Wise, Frank Tallis
Wise, Frank Tallis
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Wise
Finding Purpose, Meaning and Wisdom Beyond the Midpoint of Life

Author: Frank Tallis

Narrator: Simon Shepherd

Unabridged: 8 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/05/2026

Categories: Nonfiction, Psychology


Synopsis

'Transformative . . . gripping . . . sincerely recommended' GUARDIAN

'Frank Tallis is one of the most insightful psychologists of our time . . . Wise is for anyone, young or old, in search of happiness' JACK SYMES

'This is a rich and beautiful book' GWEN ADSHEAD, author of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

We are living longer and our lifespan after the middle years continues to extend due to medical advances. But how do you age wisely? How do you remain psychologically healthy and fully engaged given the immense and daunting challenges of later life - accumulated regrets, loss, disappointments, physical deterioration, and mortality?

From ancient Greece to the 21st century, the greatest philosophers and psychologists have considered these questions, and remarkably, their opinions converge. There is a single essential task - integration - that once accomplished, equips us to cope with the many problems we are likely to encounter as we get older. What's more, their insights are supported by cutting-edge neuroscience. Exploring the common ground shared by the Stoics and the Existentialists, William James and CG Jung, Iain McGilchrist and Daniel Siegel, clinical psychologist Frank Tallis has written his own essential alternative to the standard self-help prescriptions.

Frank Tallis takes on such questions as how we can embrace and accept our mortality when our brains are hard-wired to resist it, how we can achieve meaning in our lives, and how we can understand the passage of time and make the most of it. It's immensely readable whilst also intelligent and thought-provoking.

About Frank Tallis

Dr Frank Tallis is a writer and clinical psychologist. His non-fiction books include The Incurable Romantic, The Act of Living and Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna and The Discovery of the Modern Mind, which was a book of the year in The Times. In the TLS William Boyd said 'Tallis' clear-eyed judicious analysis is the best I've read'. Tallis is also the author of the Liebermann Papers, a psychoanalytic detective series set in Freud's Vienna and adapted for television as the BBC drama Vienna Blood. He lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kent on February 18, 2026

A very nice overview of psychoanalysis as it relates to aging. Not exactly as described in the title, but a great historical overview.......more

Goodreads review by Eloise on April 04, 2026

The right book at the right time.......more

Goodreads review by Franziska on March 22, 2026

This book resonated with me, and I enjoyed the insights Tallis shared from multiple ways of living about the 2nd half of life. He goes through the definitions of wise, which I enjoyed, and shares ways to avoid bitterness. I'd recommend this book as it inspires reflection.......more


Quotes

Frank Tallis is one of the most insightful psychologists of our time. In Wise, he explores life's most urgent questions - our purpose and mortality - with clarity and humility. What emerges is a deeply profound book, where psychology, philosophy, and lived experience come together to show us how to live... Wise is for anyone, young or old, in search of happiness Jack Symes

This is a rich and beautiful book. Using a range of perspectives and vignettes, Frank Tallis shows, rather than tells, us about the diverse ways that we might attain wisdom; wisdom that we need to sustain us as we move into the autumn of our years Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know

Transformative... gripping... sincerely recommended Guardian

Wide ranging and well organised... a prompt from the outside world to access the resources we already have yet don't quite appreciate for the journey that lies ahead The Times