The Second Mountain
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  • Published: 16 April 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241404966
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download

The Second Mountain

The Quest for a Moral Life

Formats & editions
Paperback
18 Aug 2020
EBook
4 Apr 2019
Audiobook
16 Apr 2019
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When did we stop connecting with other people? David Brooks argues that we can only solve our crisis of meaning at an emotional and moral level.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Secnd Mountain, written by David Brooks, read by Arthur Morey.

Are you on your first or second mountain?
Is life about you - or others?
About success - or something deeper?

The world tells us that we should pursue our self-interest: career wins, high status, nice things. These are the goals of our first mountain. But at some point in our lives we might find that we're not interested in what other people tell us to want. We want the things that are truly worth wanting.

This is the second mountain.

What does it mean to look beyond yourself and find a moral cause? To forget about independence and discover dependence - to be utterly enmeshed in a web of warm relationships? What does it mean to value intimacy, devotion, responsibility and commitment above individual freedom? In The Second Mountain David Brooks explores the meaning and possibilities that scaling a second mountain offer us, and the four commitments that most commonly move us there: family, vocation, philosophy and community. Inspiring, personal and full of joy, this book will help you discover why you were really put on this earth.
  • Published: 16 April 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241404966
  • Imprint: Penguin Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
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About the author

David Brooks

David Brooks is a columnist for The New York Times and frequent broadcaster. His previous books include the bestsellers The Social Animal and Bobos in Paradise. His New York Times columns reach over 800,000 readers across the globe.

portrait photo of David Brooks

Also by David Brooks

How To Know a Person
The Road to Character
See all

Praise for The Second Mountain

Potentially life-changing lessons can be found in this relevant and thought-provoking book.

Booklist

Across more than 300 pages of heartfelt prose, Brooks reworks [the meaning of life] into a neat story . . . Brooks' willingness to be "a little vulnerable" results in a refreshing honest confession . . . There's no top-of-the-mountain moment . . . just a friendly, gentle nudging toward the conclusion that real joy lies in moral commitment.

The Irish Times

The book overall, candid about the reality of stress and failure in the author's life, has earned the right to put forward with equal candour the experience of finding, or being found by, faith.

Rowan Williams, The New Statesman

Brooks's best book yet ... Powerful ... His stirring new book is a self-help guide to escaping the prison of self.

Oliver Burkeman, The Observer, 'Book of the Day'

Enormously comforting and galvanising ... a better way to live

Pandora Sykes