Living for Pleasure and Epicurean Guide to Life by Emily Austin

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Epicureus, the ancient Greek philosopher, figured all this out more than 2,300 years ago. Epicurean spent most of his life on the outskirts of Athens in a compound called the Garden. He owned just two cloaks and subsisted mostly on bread and olives. His only vice, it seems, was a fondness for cheese.

The Greek philosopher Epicurus made a rather bold claim over two thousand years ago. The key to life, he said, was simple: pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Around this maxim he developed a school of philosophy, Epicureanism, which promised its adherents that if they took care of their basic needs, surrounded themselves with trustworthy friends, and developed a basic understanding of science, they would be happy. But is it really that simple? Can the advice of someone born 2,363 years ago still hold true? To answer these questions, we turned to Emily Austin, professor of philosophy at Wake Forest University and author of the delightful new book "Living for Pleasure: An Epicurean Guide to Life.”

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