{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260417T232332Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1590514831?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1590514831","authors":["Sarah Bakewell"],"book_id":"9781590514832","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/how-to-live-1590514831","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781590514832.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","description":"Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, from the author of Humanly Possible How to get along with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love—such questions arise in most people’s lives. They are all versions of a bigger question: How do you live? This question obsessed Renaissance writers, none more than Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, considered by many to be the first truly modern individual. He wrote free-roaming explorations of his thoughts and experience, unlike anything written before. More than four hundred years later, Montaigne’s honesty and charm still draw people to him. Readers come to him in search of companionship, wisdom, and entertainment —and in search of themselves. Just as they will to this spirited and singular biography.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781590514832","publication_date":"20110920","publisher":"Other Press","slug":"how-to-live","subtitle":"Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer","title":"How to Live"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"French Literary Criticism","score":0.7601,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7237,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT024050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century Literary Criticism","score":0.7197,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"French Literary Criticism","score":0.7601,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7237,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT024050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century Literary Criticism","score":0.7197,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO009000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Philosophers' Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004150","confidence_band":"high","label":"French Literary Criticism","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"PHI009000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Philosophy Overviews","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"French Literary Criticism","score":0.7601,"slug":"french-literary-criticism"},{"label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7237,"slug":"writing-nonfiction-memoir"},{"label":"20th-Century Literary Criticism","score":0.7197,"slug":"20th-century-literary-criticism"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy French Literary Criticism","Good for readers interested in short stories","Good for fans of Philosophy"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Paris Review","George Plimpton","Ronald Christ","Derek Walcott"],"book_id":"9780679773498","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780679773498.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":17.4714,"title":"Latin American Writers at Work","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780679773498"},{"authors":["Robert Zaretsky"],"book_id":"9780674970861","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780674970861.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":16.4742,"title":"Life Worth Living","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780674970861"},{"authors":["David Bellos"],"book_id":"9780241954478","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780241954478.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":15.1702,"title":"The Novel of the Century","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780241954478"},{"authors":["Mark McGurl"],"book_id":"9781839763854","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781839763854.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":15.1228,"title":"Everything and Less","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781839763854"},{"authors":["Vivian Gornick"],"book_id":"9780807062234","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780807062234.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":15.0999,"title":"The End of the Novel of Love","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780807062234"},{"authors":["Lionel Trilling","Louis Menand"],"book_id":"9781590172834","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781590172834.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":15.0992,"title":"The Liberal Imagination","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781590172834"},{"authors":["Jozef Czapski","Eric Karpeles","Józef Czapski"],"book_id":"9781681372587","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781681372587.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":15.0757,"title":"Lost Time","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781681372587"},{"authors":["Stuart Gilbert"],"book_id":"9780394700137","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780394700137.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":15.0168,"title":"James Joyce's Ulysses","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780394700137"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:literary gifts"],"label":"Literary","score":0.0955,"slug":"literary"},{"evidence_refs":["phrase_map_match"],"label":"Book Club","score":0.0914,"slug":"book-club"},{"evidence_refs":["phrase_map_match"],"label":"Short Stories","score":0.0624,"slug":"short-story"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:essays"],"label":"Essays","score":0.0469,"slug":"essays"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Literary, Book Club, Short Stories.","Reading lane: French Literary Criticism and Writing Nonfiction & Memoir.","Publisher: Other Press."]},"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":10956,"goodreads_reviews_count":1308,"quality_score":0.9541}}