Living to Best Advantage: Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

Educator Raffi Grinberg facilitates a discussion on practical lessons about how to live a fulfilling life from W. Somerset Maugham’s masterpiece, Of Human Bondage.

This literary masterpiece about growing into adulthood is shockingly relevant 100+ years later, and has deep, practical lessons to teach us about not falling in love with the wrong person, why you should give up on your dream career… and how to not lose all your money on meme stocks.

This highly participatory salon is for both people who have not read the book as well as people who have—or will—read the entire book.

We will summarize all the main plot points and dive deep into certain passages to extract meaning and practical takeaways. As Maugham wrote, “Can anything in the world be more practical than to learn how to live to best advantage?”*

Raffi Grinberg created and taught the course Adulting 101 at Boston College (the most popular course in the undergraduate business school). The course covered personal finance, relationships/communication, positive psychology, and career skills. Among the many readings assigned, Of Human Bondage was one of the only works of fiction, and served as a capstone to the course.

Questions we will cover:

• Why are you so self-conscious?
• How can you rid yourself of the “lies, lies, lies” you unconsciously assimilated while young?
• Should you give up on your dream career?
• How do you avoid falling prey to your destructive habits?
• Can certain friends ruin your life?
• What financial risks are worth taking?
• What is an “inner life” and why does it matter?
• Is it possible to do what you want to do vs. what you think you should do?

* That quote is actually from a different book by Maugham, The Razor’s Edge. (Don’t sue me.)

P.S. If you clicked here because the above image played to your baser instincts, you’re just like Phillip… except that instead of causing you to fall in love with a woman who ruins your life, it’s causing you to join an enriching and mind-expanding conversation!