Montaigne. L'arte di vivere

by Sarah Bakewell

Paper Book, 2011

Status

Available

Call number

194

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Roma, Fazi

Description

How to get on well with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love - such questions arise in most people's lives. They are all versions of a bigger question: how do you live? How do you do the good or honourable thing, while flourishing and feeling happy? This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92), perhaps the first truly modern individual. A nobleman, public official and wine-grower, he wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before. He called them 'essays', meaning 'attempts' or 'tries'. Into them, he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog's ears twitched when it was dreaming, as well as the appalling events of the religious civil wars raging around him. "The Essays" was an instant bestseller, and over four hundred years later, Montaigne's honesty and charm still draw people to him. Readers come to him in search of companionship, wisdom and entertainment - and in search of themselves. This book, a spirited and singular biography (and the first full life of Montaigne in English for nearly fifty years), relates the story of his life by way of the questions he posed and the answers he explored. It traces his bizarre upbringing (made to speak only Latin), youthful career and sexual adventures, his travels, and his friendships with the scholar and poet Etienne de La Boetie and with his adopted 'daughter', Marie de Gournay. And as we read, we also meet his readers - who for centuries have found in Montaigne an inexhaustible source of answers to the haunting question, 'how to live?'.… (more)

Media reviews

Harper's Magazine

It is hard to imagine a better introduction-or reintroduction- to Montaigne than Bakewell's book. It is easy to imagine small improvements, however.

— 1 more

The American Interest

Bakewell, cleverly, has nonetheless managed to tap into the booming modern market for such “quick boosts” of wisdom (not all of them by any means as harmless as tips on eyebrow shaping), while actually writing a serious biography of a serious thinker from an age less like our own that we might

solipsistically think. She’s not the first to take on such a task, of course. Superior literary lessons for life have become an established sub-genre of the self-help boom: How to Win Friends and Influence Readers of the Paris Review. Thus books such as Alain de Botton’s How Proust Can Change Your Life or John Armstrong’s Love, Life, Goethe have explored this territory in their different ways. Bakewell’s life of Montaigne combines some of the merits of de Botton’s knowing, entertaining intellectual squib and Armstrong’s thorough and absorbing biographical study. If her work enjoys a popular resonance greater than theirs—and I think it may—it’s most likely a tribute to its subject, Montaigne.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member Brasidas

This is an excellent book. I enjoyed Montaigne's ESSAYS immensely when I read them some years ago. Yet one leaves the ESSAYS, or at least I did, with little understanding of how Montaigne's thought fits into an historical context. Like most Americans (U.S.), I was not trained in the belles lettres.

Thus I've always had trouble with the piled-high abstractions of most philosophers. Moreover, being slow-witted I do not possess the capacity for fielding more than a few at a time. So the great philosophers were always opaque to me. Montaigne by contrast was the first "philosopher" I could read. He was the first philosopher I came across who could--if I may be so brash--actually write. Yet the ESSAYS make no attempt to teach us the classics, nor should they. That's why this book by Bakewell is so useful. She shows us not only how the ESSAYS arose in the context of Montaigne's life and times, but also how they are linked to works of the great philosophers. In doing this she has done me a service for which I am inordinately grateful. I think this book would serve just as nicely as an introduction to the ESSAYS as it has for me served as a much needed, clarifying afterword. Highly recommended.

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24 more

LibraryThing member Chatterbox

Bakewell tackles a ferociously complex existential question -- detailed in the title -- through the vehicle of the life of famed 16th Century essayist Michel de Montaigne and his famous "Essays".

The result: 20 attempts at an answer that are categorized under headings such as, "Wake from the sleep

of habit", "Be ordinary and imperfect" and "Survive love and loss". This is no self-help book (a genre I loathe) but rather a thoughtful literary/historical examination of Montaigne, the time in which he lived and worked, and what lessons others have drawn from his unique combination of wit, attentiveness to small details, compassion and bluntness in the centuries that have elapsed since his death in 1592. (For all you Stefan Zweig fans out there, Bakewell devotes a few pages to how Zweig spent some of his final years before his suicide in examining and writing about Montaigne.)

It's a great introduction to some of the history of ideas in the late Renaissance and the centuries that followed. She links Montaigne to his classical predecessors, arguing that while he sought out the works of Seneca and Lucretius and drew on them for ideas about what it meant to live and to live well, so later generations have turned to Montaigne to ask that same question. (Bakewell cites Virginia Woolf's comments about a chain of scholarly minds, which she describes as "a series of self-interested individuals puzzling over their own lives, yet doing it cooperatively. All share a quality that can simply be thought of as 'humanity': the experience of being a thinking, feeling being who must get on with an ordinary human life".

I'd recommend this strongly to anyone with an interest in literary history, ideas, etc. etc. It can be readily picked up and put down, though I'd recommend reading the chapters sequentially, as Bakewell has structured them carefully to create a "flow" of ideas and avoid a jarring, episodic structure.

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LibraryThing member jcbrunner

Bordeaux' world heritage is wine and philosophers. Writing a biography of Montaigne is quite the challenge: His essays, after all, describe most aspects of his inner and outer life in minute detail (from his lament about his too small penis to the ideas of Brazilian indians on a tourist trip to

16th century France). Sarah Bakewell's biography in an elegant parallel structure does not try to surpass the reading of the essays themselves. Her biography is both an introduction to Montaigne's philosophy and an account of his life, with a clear focus on his work.

The multitudes of Montaigne are what makes a guide handy. Her short account of stoic, epicurean and pyrrhonic ideas helps to bridge the gap of centuries. On the historical aspects, she doesn't do quite as well. The puzzle how Montaigne managed to stay outside the fierce religious wars is not revealed. While the French Catholics and Protestants slaughtered each other, Montaigne in was writing his essays in his domain. I can't quite understand how he managed to keep his stoic, pyrrhonic detachment in the face of the brutality of these historic events, probably best told in Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's ballad "Die Füße im Feuer" (Feet in the Fire).

Overall, a magnificent introduction to one of mankind's best minds.

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LibraryThing member Stbalbach

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was a French Renaissance writer most famous for his book Essays (1580), a term he coined, and is credited with inventing the genre. The essays are wide ranging and introspective, as essays are, they touch on any topic and train of thought the author wishes the

explore. His book was an immediate success and has been tremendously influential with writers and thinkers in every century since. It is usually included among the most influential works of all time, one of the Great Books. Thus of course I've never read it, nor knew anything about its author.

Sarah Bakewell's biography of Montaigne is unconventional, she weaves together the life, what his essays say, and how he has influenced later generations. It is a perfect introduction, and a great motivator to read Montaigne. The sub-title is "How to Live: Twenty Attempts at an Answer". It's strange though, because on the one hand she distills life lessons from the essays, for example chapter titles include Ch 7: How to live? Question everything, Ch 1: How to live? Don't worry about death, Ch.4: How to live? See the world, etc. but on the other hand she says his essays are not meant to be didactic. Perhaps I need to actually read Montaigne to understand this contradiction. In any case I found Bakewell's love affair with Montaigne infectious, he seems like a fascinating person and someone I would like to get to know better.

This is the last book I read in 2010, just before New Year's Eve when we make resolutions for how to live in the new year, a more perfect time to read a book about how to live a good life is hard to imagine, a cap to a wonderful year in reading. I happily take advice from Ch 4: How to live? Read a lot.

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LibraryThing member Chelyse

I am utterly charmed by this book, not just Montaigne, but by the author who has found a way to bring the man into my life so gracefully I feel I have met him. I like the way it is structured, each section asking "How to Live?" and the answers: "Use tricks", "Read a lot, forget what you read, and

be slow-witted," Wake from the sleep of habit," etc. Along the way Montaigne's own story unfolds. I am reading the library book, but I intend to buy it.

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LibraryThing member adzebill

The author goes beyond a De Botton-ish summary of Montaigne’s philosophy by interweaving this with his life and his “afterlife”: the three strands run consecutively, not concurrently, a slightly postmodern device you wish more biographers used. Very approachable and and quirkily written.

LibraryThing member spounds

First a confession. I had never read Montaigne before I picked up this book. Read him? I hadn't even heard of him. Not something to brag about, I guess, given all the literary luminaries quoted in this book who were much affected by Montaigne's writing.

So why pick up a biography about someone I

had never heard of? Because it was a National Book Critics Circle Award Winner--and more than that it was a $1.99 Kindle Daily Deal! And what a deal--this was a delightful book.

Instead of being a straightforward biography, this book asks the same question that Montaigne himself continually tried to answer--How to live? Each chapter presents an answer based on Montaigne's life and through those answers we learn who he was and what he was. And while it is a biography of the man, it is also a biography of his essays--how they were written/rewritten, gathered, edited, and published. The stories of man and book interweave with a spackling of European history and it all results in a most enjoyable read.

Highly recommended!

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LibraryThing member 391

Though I found this book at times tedious, it is a fantastic overview of Montaigne's life and philosophies. The writer is so devotedly engaged to her task of bringing Montaigne to life, and I think she accomplishes it magnificently. She really captures the historical background and biography that

is necessary to a deeper understanding of Essays, and she brings such passion and delight for her subject that it is very enjoyable.

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LibraryThing member phollando

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne was born in 1533. His early education was entirely in Latin leaving him with little way to communicate with his family except through the shaky Latin of his father and conversational Latin of his servants. He lived in a tower overlooking his estate, was a magistrate and

sometime mayor of Bordeaux. It is hard to see how lessons on life from this mediaeval French philosopher can be relevant to a modern audience and yet throughout the centuries many people have read the Essays and seem themselves in their pages for the simple reason that he is so brutally honest and open about his life that one begins to look on Montaigne as a friend. We learn about his bowel movements, his sexual exploits, what food he likes and about his relationship with his cat.

Montaigne was a true man of the Renaissance. Carved into the roof of his library were maxims of his Greek and Roman heroes, Cicero, Seneca, Virgil and Socrates et al. His philosophy melded the Hellenic schools of Scepticism, Epicurianism and Stoicism holding key the two key principles that unite them all, eudaimonia, the pursuit of a good life and that of ataraxia, having a tranquillity of the mind. This means not being overcome by extreme emotions, and preparing oneself mentally for all the pitfalls life can offer, meeting them with a level head.

Bakewell's unconventional approach to biography pays off as one can see how fond she is of her subject, a trait which is quite contagious. Whilst Montaigne's philosophy can appear to be cold and unemotional, you can see that he is trying to save us from emotional pain, perhaps of the kind he underwent himself when he lost the closest friend of his life, his soul mate Etienne de la Boetie to the plague. But the highest compliment that can be paid to this book is that it makes you want turn to its source, the Essays themselves and for that reason alone I feel I can highly recommend this book.

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LibraryThing member claudeboyd

The best nonfiction book to come along in at least a year is set in 16th-century France. Without a single boring page, "How to Live" rolls conversationally through the much-analyzed life of Montaigne, the brilliant and approachable French essayist who has been called the Original Blogger for his

tendency to philosophize about everyday life situations and dilemmas. Author Sarah Bakewell is great company along the way -- evenhanded, devoted to her subject but not slavishly so, erudite and in full command of very tricky material. Plus, she's always ready with a joke or odd tidbit, like the one about the French king who popularized a shirt with four sleeves.

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LibraryThing member baswood

[Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays translated and edited with an introduction and notes by M. A. Screech].

[How to Live, A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer] by Sarah Bakewell.

Reading the Complete essays I had to wait a long time before I came across that

“How did he know that about me” moment which Sarah Bakewell claims in her book is a feature many readers experience, this was mine:

“As soon as I arrived I spelled out my character faithfully and truly, just as I know myself to be – no memory, no concentration, no experience, no drive; no hatred either, no ambition, no covetousness, no ferocity – so that they should be told, and therefore know, what to expect from my service”

(Montaigne, Michel. The Complete Essays (p. 1137). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.)

This quote is in the essay/chapter “ on restraining your will and covers Montaigne’s two periods as Mayor of Bordeaux. It comes from book three page 1,137 out of a total page count of 1,269 pages and so as a reader you have to be pretty keen to read through the whole lot. I was helped by M. A. Screech’s excellent translation that somehow brings the 16th century text alive and readable for 21st century readers. He aids the reader by an excellent main introduction; a heading to each new chapter and over 250 pages of notes.

The essays vary wildly in length for example the first chapter of book 1 “We reach the same end by discrepant means” is four pages long whereas “An Apology for Raymond Sebond” clocks in at nearly 200 pages almost a book in itself. Montaigne was a Renaissance man and so his store of knowledge, his ideas on philosophy were mostly generated by his love for antiquity. The majority of his anecdotes come from classical literature, with many quotes in Latin and Screech translates these for us immediately following the quotation so the flow of the essays is not interrupted. Montaigne spent 20 years ruminating and adding to his work and each edition during his lifetime had amendments (usually additions to the original text) Screech incorporates these into the main body of the text with a symbol (A, A1, B, or C) to denote their origin. This all seems to work pretty smoothly.

There is no substitute to reading the essays themselves, they are a unique experience. Montaigne writes exclusively about himself, but without a hint of pride, boastfulness or grandeur, he is aiming at self knowledge with the belief that if he can get some of it down on paper then he will also be writing about most other people as well, because he believed that the similarities vastly outweighed the differences. From Montaigne we understand that the way people see and feel about issues and about themselves change with age, with new experiences, or even depending on how they felt that particular day, but there is a basic thread running throughout our lives that Montaigne wishes to expose. Perhaps that is why so many readers through the centuries have seen themselves in Montaigne’s essays. Montaigne writes about day to day events, about travel, about education about death, about work, about being in the moment, about sex, about melancholy, about anger and about a natural theology. All the time he sets down how he feels about the subject that is concerning him and links it back to the wisdom (or otherwise) of antiquity. He can be humorous, serious, thoughtful, but never didactic; his search for truth makes his honesty almost painful at times. He exposes himself so that others can see themselves and I think you need a certain amount of courage to do that.

Montaigne’s world seems equally divided between 16th century France and classical Rome and some readers might find too much classicism in the essays, but this grounds the author as a typical renaissance man. A man of his times that can communicate forward to current times. Not to be missed especially with M A Screech’s excellent translation and introductions. 5 stars.

Sarah Bakewell’s [How to Live, A life of Montaigne] is written for contemporary readers almost like an overnight sensation - wham bam thank you mame - This is Montaigne she shouts, don’t miss out - you too will find yourself in my/this book. In her first chapter she nails her colours too the mast:

“Since it is a twenty-first-century book it is inevitably pervaded by a twenty-first-century Montaigne . As one of his favourite adages had it, there is no escaping our perspective: we can walk on our own legs and sit only on our own bum.”

So Bakewell sets about picking out the bits of Montaigne that she thinks will appeal to her 21st century audience, which unsurprisingly misses some of what Montaigne was about.

Having read the essays myself I asked myself the following questions before picking up Sarah Bakewell’s book:

1) Does the book add anything to the reading of the essays.

2) Does it supply any additional information.

3) Is it a substitute for reading Montaigne

4) How accurate is it with reference to the text?

Well lets start with the positives: Bakewell’s book is subtitled A Life of Montaigne and she does fill in some background information. She has good chapters on the religious wars that for most of his life threatened to engulf Montaigne, she tells us about Montaigne's family and private life and how he worked, she tells us about the printing history of the book; its reception at the time and then through the subsequent centuries and so in this respect it answers questions 1) and 2). I found Bakewell’s writing lively and interesting; of course she cannot help but add her own thoughts on Montaigne’s situation but I found nothing too jarring here. She even attempts to provide her readers with a bit of grounding in Hellenistic philosophy and although I found this chapter a little glib it was better than nothing.

So far so good, but then doubts started to creep in, surely she was going to say something more about Montaigne’s classical references, especially after she had told us that Montaigne was made to converse in Latin from his first attempts at speech until he was sent away to school. Surely she was going to “home in” on the near 200 page essay where Montaigne expounds his ideas on a natural theology. It was important enough for him to write such a long chapter, so there should be some commentary from Bakewell. Montaigne had a deep respect for nature in which he saw Gods handiwork, this is an underlying theme throughout the essays and is nailed down in his “Apology for Raymond Sebond. Bakewell rightly highlights Montaigne’s preoccupation with death and his own approach to death, but picks out the chapter where he describes his own near death experience after a hunting accident and makes this a sort of watershed for all subsequent thoughts. Then there is her claim that Montaigne had never been a soldier ………………..

So does Bakewell see her book as a sort of substitute for reading Montaigne’s essays, she never says it is, but I can imagine that many readers will read this book and think that they have read Montaigne. They would be wrong, because reading Bakewells comments on Montaigne would be like reading a commentary on Moby-Dick which claimed the main theme of that book was a mans obsession with killing a white whale. So I cannot recommend this book as a critique of Montaigne and it falls short in being A Life, however it is an entertaining read and if it leads people to dip into the real thing then it cannot be all bad 3.5 stars.

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LibraryThing member dianaleez

Sarah Blakewell's life affirming biography of sixteenth century French essayist Michel de Montaigne comes neatly packaged for the twenty-first century reader.

Twenty self-contained chapters provide not only factual information about his life, they also provide insight into his development of a plan

for living.

While Montaigne's essays may appear intimidating to the non-specialist reader, Blakewell's twenty chapters are easily accessible.

This is a well-written biography worthy of scholarly perusal and an intriguing and pleasant guide for the layperson.

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LibraryThing member FKarr

excellent: entertaining, informative, enlightening; a biography not heavy on detail but on the essence of Montaigne's spirit

LibraryThing member gendeg

Michel de Montaigne: Definitely on my list of famous-people-I’d-like-to-have-dinner-with.

I was surprised to learn that Montaigne started writing pretty late in life—not until after he’d reach the ripe old age of 39—completing 107 essays before his death at the end of the 16th century. I

first encountered Montaigne’s Essays as a freshman in college. I rarely remember the loftier chapters from him; mostly what I do remember are those lessons on the profoundly basic stuff. Collectively, these jottings coalesced into this matter of fact ethical prescription for living.

I also remember his writing—it had style, it felt far beyond its time. What sets Montaigne apart from other memoirists of his day was how he didn’t drone on about accomplishments. He didn't bray with authority. His work seems like it could be the precursor of the style of essay writing you see today—self-indulgently navel-gazing and personal, while at the same time contemplative and universal. It made Montaigne so ... flawed, funny, deep. He was thoroughly modern and even timeless in that respect.

Sarah Bakewell in How to Live explores how and why Montaigne’s writing has withstood judgment so merrily and endured so much cultural and social transformation and change over the centuries. He has that special skill to seem like he is speaking directly to you.

"Readers approach him from their private perspectives, contributing their own experience of life. … The Essays is thus much more than a book. It is a centuries-long conversation between Montaigne and all those who have got to know him: a conversation which changes through history, while starting out afresh almost every time with that cry of “How did he know all that about me?” Mostly it remains a two-person encounter between writer and reader. But sidelong chat goes on among the readers too; consciously or not, each generation approaches Montaigne with expectations derived from its contemporaries and predecessors. As the story goes on, the scene becomes more crowded. It turns from a private dinner party to a great lively banquet, with Montaigne as an unwitting master of ceremonies."

Bakewell extracts twenty-one lessons to ponder, weaving a nonlinear biographical history of Montaigne into the core ideas of his collective work. The idea that a pretty ho-hum life could be so inspiring—makes for surprisingly fascinating reading.

M. basically asks ’what is it to be human?’ without asking it outright in a way that would have been pedantic and stiff. He was a student of life, but not in some cold, scientific way but as one who’s simply writing a blog. He’s constantly watching people, colleagues and neighbors, even the animals—his cat, most memorably. He is the patron saint of bloggers and cultural curation. He would have made an amazing podcast guest or documentary filmmaker. He explored things as banal as feelings: What was it like to be pissed off or excited or ashamed? Or to have an out of body experience? To feel bored and lazy? To be completely anxious and accepting of one’s faults and shortcomings?

Ultimately, what Bakewell does so well in this book is honing in on Montaigne’s ability to illuminate the ordinary life:

"I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff. Indeed, that is just what a common and private life is: a life of the richest stuff imaginable."

How to Live is filled with tidbits of wisdom, the kind based on a conviction and faith in human nature, of who we really are.

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LibraryThing member KirkLowery

Apparently, Montaigne is hard to write about, because he is hard to read. I don't know how to evaluate Bakewell's success or lack of it in her book. It is certainly as meandering as Montaigne. Somehow, she does move forward -- if not in a straight line. I did like the way she included a history of

the times and how Montaigne fit in, or didn't. I especially liked how she followed Montaigne's influence on other thinkers (Pascal, Rousseau, Nitzsche, many others) right up to the 21st century. She pays attention to the literary and even textual scholarship on Montaigne's Essays.

It was not her intention, but the result of reading her book for me was to make me much less interested in reading Montaigne himself. Although Montaigne may speak to everyone, she claims, what she cited and described left me gasping for intellectual breath, as in, no oxygen.

But I should probably get around to reading Montaigne. Or maybe not. Montaigne would say, "Whatever."

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LibraryThing member Suzannagram

Must read Montaigne's essays on living first. How to Live: Life of Montaigne acts as a companion book, backgrounds, contexts, depth, and anecdotes.

LibraryThing member jawalter

I can't decide whether the fact that I wish I'd just read Montaigne's Essays instead of Bakewell's book is a criticism or an endorsement. The author certainly presents an enlighteing view of the essayist, explicating not only his writing, but also his personal life and the context of the historical

events through which he lived. Even the structure of the book, elaborating on twenty possible Montaigne-ian answers to the question of how we should live, manages to be both engaging and appropriate to the man himself.

Yet at the same time, I found myself slightly annoyed with the book. The twenty answers she chooses can seem excessively vague, little more than excuses to write about various biographical details of Montaigne's life. The digressions into French political history and the cultural response to his writing, although clearly pertinent to her subject matter, frequently seemed like little more than distractions.

I don't want to sound too critical, because I do think that the author does a wonderfully informative job of describing a subject I find quite captivating. This is really just another situation in which I have once again set my expectations too high, having judged the book by its overly-long title. I suspect my appreciation for her work would be much greater if I had approached it as merely preparatory material for reading Montaigne myself, rather than as direct access to some mysterious font of wisdom.

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LibraryThing member librarianbryan

This was alright but really just read Montaigne's Essays. This is really just an advert for them anyway.

LibraryThing member subbobmail

Montaigne invented the modern essay by letting his thoughts run wild and following them with his pen. Only a truly engaging and interesting person can get away with this; fortunately Montaigne was such a person. Although this biography by Sarah Bakewell runs through Montaigne's life in more or less

chronological order, it also imitates the great man's art by wandering all over the place and considering its subject from multiple angles. She tells us things that the man never much mentions in his vast self-examining work, such as his marriage, his high-profile work for kings, and the mad religious civil wars that raged all around his cherished, idylllic writing tower. Bakewell also explains why Montaigne has always driven certain philosophers crazy: by drawing his lessons from experience, and always attempting to refrain from judgement. (Rational idealists like Descartes prefer to arrive at ironclad conclusions while shutting out the world.) This lively book seems worthy of its subject, and achives its main object -- it makes the reader want to read Montaigne again.

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LibraryThing member michaelbartley

I enjoyed this biography of Montaigne and his work Essays. It whowed how the work was written how it was seened in different times. Montaigne was a very interesting man

LibraryThing member jacoombs

A delightful biography of Montaigne organized around twenty answers to the question "how to live" as revealed by both his life and the essays. Great historical context and a sympathetic reading.

LibraryThing member dono421846

I confess that the sheer bulk of the text has, until now, dissuaded me from attempting to tackle The Essays. After reading this delightful and engaging biography, however, I not only feel ready to attempt that feat, but even believe I am in a position to appreciate what I'll find.

LibraryThing member tombowne

Take a passable biography of an aristocrat who wrote a lot, add an academic study of how people have reacted to the writings through the centuries, garnish with an irrelevant marketing gimmick that makes it sound like a self-help book. Bake for hundreds of pages. Serve cold.

LibraryThing member venicetti

Excellent overview of the life and philosophy of Montaigne, the Calvinist revolt and an agitated period i French history.

LibraryThing member dbsovereign

Montaigne was a man before his time. He was a truly enlightened man with renaissance sensibilities and a voracious appetite for philosophizing and conversation. Ultimately, he was also a sort of Buddhist - a man who valued living in the present and not taking anything/anyone (including himself) too

seriously. This biography is balanced, easy to read and makes you want to read Montaigne.

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