• Spring Training (for the Rest of Your Life)

  • By: John Kaag
  • Narrated by: John Kaag
  • Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Spring Training (for the Rest of Your Life)  By  cover art

Spring Training (for the Rest of Your Life)

By: John Kaag
Narrated by: John Kaag
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $6.27

Buy for $6.27

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

How much of your time do you spend pissed off, bored, frustrated, or anxious? If you’re like most Americans, the answer is more than you’d like. But what if there were a discipline—a way of thinking—that could help you cut that time in half or maybe even down to zero? Well, good news: There is. And it’s not cheesy self-help or futile biohacking. It’s philosophy.

In Spring Training (for the Rest of Your Life), memoirist and intellectual historian John Kaag introduces listeners to the forefathers of American philosophy: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who created the field of transcendentalism, and William James, the father of American psychology who also invented the philosophical school known as pragmatism.

What can you learn from these three long-dead white guys? A great deal, says Kaag.

Emerson, Thoreau, and James lived through a unique moment in the history of the West, a time when traditional institutions like the church and the state lost their grip on the hearts and minds of average citizens. These citizens were cut loose, tasked with living meaningful lives without formal guidance, tasked with sorting out the jumble of human experiences on their own—and these wanderers turned to Emerson, Thoreau, and James.

Maybe you feel this way sometimes. Unmoored. Lost. In Spring Training (for the Rest of Your Life), you’ll learn from the masters how to live vibrantly, work meaningfully, and embrace transcendence as the ever-present possibility of human experience.

John Kaag is chair and professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including American Philosophy: A Love Story, Hiking with Nietzsche, and the forthcoming American Bloods.

©2024 Heleo, Inc. (P)2024 Heleo, Inc. & John Kaag

More from the same

Love Books? You'll Love Audible.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Transform your day

Replace endless scrolling with endless listening. Chores can be fun.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Listen everywhere

Download titles to listen offline, wherever you are in the world.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Carry your entire Library

Your stories go where you go. Audiobooks don’t weigh a thing.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Listen and learn

Discover stories that can change your mind, your well-being, and your life.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Reach your reading goals

You can’t turn pages while you drive—but you can press play.

Placeholder Image Alt Text

Find your niche

WIth thousands of titles to explore, there’s something for everyone.

Try for $0.00 $14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

What listeners say about Spring Training (for the Rest of Your Life)

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.