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F. H. Buckley
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Curiosity: And Its Twelve Rules for Life Hardcover – April 27, 2021

by Buckley F.H. (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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Curiosity is the instinct that prompts us to act, and a book about curiosity should tell us how to live. This is the first to do so, with its twelve rules for life.

While a fatal sin in Eden, curiosity is a necessary virtue in our world. It asks us to search for new experiences, to create, to invent. It tells us to look inward, to be curious about the needs of other people and about our own motives. It tells us not to be a stick in the mud or a bore. In particular, curiosity asks us to examine the most fundamental questions of our existence. When you put all this together, curiosity tells you how to live a life in full.

While there's a natural desire to explore, there's also a natural desire to stay home. We have a dark side that wants to hide from the world. We've also been made incurious by the rise of bitter partisanships and narrow ideologies that have sent things and people we should care about to our mental trash folders. That’s why this book is needed today.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    248 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Encounter Books
  4. Publication date
    April 27, 2021
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    5.75 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1641771844
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1641771849
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This book is so wittily presented and frequently entertaining, it is only gradually that the reader comes to appreciate fully Frank Buckley’s startling erudition and the perceptiveness of his main points. This is a delightful, as well as provocative, and ultimately engrossing read.” ―Conrad Black, author of A President Like No Other

“Frank Buckley takes us on a wonderful tour around a well-read mind and a cultivated imagination always heading for the next experience around the corner. His voyage of curiosity rambles through literature, art, science, and history so entertainingly that by the time he glimpses harbor . . . you may have circumnavigated the globe, but your curiosity is never exhausted.” ―John O’Sullivan, president of the Danube Institute in Budapest and senior fellow at the National Review Institute

“This is an eloquent paean to a life that embraces uncertainty. Buckley tells it like it is and inspires us to adopt a risk-taking and experimentative orientation toward the future. A must-read for those prepared to embark on a voyage of discovery.”―Frank Furedi, author of How Fear Works: The Culture of Fear in the 21st Century

“In a world of cruelly imposed meaninglessness and technological detachment, Curiosity awakens the soul to mortality, joy, and imagination and invites us to see that although man is a finite being, he has a great capacity to move toward the infinite.” ―Emina Melonic, contributor and critic

“Don’t let the title fool you. This is not a conventional self-help book outlining a path to a fitter, thinner, and richer you but rather a paean to traditional virtues now fallen into desuetude by the soul-corroding power of media and the popular culture – which is no culture at all. Buckley combines an intellectual’s probity and a scholar’s vast referential reach with a compassionate humanism in the service of one overarching goal: to make you a better person. His first rule – don’t make rules – sets the reader on a path to risk-taking, moral courage, steadfastness, originality, and creativity. Which is, after all, the essence of humanity itself.”―Michael Walsh, author of The Devil’s Pleasure Palace, The Fiery Angel, and Last Stands

About the Author

F.H. Buckley is a Foundation Professor at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law. He is a frequent media guest and has appeared on Morning Joe, CNN, The Rush Limbaugh Show, C‑SPAN, NPR and numerous other outlets. He is a senior editor at the American Spectator, a columnist for the New York Post, and has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and many other newspapers.

His recent books include The Republic of Virtue (2017); The Way Back: Restoring the Promise of America (2016); and The Once and Future King (2015).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Encounter Books (April 27, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1641771844
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1641771849
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

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F. H. Buckley

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Joyce Lee Malcolm
5.0 out of 5 stars Book spells out importance of curiosity in a lively and entertaining manner
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
Brilliant little book on a fascinating and unusual subject. I wondered how Professor Buckley would manage to deal with such a broad and slippery topic, but found his approach clever and helpfully handled. He sets out a series of rules for the positive use of curiosity, an impulse which has been crucial to great human achievements but can also lead to bad public and personal results. Buckley sorts out these two opposites. Reading this book I was struck by how important curiosity is for all of us today, especially college students, and how imperiled it is as a heavy-handed conformity is being imposed and natural curiosity squelched. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Michael Lewyn
4.0 out of 5 stars common sense but well presented
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2021
This book was mostly common sense (by which I mean I didn't learn anything that surprised or shocked me), but nevertheless well done and fun to read, with lots of entertaining examples.
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ERIC OKEEFE
5.0 out of 5 stars "Heavenly ecstasies and tragic losses."
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2022
"What's missing from our culture is a sense of transcendent experience, of heavenly ecstasies and tragic losses."

So writes Frank Buckley in this crisp and profound book.
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David George Moore
5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL BOOK FULL OF CLEVER INSIGHTS!
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2022
There are bad types of curiosity. Roger Shattuck wrote of that type in Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography.

There is a godly form of curiosity. I wrote about its importance in my latest book, Stuck in the Present: How History Frees and Forms Christians. I’m afraid too many Christians don’t see the need for developing a godly curiosity about the world, themselves, or even the God who created them. It is the curiosity that wants to engage the world, better understand history, stops to wonder why there are so many colors when no real pragmatic benefit comes from such variety, and much more.

F.H. Buckley has written a marvelous book, Curiosity and its Twelve Rules for Life. Buckley teaches at George Mason’s law school. He has wide-ranging interests, so he models what he is writing about. Buckley also has some wise warnings about dangerous forms of curiosity, but most of the book is dedicated to unpacking what healthy forms of curiosity look like.

I highly recommend this well-written and insightful book!
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Stephen B. Presser
5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary book by an extraordinary law professor
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2021
F.H. Buckley is not only one of our most talented and prolific law professors, he is that amazing rarity among legal academics – a sage who can communicate and inspire his fellow Americans. In this, the latest superb product of his Tocquevillian understanding of his adopted country, in our deeply divided and scary era, he offers reasons for hope and delight. Like his fellow Canadian Jordan Peterson, he lays down twelve rules. In Buckley’s case, their purpose is to activate a great neglected virtue, curiosity, and to recover, in a narrowly ideological age, the full range of richness of human experience. A brilliant tour de force.
4 people found this helpful
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GCL
5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Food for Your Brain
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2021
Frank Buckley is a law professor who can write legalese, but can also write clearly for non-lawyers. In this book, he suggests that people take a break from our constant political furor to engage their minds with the wonders of the world. Human beings are naturally curious -- act on that instinct and your life will be better, he argues.

In a key insight, Buckley argues that our colleges are complicit in the damping down of curiosity among our bright young people. Too much of the college curriculum these days, he observes, is meant to give students a prepackaged worldview instead of inspiring them to think and explore.
2 people found this helpful
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Deal W. Hudson
5.0 out of 5 stars A grand achievement!
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2021
Frank Buckley has written what will be regarded as one of the best books of 2021. He’s managed to address the question of ‘how to live’ is an entirely original and entertaining way. This book will surprise you and make you think in new directions about familiar moral and spiritual challenges. It’s written with such a light and eloquent touch you will find it hard to put down.
One person found this helpful
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42
5.0 out of 5 stars The most important issues in life, discussed in an engaging, uplifting style
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2021
In this charming, insightful book, Mr. Buckley provides a guide to the deeper questions of life that isn't turgid, preachy, or depressing. What's especially remarkable about this book is how readable it is: complex topics and questions are explored in an engaging, clear, often humorous style. The author makes you think - and enjoy doing so. This book would make an excellent graduation or birthday gift.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Apocalypse
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2021
Verified Purchase
I had never heard of this guy before. Now I wnt to read all his stuff. I agree with him. Curiosity is important and we are not seeing much of it anymore.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Ok
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2021
Verified Purchase
A bit too repetitive, but good book overall
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