Publishers Weekly
10/03/2022
“Why should I care about or value... this life that was simply given to me?” asks Riggle (On Being Awesome), a University of San Diego philosopher and former professional skater, in this subtle meditation. Drawing on an eclectic variety of sources that include Plato, Leonard Cohen, and Ocean Vuong, the author contends that “attending to and replicating” beauty can give meaning to life. He lays out a nuanced definition of beauty as a force that prompts engagement and self-expression through imitation and sharing. Such actions create what Riggle calls “aesthetic community,” in which one enters into an artistic conversation by generating art that can then be imitated and shared again: “When you share, express, and imitate, you engage in special forms of community and love.” For an academic philosopher, Riggle’s writing can be gorgeously concrete (“The glowing ocotillo that foregrounds a peach tree in full bloom, heavy with light pink petals, carmine buds, and, if I squint, yellow-tipped pistils”), but the ideas are heady and readers may be disappointed that they aren’t as accessible as the Drake references would suggest. The result is a dense but rewarding take on beauty’s central role in life. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
Lyrical...refreshingly off-beat...A performative case for beauty’s power to render life not just worth living, but worth savouring.”—Times Literary Supplement
“Accessible and motivating…How inspirational to think of life being 'animated by beauty.' This convivial guide for the questioning is perfect for readers of Rob Bell and Alain de Botton." —Shelf Awareness
"A beautifully written philosophical ode to existence.”—L.A. Paul, Yale University
“What is there to live for? What does ‘YOLO’ mean? And what are we doing when we try to ‘seize’ the day? Nick Riggle gives us a big, radiantly heartfelt, and deeply thoughtful answer in a philosophical letter to his infant son. We are here for beauty, and this beauty is not just an inner experience, but a profoundly social one. The meaning of life is in the beauty that connects us.”—C. Thi Nguyen, University of Utah
“A rewarding take on beauty’s central role in life.” —Publishers Weekly
“Short but wide-ranging, elegant but unpretentious, casual in style and sweeping in conception, This Beauty goes far beyond our traditional philosophy of art and places aesthetics at the very center of life. It is an ambitious and brave book—and a wise one. Read it.” —Alexander Nehamas, Princeton University
“[W]ith equal parts humor and gravitas, and lovingly peppered with personal anecdotes from his own life, Riggle weaves a poignant, autological guide to better understand not only ourselves and our inner machinations, but one that serves to help us navigate existence at large."
—San Diego Union Tribune
