The Heart of Things - by Richard Holloway (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A moving and personal anthology from the Sunday Times bestseller, encompassing melancholy, morality, mortality and more

Richard Holloway is one of our most beloved public thinkers. Throughout his life he has turned to poets and writers to help answer the big questions, and for solace and guidance in the face of life's challenges. Now he shares those poems and words which have been his own guide, offered in the hope they will help us too.

This is a book to turn to for inspiration, guidance and comfort. It offers lessons from those who, in Richard's words, 'know best how to listen and teach us to listen', all united by 'the sensual appeal of words, the pain and pleasure they impart'. It is a book to treasure.

Review Quotes

Praise for Stories We Tell Ourselves: An engaging, erudite explanation of how he came to be where he now stands and is a warning against the cruel righteousness of many belief systems-- "Sunday Times"

A deeply personal collection of poems, images, and quotations . . . an anthology that will speak tenderly and sometimes searingly into lives that have more past than future, more memory than promise . . . This is an immensely readable book . . . beautiful and generous-- "Church Times"

Engaging and uplifting. . . . this personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what might be the answers to the world's biggest questions is both playful and inspiring . . . The richness of this book challenged the short space of a review-- "Daily Mail"

If every priest and imam, every MP and CEO, every person like you and me read this, then the world would be a better place. It is devastatingly humane. It blends science, philosophy and religion and admits the art (and artifice) in these avowedly objective forms. Erudition and empathy; I wept--DAMIAN BARR

Open-hearted and wide-minded . . . Holloway's commentary and anthology will indubitably bring a crumb of comfort to many readers-- "Scotsman"

There is much in this book to make you think, much to provoke argument for and against-- "Scotsman"

This is a marvellous book: refreshing, wise, sincere and sophisticated . . . a sustained work of spiritual autobiography . . . beautifully written . . . The Heart of Things is a moving book, and it does indeed ask the reader to reflect on last things-- "Tablet"

This may be the book I've been searching for, desperately, throughout most of my life . . . it represents a first step toward a new form of spiritual thought . . . What Holloway does most powerfully is dismiss certainty in all its forms, political as well as religious . . . Holloway brings a message of spiritual hope for all-- "Herald"

Thought-provoking [and] stimulating . . . a sane guide through the turbulence of the modern world, one written with humour and self-deprecating pessimism-- "Independent"

Wise, witty and provocative . . . This is an important book, for all of us who want to understand the world and each other. You put it down refreshed-- "The Tablet"

About the Author

Richard Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. A former Gresham Professor of Divinity and Chairman of the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Leaving Alexandria won the PEN/Ackerley Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. It was a Sunday Times bestseller, together with Waiting for the Last Bus.