What three millennia of human history can tell us about how to live today
Roman Krznaric was born and raised in Australia. He is a cultural historian and faculty member of Alain de Botton's School of Life. He has taught sociology and politics at Cambridge and City University, London and is an adviser to organisations including Oxfam, the Red Cross and the United Nations.
A fascinating rattlebag of intelligent, stimulating essays. The
Wonderbox is very much in the mould of Alain de Botton's
bestsellers
*Financial Times*
Entertaining and instructive
*The Times*
A cornucopia of delights. Completely fascinating, beautifully
written and brimming with insights
*Michael Wood, historian, film maker and author of The Story of
England*
The author's enthusiasm for direct solutions to modern dilemmas is
infectious.
*Sue Gerhardt, author of Why Love Matters and The Selfish
Society*
Think Alain de Botton meets Niall Ferguson ... a wonderful mix of
social history and good ideas for everyday living.
*Robert Kelsey, author of What’s Stopping You?*
Taking one hefty theme per chapter - such as love, work or home -
Krznaric serves up a fascinating series of accounts of how we got
where we are now, sifting the valuable from the worthless with an
impressive indifference to current fashions. After reading The
Wonderbox, endlessly shopping for stuff you already have will seem
distinctly strange
*Reader's Digest*
Ranging from such lofty issues as love and death to the finer
points of carpentry, Krznaric offers a compendium of fascinating
and quirky anecdotes and character studies, refiguring them as
practical fables for everyday life. Though a pleasure to read
cover-to-cover, this book lends itself perfectly to the occasional
reader looking for workable solutions to any dilemma. The scope of
the stories and the versatility of Krznaric's interpretations are
at once fascinating and illuminating.
*We Love This Book*
A guaranteed pick-me-up for the early days of January! And a book
I'm going to be returning to for years.
*BBC Radio Scotland Book Cafe*
Inspiration for bold experiments in living.
*The Oxford Times*
An intriguing upmarket self-help guide.
*The Guardian*
Roman Krznaric delves into the wonderbox of history...and reveals
how the past can prompt us to aim higher than we do.
Four star review
*Metro*
Brim-full of insights drawn not from philosophy, religious
teachings or psychology but drawing on the writing and lives of
great writers including Tolstoy, Thoreau and Orwell. Krznaric
weaves together a compelling, fresh argument about how we conduct
our relationships, make decisions about the life we lead and the
crucial importance of empathy.
*The Big Society Network*
The Wonderbox is a treasury of history and philosophy that manages
also to be truly, practically motivational
*John-Paul Flintoff, author of Sew Your Own*
Almost like an opera, it begins with love and ends with death. But
it isn't operatic in style. It is earthy and literate in an
old-fashioned style, iconoclastic and realistic. It throws light
into the world of personal fulfilment and issues a call to ethical
action on a global context.
*The Australian*
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