Synopses & Reviews
For the first time an award-winning Harvard professor shares the lessons from his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how these ancient ideas can guide you on the path to a good life today.
The lessons taught by ancient Chinese philosophers surprisingly still apply, and they challenge our fundamental assumptions about how to lead a fulfilled, happy, and successful life. Self-discovery, it turns out, comes through looking outward, not inward. Power comes from holding back. Good relationships come from small gestures. Spontaneity comes from practice. And excellence comes from what you choose to do, not your “natural” abilities.
Counterintuitive. Countercultural. Even revolutionary. These powerful ideas have made Professor Michael Puetts course the third most popular at Harvard University in recent years, with enrollment surging every year since it was first offered in 2006. Its clear students are drawn by a bold promise Professor Puett makes on the first day of class: “These ideas will change your life.” Now he offers his course to the world.
Review
“I read The Path in one sitting and have been talking about it to everyone. Its brilliant, mesmerizing, profound—and deeply contrarian. It stands conventional wisdom on its head and points the way to a life of genuine fulfillment and meaning.” Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Triple Package
Review
"The Path will not only change your life--it will change the way you see history and the world. From its wondrously fresh take on Confucius to its quietly profound read of just what it is the great sages have to say to us, this book exemplifies all that can come of the radical openness of Chinese philosophy. Read it and be transformed." Gish Jen, author of Tiger Writing and The Love Wife
About the Author
Michael Puett is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. He is the author of The Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early China and To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China, as well as the coauthor of Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity. In 2013, he was awarded a Harvard College Professorship for excellence in undergraduate teaching.Christine Gross-Loh is a journalist and author of Parenting Without Borders. Her writing has appeared in a number of publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Parenting, and Mothering, and she has been featured on NPR, CNN, The Early Show, Real Simple Magazine, USA TODAY, Newsweek, Slate.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and other outlets. She holds a PhD from Harvard University in East Asian history. Her website is ChristineGrossLoh.com.