Transcendence for Beginners

By: Clare Carlisle

Published by New York Review of Books, 2026-04-07

A lyrical work of philosophy that draws from the work of Spinoza, George Eliot, biographers, memoirists, and more to examine how wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual human lives.

Transcendence for Beginners is an innovative book about philosophy and life writing, exploring how each practice might complement the other and so contribute to a greater understanding of human existence. In six short chapters, guided by a pantheon of exemplars drawn from European and Indian traditions as well as her own experience as a biographer and philosopher, Clare Carlisle examines how deep, genuine wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual lives.

Animated by the spirit of enquiry and the desire to share its rewards, Transcendence for Beginners is a generous, enlivening work by one of the UK’s most original thinkers.