Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Seven Meanings in Life. The threads that connect

Syv meninger med livet

The myriad invisible threads that connect us humans to each other, but also to everything around us, form a vast and ever expanding tapestry, enabling each of us to add our tiny voice to the great planetary choir that stretches back in time and forth in space. This is a book about these threads and how they make human lives meaningful.

The meanings in life are sustainable, climate-neutral and often free. They consist in relationships. After finishing the first draft of this book, the author realised that what he had done was to compose a long essay about the threads that connect us humans to each other, and also to everything around us. Together, these filaments create an immense tapestry, a meshwork that enables each of us to be a tiny voice in a great planetary choir that stretches back in time and forth in space. These threads are what makes life meaningful, and the book will show you why and how.

The book was a bestseller in Norway from the moment it was published in autumn 2022.

Hylland eriksen syv meninger med livet 9788248929680

“(…) an incredibly exciting book that I almost read in one stretch (…)”

Per Jacobsen, publisher at EC Editions, Denmark

“Hylland Eriksen writes well about the value of longing and about how the society of abundance creates distinctive existential challenges.”

NRK
Hylland eriksen naerbilde
Photo: Yngve Vogt

Thomas Hylland Eriksen is Professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo and the author of numerous books on anthropological and cultural issues, including Small Places, Large Issues and Tyranny of the Moment, which have both enjoyed tremendous success in Norway and abroad. From 1993 to 2001 he was affiliated with the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture at the University of Oslo. His research spans ethnic relations, nation building and cultural dynamism in multicultural societies and he has written several books on such subjects. He has carried out field work in Mauritius and Trinidad.