Changing My Mind - by Julian Barnes (Paperback)

About the Book

In these engaging and erudite essays, critically acclaimed writer Julian Barnes explores what is involved when we change our minds: about words, about politics, about books, about memories, about age and time. --

Book Synopsis

Bestselling author Julian Barnes illuminates the process of how minds are changed--about politics, books, words, memories, and more--in this wise and fascinating new book.

"We always believe that changing our mind is an improvement, bringing a greater truthfulness to our dealings with the world and other people. It puts an end to vacillation, uncertainty, weak-mindedness. It seems to make us stronger and more mature. Well, we would think that, wouldn't we?"

In these engaging and erudite essays, critically acclaimed writer Julian Barnes explores what is involved when we change our minds: about words, about politics, about books, about memories, about age and time.

Review Quotes

"Barnes is always a compelling essayist, steering clear of polemical thinking to carefully consider all angles of a topic, and the range of his references, from Dadaists to John Maynard Keynes, constantly astounds." --Booklist

"It feels right for Barnes to approach his topic through autobiography, in the first person. This genre goes back to Descartes' Meditations: epistemology as memoir. And like Descartes before him, Barnes confronts the specter of self-doubt." --Kieran Setiya, The Atlantic

"A witty, personal reflection on the ways we continually convince ourselves that 'we are consistent human beings rather than seaweed tossed around by the tides.'" --Ron Charles, The Washington Post

About the Author

Julian Barnes is the author of thirteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and the Sunday Times (UK) bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays, and three books of nonfiction, including the Sunday Times (UK) number-one bestseller Levels of Life and the winner of the 2021 Yasnaya Polyana Prize in Russia, Nothing to Be Frightened Of. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.