10 books

Philosophical Fiction

Philosophical fiction uses narrative — or in some cases prose poems and dialogues — to explore fundamental questions about how to live, what we know, and what we owe each other. It encompasses Plato's dialogues, Stoic handbooks, Nietzsche's prophetic parables, and the kind of novel — Candide, Don Quixote, Siddhartha — that keeps one eye on the argument and the other on the story.

Philosophical texts are among the most immediately applicable books you can read — they are about the shape of a life, not just about history or story. Many of them are also very short: The Art of War is 10,000 words; The Enchiridion is 10,000 words; The Death of Ivan Ilyich is 16,000 words.

• ›Explicit engagement with questions of how to live
• ›Aphoristic writing that compresses wisdom into short form
• ›Protagonists who are seekers, not just characters
• ›Ideas presented through dialogue, parable, or quest narrative