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E-book
Author Hitz, Zena, 1973- author.

Title Lost in thought : the hidden pleasures of an intellectual life / Zena Hitz
Published Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2020]

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Description 1 online resource (vii, 226 pages)
Contents Cover -- Contents -- Prologue. How Washing Dishes Restored My Intellectual Life -- Introduction. Learning, Leisure, and Happiness -- Chapter 1. A Refuge from the World -- Chapter 2. Learning Lost and Found -- Chapter 3. The Uses of Uselessness -- Epilogue. The Everyday Intellectual -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index
Summary "In an overloaded, superficial, technological world, in which almost everything and everybody are judged by their usefulness, where can we turn for escape, lasting pleasure, contemplation, or connection to others? While many forms of leisure meet these needs, Zena Hitz writes, few experiences are so fulfilling as the inner life, whether that of a bookworm, an amateur astronomer, a birdwatcher, or someone who takes a deep interest in one of countless other subjects. Drawing on inspiring examples, from Socrates and Augustine to Malcolm X and Elena Ferrante, and from films to Hitz's own experiences as someone who walked away from elite university life in search of greater fulfillment, Lost in Thought is a passionate and timely reminder that a rich life is a life rich in thought. Today, when even the humanities are often defended only for their economic or political usefulness, Hitz says our intellectual lives are valuable not despite but because of their practical uselessness. And while anyone can have an intellectual life, she encourages academics in particular to get back in touch with the desire to learn for its own sake, and calls on universities to return to the person-to-person transmission of the habits of mind and heart that bring out the best in us. Reminding us of who we once were and who we might become, Lost in Thought is a moving account of why renewing our inner lives is fundamental to preserving our humanity"-- Provided by publisher
Analysis Cultivating Humanity
Excellent Sheep
Fareed Zakaria
In Defense of Liberal Education
Martha Nussbaum
Matthew Crawford
Not for Profit
Shop Class as Soulcraft
William Deresiewicz
academic memoir
books for book lovers
critique of education
gifts for students
inspirational books for students
intellectual pursuits
lay intellectuals
life of the mind
love of learning
memoir of education
purpose of education
uses of education
value of education
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on April 30, 2020)
Subject Thought and thinking.
Intellectual life.
Thinking
thinking.
PHILOSOPHY / General
Intellectual life.
Thought and thinking.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2019044298
ISBN 0691189234
9780691189239