A Real Life: Restoring What Matters: Family, Good Friends, and a True Community

So begins this heartfelt, laugh-out-loud sequel to Máté’s cult classic, A Reasonable Life. He cautions us that as slaves to electronic devices and obsessed with material goods, we are becoming physically inert, intellectually blinkered, and devoid of deep emotion. Our blind lust for gadgets and possessions has displaced true and lasting joys such as our health, creativity, self-reflection, and fulfillment.
How has our unquestioned pursuit of the American dream left us? Financially insecure, estranged from our families, helpless without our wireless toys, overweight, pervasively
depressed and increasingly isolated. But don’t despair, a renaissance is underway.
In this new call for genuine, vibrant living, Máté challenges us to re-evaluate the meaning of “success,” “security,” technological “progress,” and how we work, eat, play, and love. With surprising statistics, eye-opening observations, and engaging anecdotes he rekindles in us a love of simple daily life: the forgotten pride and joy of independence, neighborliness, working with our hands, the revitalizing effect of closeness to nature, the irreplaceable value of lifelong friendships, and the enduring rewards of face-to-face conversation.

This heartfelt and laugh-out-loud book will give hope to the most disillusioned, and convince the most materialistic to give credit cards a rest, and get a real life.

"We need this book now more than ever."--Kathleen Shannon, NBC TV

“We need this book now more than ever.”—Kathleen Shannon, NBC TV

“We seem to have forgotten what life is all about…”

How has our endless pursuit of material goods left us? Financially insecure, estranged from friends and family, helpless without wireless toys, increasingly isolated, overweight, and depressed. Our lust for goods and gadgets has displaced true and lasting joys like good health, fulfillment, and, most importantly, time spent with one another. But don't despair, a renaissance is under way.

Ferenc Máté, the author of the cult classic A Reasonable Life, calls for genuine, passionate living and challenges us to reevaluate the meaning of "success" and how we work, eat, play, and love. Surprising statistics and engaging anecdotes will rekindle in us the pride and joy of independence, neighborliness, working with our hands, and the irreplaceable rewards of closeness to nature.

Ferenc Máté is the author of 15 books translated into 12 languages, including New York Times Notable Book A Vineyard in Tuscany and the Dugger/Nello historical sea adventure fiction series. He lives in a 13-century friary with his family tending vines and olives in Tuscany.