“인생에서 길을 잃는 수많은 순간마다 이 철학자들의 목소리가 들려올 것이다”

《소크라테스 익스프레스》는 마르쿠스 아우렐리우스부터 몽테뉴까지 역사상 가장 위대한 철학자들을 만나러 떠나는 여행기이자, 그들의 삶과 작품 속의 지혜가 우리 인생을 개선하는 데 어떻게 도움이 되는지 답을 찾아가는 책이다. 매력적인 글솜씨로 “빌 브라이슨의 유머와 알랭 드 보통의 통찰력이 만났다”는 평가를 받는 에릭 와이너가 이 여행의 동반자로 나선다.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS EMBARKS ON A ROLLICKING INTELLECTUAL JOURNEY, FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HISTORY’S GREATEST THINKERS AND SHOWING US HOW EACH?FROM EPICURUS TO GANDHI, THOREAU TO BEAUVOIR?OFFERS PRACTICAL AND SPIRITUAL LESSONS FOR TODAY’S UNSETTLED TIMES.

WE TURN TO PHILOSOPHY FOR THE SAME REASONS WE TRAVEL: TO SEE THE WORLD FROM A DIF­FERENT PERSPECTIVE, TO UNEARTH HIDDEN BEAUTY, AND TO FIND NEW WAYS OF BEING. WE WANT TO LEARN HOW TO EMBRACE WONDER. FACE REGRETS. SUSTAIN HOPE.

ERIC WEINER COMBINES HIS TWIN PASSIONS FOR PHILOSOPHY AND TRAVEL IN A GLOBE-TROTTING PIL­GRIMAGE THAT UNCOVERS SURPRISING LIFE LESSONS FROM GREAT THINKERS AROUND THE WORLD, FROM ROUSSEAU TO NIETZSCHE, CONFUCIUS TO SIMONE WEIL. TRAVELING BY TRAIN (THE MOST THOUGHTFUL MODE OF TRANSPORT), HE JOURNEYS THOUSANDS OF MILES, MAKING STOPS IN ATHENS, DELHI, WYOMING, CONEY ISLAND, FRANKFURT, AND POINTS IN BETWEEN TO RECON­NECT WITH PHILOSOPHY’S ORIGINAL PURPOSE: TEACHING US HOW TO LEAD WISER, MORE MEANINGFUL LIVES. FROM SOCRATES AND ANCIENT ATHENS TO BEAUVOIR AND 20TH-CENTURY PARIS, WEINER’S CHOSEN PHILOSOPHERS AND PLACES PROVIDE IMPORTANT PRACTICAL AND SPIRITUAL LESSONS AS WE NAVIGATE TODAY’S CHAOTIC TIMES.

IN A “DELIGHTFUL” ODYSSEY THAT “WILL TAKE YOU PLACES INTELLECTUALLY AND HUMOROUSLY” (SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW), WEINER INVITES US TO VOYAGE ALONGSIDE HIM ON HIS LIFE-CHANGING PURSUIT OF WISDOM AND DISCOVERY AS HE ATTEMPTS TO FIND ANSWERS TO OUR MOST VITAL QUESTIONS. THE SOCRATES EXPRESS IS “FULL OF VALUABLE LESSONS…A FUN, SHARP BOOK THAT DRAWS READERS IN WITH ITS APPARENT SIMPLICITY AND BUBBLE-GUM PHILOSOPHY APPROACH AND GRADUALLY PULLS THEM IN DEEPER AND DEEPER” (NPR).