Against Identity
The Wisdom of Escaping the Self

Hard book to review because, I must admit, I didn't understand all of it. But the 60% I did understand was fascinating. Took me out of my comfort zone. I have some issues with the argument however, namely: * How exactly are we to achieve this death of identity? Even if I'm convinced of the author's th......more

A truly interesting and freeing book. Like lots of other reviewers I can't pretend to have understood all of it, but what I've taken away from the is that the search for identity happens in the mind, and the mind is just a bundle of ever-changing thoughts. We can't find true peace through thinking,......more

A somewhat abstract book of philosophy, but still geared for a general readership making the case that identity is a dead end and using three philosophers; Chuang Hzu, Spinoza and Girard to illustrate that. He threads that needle pulling aspects out of all three and claims they are basically saying......more

Douglas describes aspects of the philosophy of Zhuang Zi, Spinoza and Girard. I didn’t know these thoughts before but they resonated a lot. I appreciate the thought that personality is a bundle of chaos (hundun) and identity is an emulation of who people like. He sees identity as an act of spiritual......more

Insightful! Beautifully delivers its main message through the authors. Nevetheless, the depiction of Existentialism and especially Sartrean philosophy is below standard and delivers infuriating misconceptions. The late Sartre (and even if one bothers to actually read Being and Nothingness... Nothing......more