulse rate. It is a feeling with a message, one with an important cognitive component." As such, wrestling with and through anxiety (to be anxious about the right issues in the right way), rather than simply medicating it, is a path "to learn the ultimate lesson in life." (Pages 230-31).5. The introduction to many existentialists works, Either/Or, The Sickness unto Death, and others as well as affiliated works, such as Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man which he puts in their philosophical context thereby making them more sensible for the average reader like me.My final word: "Thank you, Dr. Marino." You may be, by your own admission, "a doubly doubting Thomas" and a "not-so-holy fool," but it is your honest back-and-forth wrestle with the reality of life that is a living embodiment of the Kierkegaardian ideas you propose. You made me think, helped me to trudge past knowledge and theories to the deeper issue of Kierkegaard's earnestness. You navigated Kierkegaard's ecclesiastical frustrations with the Danish Lutheran Church of his day and his theocentric focus, while still leaving space for the atheist and agnostic to grapple with the implications of S.K.'s thinking for their lives (see for example, page 119 under "Authenticity"). As a Jesus follower of the sort that receives both puzzlement and praise in your pages, in some ways, you reminded me of King Agrippa who said to the Apostle Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” That is, you seemed poised to take that Kierkegaardian leap of faith . . . . but settle for "becoming an authentic human being." 105 I wonder, is that authenticity possible in a third self, Kierkegaardian way, apart from "rest[ing] transparently in God" ? cf 119

"We pay someone to mow our backyards and spend hours searching the internet to find the best deal for our next vacation. What’s our problem?" - Dr. Gordon MarinoThe author, philosopher-college Professor does a great job of taking a tough subject, "what is authenticity" (or rather) "how to be authentic" against an existentialist test. Like much of philosophy, a circular argument quickly gets drawn. Take this question: "Is 'liking' that face cream on Facebook me being authentic, or is it me projecting through my 'dream self' of what I would like, if I were perfect?" While Professor Marino goes much deeper than this in his analysis, this is essentially what his opus is about. He does a great job of explaining it in counter-contexts, both from an ontological view (religious) and a secular view. He admits that it largely slants to the arguments made by Søren Kierkegaard, but as he also points out, existentialism isn't a simple label (for a myriad of reasons) so he did have to start somewhere when tackling this question.Philosophy and ethics are not regarded as robust needs in today's society, with the advent news coverage on pushing our kids to get the latest STEM toys and ensure they are all Javascript coders by the age of 11. The dark side of that, however, is that the person - the human - does not have the benefit of thinking through issues that we all face before they happen. In other words, I'd be happier if my 11 year old could definitely call herself a Stoic (whether I believed in Stocism or not) than be able to code. I read this book as a call to action in some cases, wherein the author admits that many younger people, students of his, ponder what they'll be doing as an occupation, but give very little time in pondering what kind of people they'll become.I disagree with some of the reviewers whose constrained by the mention that the author relates to much of the ontological aspects of Kierkegaard, and Christian Theology has made a difference in his life is spurts. But he does an exceptional job of presenting the other view (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and more). Thus, while he doesn't hide behind his personal faith, he provides an ample amount of argumentation for the opposite (excluding outright nihilism). While you don't have to have a degree in Philosophy to enjoy this read, a light understanding of the players in the Existentialist circles are necessary. As any great book on philosophy should do - it should make the readers mind think. This did exactly that. Kudos to the author on a very well written book that can be thoroughly enjoyed as a weekend read.

Very accessible considering the subject,,,, ,__For those of us who consider ourselves existentialists, particularly in the tradition of Kierkegaard (i.e., Christian existentialists), Marino 's tome is refreshing in that it offers an application of existentialism to life. While still objective enough to be descriptive (philosophy of religion) the book provides enough personal anecdotes to reveal the author's application to his life (religious philosophy), giving the reader a sort of template for self-application (i.e., "Survival Guide"). To my understanding, Kierkegaard's primary criticism of philosophy was that it didn't provide application to life. That is, philosophy is descriptive without any prescriptive value. Marino, however, puts existentialism in context by describing it in terms of his life as well as in the lives of other non-Christian existentialists, e.g., Sartre, Camus, and Nietzsche.(Stay with me here: After Joni Mitchell's Album "Blue" was released, Kris Kristopherson told her that she had revealed too much of herself. It was too personal. (Hey! I was an undergraduate music major, and I am a devout Joni Mitchell fan.) But aren't we Joni Mitchell fans glad she released "Blue". (N.B.,: If there is such a thing as an existential lyricist, Joni Mitchell is one.))The book's greatest attribute, IMHO, is the final chapter in which Marino brings the entire book into perspective, analyzing salient issues, e.g., Love, from various existential viewpoints.One last observation, keep a good dictionary handy. I thought that I have a broad vocabulary!I highly recommend this book because of its probative value.