DRMacIver's Notebook
Book Review: Illness (Art of Living) by Havi Carel
Book Review: Illness (Art of Living) by Havi Carel
This was a good book, and is going on my rereadings shelf. I’ve already recommended it to several people before I finished it. I have maybe a few more caveats after having finished it, but I still think it was a helpful read.
The book is what happens when a professional philosopher discovers that she is terminally ill and decides to do philosophy to it. What results is an exploration of the phenomenology of being ill - the subjective and social experience of it. She does not deny that there is an objective physical component to illness of course, but explores how understanding illness on a purely objective, physical, level in many ways misses the point and that the subjective experience of the patient should be be considered.
I’m not really sure what to do with the information from this book yet. I tried to summarise it in this review, and my summaries kept coming out as quite uncharitable, so I’m going to leave it at this: I liked the book and found it a useful perspective, but I’m not sure it’s a perspective I’m able to or want to adopt. I disagree significantly with several of the arguments presented, but think they are probably still quite useful mental frameworks to adopt in some circumstances.