Overview

What if the secret to enjoying life wasn't chasing harder - but learning to master pleasure itself? We live in the freest, most abundant era in history... yet genuine joy keeps slipping through our fingers. Screens overstimulate us, options multiply, attention fractures and a quiet numbness spreads. Modern science even has a name for it: anhedonia, the erosion of our ability to feel pleasure in the things we once loved. 2,400 years ago, one of Socrates' boldest (and most deliberately forgotten) students offered a different way forward. Aristippus of Cyrene, the founder of the Cyrenaic school, refused every moral panic about pleasure. For him, joy wasn't a vice to tame but a craft to master: something to shape, refine, and savor with intelligence rather than guilt. Through vivid, novel-like stories - a teenage grandson sparring with his philosopher mother in sun-struck Cyrene, a shipwreck turned into a feast, a tyrant disarmed by laughter - this lost tradition is revived with humor, warmth, and crystalline clarity. You'll learn: - How to feel more intensely without sliding into burnout or addiction - The subtle line between being controlled by pleasure... and truly owning it - Simple daily practices that turn ordinary moments - a sip of wine, a conversation, a quiet afternoon - into lucid delight - Why guilt-free enjoyment is the most radical form of freedom - How to laugh at power, fear, and even death without cynicism This isn't an ascetic manifesto. It isn't a ""dopamine detox."" It's the elegant, rebellious art of living well - straight from the ancient hedonists who chose presence over postponement, clarity over chaos, and laughter over fear. If you've ever sensed that life could feel richer, sharper, more alive, but didn't know how to get there without losing yourself, The Master of Pleasure is the guide you've been waiting for. Open it. Smile for no reason. The craft begins now. - Part philosophy, part storytelling, part practical wisdom. Perfect for readers of Ryan Holiday, The School of Life, and anyone tired of feeling numb in a world designed to overstimulate.

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