3 h 55 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What place do beauty and doubt have in a life lived well?
In The Garden of Epicurus, Anatole France explores beauty, doubt, and the art of living well through philosophical essays. These ideas bring the focus back to life itself: what draws our attention, what we question, and what it means to live well.
France places beauty beside doubt, inviting you to consider both rather than choose between them. This is philosophy to approach through questions about living. The essays offer a place to pause over those questions and give the search for a good life your full attention.
What you’ll discover
- Beauty as a question Explore beauty as an idea that belongs within the larger question of living well.
- Room for doubt Give doubt your attention as one of the central concerns of France’s philosophical essays.
- The art of living Consider what living well means when beauty and doubt both have a place.
- An encounter with France Meet Anatole France through essays that bring his philosophical interests into focus.
- Questions to linger over Pause with ideas about beauty, uncertainty, and the life you want to lead.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy witty essays, wandering curiosity and a warm, ironic voice will feel at home here, as will anyone who loves saints and scholars, books and poets, or likes to think about love, beauty and doubt.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The universe is vast and we are small
- Illusion, ignorance and chance make life bearable
- Love lives on dreams, danger and desire
- Suffering and evil give life its worth
- Distrust grand systems and enjoy ideas as play
- Change comes gently and the old endures
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 5 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Le Jardin d’Épicure in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Le Jardin d’Épicure
by Anatole France · 1895
Phoenician Cadmus appears in a smoky study, and a hermit in a ruined priory gives up thinking.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Imagine sitting in a quiet garden while a witty old Frenchman talks about the stars, saints, love and doubt. That is The Garden of Epicurus by Anatole France.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The universe is vast and we are small
The book opens with a man of the Middle Ages. He believes the earth sits at the center of twelve heavens. France says that universe was so simple a large painted clock could show it all. Now the sky opens into a hundred million suns.
Stars are born and die, and some we still see may have gone dark long ago. Our sun is a bubble of gas, and the earth is a drop of mud. Yet France turns the idea around. If the whole universe shrank to the size of a hazelnut, with every proportion kept, nobody would notice.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Le Jardin d’Épicure
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Garden of Epicurus about?
It is a collection of short essays, sketches and dialogues in which Anatole France reflects on doubt, love, beauty, science, religion and suffering. He argues for irony, pity and a gentle curiosity instead of certainty and grand systems.
Why is the book called The Garden of Epicurus?
Epicurus was a Greek thinker who taught among friends in a garden. France links him with other calm doubters, and the book itself calls this human life our garden, which we must dig with zeal.
Is The Garden of Epicurus a novel or a set of essays?
It is a set of short pieces, including one-paragraph thoughts, essays, two dialogues and a ghost story. You can open it almost anywhere, and each piece stands on its own with a clear voice.
The author
Anatole France
1844–1924 · French novelist
Anatole France (1844–1924) was a French novelist, poet and essayist. He was born in Paris and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, France. His novels include The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881), Thaïs (1890), The Red Lily (1894), Penguin Island (1908) and The Revolt of the Angels (1914).
More by Anatole France
All 9 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
