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Now, this isn’t a product oriented blog, being about frugal, philosophical living and various other anti-consumerist topics, but I am making an exception for a very few books that I have found to be personally very rewarding, and that I constantly refer back to as I seek a deeper understanding of myself and the world I live in.

When we recently pruned our book hoard from more than 5,000 volumes to less than 100, The Importance Of Living by Lin Yutang was the first book that I decided I was going to keep. I recommend this book to almost everyone who expresses even a passing interest in how I am living my life. It has served as my primary source of inspiration during, and perhaps even as the impetus for, my drive to find another way to live my life.

So, what makes The Importance Of Living so special? The tone of the book, and the joy of reading it, begin with the authors preface:

This is a personal testimony, a testimony of my own experience of thought and life. It is not intended to be objective and makes no claim to establish eternal truths. In fact I rather despise claims to objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing. I should have liked to call it “A Lyrical Philosophy,” using the word “lyrical” in the sense of being a highly personal and individual outlook. But that would have been too beautiful a name and I must forego it, for fear of aiming too high and leading the reader to expect too much, and because the main ingredient of my thought is matter-of-fact prose, a level easier to maintain because more natural.

Needless to say, the book continues in this honest, lyrical fashion for all of its 450 pages. Written in 1937, it presents a holistic, simple philosophy of living that has resonancy even today. It is comprehensive, covering Yutang’s views on everything from grand questions of “Who Can Best Enjoy Life”, which gets an entire chapter, to Rocks and Trees, which likewise receives an entire chapter for its treatment.

I have found insight and inspiration on almost every page of this book, and am overjoyed to see it in print again. It went out of print in the late 1950’s and has only recently been revived. Perhaps your library would be able to secure a copy so you can see if you are as moved by it as I am.