The Well-Rounded Life

An engaging and enlightening book about why having many different pursuits can vastly improve our well-being

It’s good to be well-rounded. When you do a lot of different things, when you work on expanding your horizons, when you dive into the fascinating diversity of the world around you, your life will be a better one. Yet while many of us aspire to become well-rounded, this kind of life has rarely shown up in philosophical discussions of well-being. In The Well-Rounded Life, Amy Berg argues that well-rounded lives are often better, richer lives—more socially connected, happier, and more resilient.

Building on philosophical work on well-being and drawing from social science, history, art, and pop culture, The Well-Rounded Life shows why we should strive to be well-rounded—and how we can do it. In making her case, Berg shows why we don’t need to be afraid of being mediocre at things, even things we care deeply about; why it can be a bad idea to try to lead a life that will make a great story; and how we should navigate tradeoffs between the well-rounded life and other good things.

It may not be the only good life out there, but The Well-Rounded Life shows why embracing a variety of pursuits is one of the best ways to live.