Publisher's Synopsis
Everyone worries about being judged. One foolish tweet can destroy a career, one careless image can ruin a reputation. Yet judgement is inescapable; we cannot be social beings without judging and being judged. We're stuck with judgement and all the awkwardness, embarrassment, shame, guilt and loneliness that can come with that.
Yet all is not lost in this arena of snap verdicts and social misfires. In this sensitive and creative book, Ziyad Marar reclaims judgement proposing that we need it in order to value ourselves and others; we can't live abundantly without the peaks and troughs of judgement. Drawing upon psychology, philosophy, TV, Film, poetry and literature, Marar reveals a world which takes seriously our need to reach out and connect and one where hope, however tentative, can blossom.
There are no easy answers here, but there are moments where our judging can become generous and forgiving; moments where the cracks in the world feel like possibilities rather than dead ends, moments when the light comes in.
"This is a lovely book, extraordinary in its range of reference and yet written with a wonderful lightness of touch. It’s also refreshingly disorientating. You will find yourself re-examining your judgement of others. More disturbingly, you will end up reappraising your own actions and motives. Do not expect to emerge unscathed!" - David Edmonds, author (with John Eidinow) of 'Wittgenstein’s Poker' and cohost of the Philosophy Bites podcast
