{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1984878425?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1984878425","authors":["Alan Jacobs"],"book_id":"9781984878427","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781984878427","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781984878427.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","description":"“At a time when many Americans . . . are engaged in deep reflection about the meaning of the nation's history [this] is an exceptionally useful companion for those who want to do so with honesty and integrity.” — Shelf Awareness From the author of How to Think and The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction , a literary guide to engaging with the voices of the past to stay sane in the present W. H. Auden once wrote that \"art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.\" In his brilliant and compulsively readable new treatise, Breaking Bread with the Dead , Alan Jacobs shows us that engaging with the strange and wonderful writings of the past might help us live less anxiously in the present—and increase what Thomas Pynchon once called our \"personal density.\" Today we are battling too much information in a society changing at lightning speed, with algorithms aimed at shaping our every thought—plus a sense that history offers no resources, only impediments to overcome or ignore. The modern solution to our problems is to surround ourselves only with what we know and what brings us instant comfort. Jacobs's answer is the opposite: to be in conversation with, and challenged by, those from the past who can tell us what we never thought we needed to know. What can Homer teach us about force? How does Frederick Douglass deal with the massive blind spots of America's Founding Fathers? And what can we learn from modern authors who engage passionately and profoundly with the past? How can Ursula K. Le Guin show us truths about Virgil's female characters that Virgil himself could never have seen? In Breaking Bread with the Dead , a gifted scholar draws us into close and sympathetic engagement with texts from across the ages, including the work of Anita Desai, Henrik Ibsen, Jean Rhys, Simone Weil, Edith Wharton, Amitav Ghosh, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Italo Calvino, and many more. By hearing the voices of the past, we can expand our consciousness, our sympathies, and our wisdom far beyond what our present moment can offer.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781984878427","publication_date":"20210907","publisher":"Penguin Publishing Group","slug":"breaking-bread-with-the-dead","subtitle":"A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind","title":"Breaking Bread With the Dead"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LIT020000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Comparative Literature","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"PHI005000","confidence_band":"high","label":"PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SEL016000","confidence_band":"high","label":"The Pursuit of Happiness","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}],"hint":[],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LIT020000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Comparative Literature","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"PHI005000","confidence_band":"high","label":"PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SEL016000","confidence_band":"high","label":"The Pursuit of Happiness","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Comparative Literature","score":1,"slug":"comparative-literature"},{"label":"PHILOSOPHY","score":1,"slug":"philosophy"},{"label":"The Pursuit of Happiness","score":1,"slug":"the-pursuit-of-happiness"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Comparative Literature","Good for readers interested in book club","Good for readers who enjoy Comparative Literature and PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Jodi Wellman"],"book_id":"9780316574273","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780316574273.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":12.8304,"title":"You Only Die Once","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780316574273"},{"authors":["Eckhart Tolle"],"book_id":"9780452296084","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780452296084.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":12.8146,"title":"Oneness With All Life","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780452296084"},{"authors":["Arthur C. Brooks"],"book_id":"9780593545423","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593545423.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":12.7587,"title":"The Meaning of Your Life","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593545423"},{"authors":["Edith Hall"],"book_id":"9780735220829","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780735220829.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":11.495,"title":"Aristotle's Way","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780735220829"},{"authors":["Hilary Liftin","Kate Montgomery"],"book_id":"9780375703676","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780375703676.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":10.7765,"title":"Dear Exile","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780375703676"},{"authors":["Nina Purewal","Kate Petriw","HarperCollins Publishers","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781633886780","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781633886780.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":10.7227,"title":"Let That Sh*t Go","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781633886780"},{"authors":["Rick Hanson PhD","Forrest Hanson","Random House Audio","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9780451498861","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780451498861.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":10.4082,"title":"Resilient","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780451498861"},{"authors":["Jeffrey M. Schwartz","Rebecca Gladding MD","Rebecca Gladding"],"book_id":"9781583334836","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781583334836.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":10.3781,"title":"You Are Not Your Brain","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781583334836"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:self help books for women"],"label":"Women","score":0.5667,"slug":"women"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:self help books for women"],"label":"Self","score":0.336,"slug":"self"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:self help books for women"],"label":"Help","score":0.1851,"slug":"help"},{"evidence_refs":["phrase_map_match"],"label":"Book Club","score":0.0914,"slug":"book-club"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:positive psychology"],"label":"Psychology","score":0.0909,"slug":"psychology"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Women, Self, Help.","Reading lane: Comparative Literature and Ethics & Moral Philosophy.","Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":2114,"goodreads_reviews_count":402,"quality_score":0.928}}