SKU: 31534573366

On Giving Up

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On Giving UpOn Giving Up 'A wise, generous book' Washington Post From acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, a meditation on what we must give up to feel more alive. To give up or not to give up? The question can feel inescapable but the answer is never simple. Giving up our supposed vices is one thing; giving up on life itself is quite another. One form of self sacrifice feels positive, something to admire and aspire to, while the other is profoundly unsettling,

On Giving Up

'A wise, generous book' Washington Post

From acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, a meditation on what we must give up to feel more alive.


To give up or not to give up?

The question can feel inescapable but the answer is never simple.

Giving up our supposed vices is one thing; giving up on life itself is quite another. One form of self-sacrifice feels positive, something to admire and aspire to, while the other is profoundly unsettling, if not actively undesirable.

There are always, it turns out, both good and bad sacrifices, but it is not always clear beforehand which is which. We give something up because we believe we can no longer go on as we are. In this sense, giving up is a critical moment - an attempt to make a different future.

In On Giving Up, acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips illuminates both the gaps and the connections between the many ways of giving up, and helps us to address the central question: what must we give up in order to feel more alive?

'One of the finest prose stylists in the language, an Emerson of our time' John Banville

'The best living essayist writing in English' John Gray

'Adam Phillips promotes curiosity, improvisation and conflict as antidotes to the deadening effects of absolute certainty . . . Phillips sidles up to his subjects, preferring the gentle mode of suggestion to the blunt force of argument. His writing has a way of sneaking up on you, like a subterranean force' - New York Times

'A wise, generous book . . . There is a sense — quite a satisfying one, in fact — of circling around ideas, of each essay being ostensibly on a different theme from the others, but really treating the same concerns from a slightly different starting point . . . These essays won’t cure us, but they may make us curious' - Washington Post

'This short, subtle and nuanced book is a fast and stimulating read: an account of how giving up is a form of progress, and how giving up is a form of loss' - The Spectator

'Phillips invokes Freud, Kafka, Musil and Thomas Mann as helpmeets in illuminating knotty issues . . . This is not a book that provides answers but rather prompts the reader to question their own motivations and what different choices might mean' - New Statesman

'This roving collection of writings fuses the lexicon of psychotherapy with literary criticism to upend conventional ideas about common emotional experiences—among them repression, longing, and loss' - The New Yorker

'The prolific writings of Adam Phillips epitomise this modern day humanistic expression of psychoanalytic thinking . . . Phillips’s style throughout the book is almost effortlessly fluent and erudite . . . Invariably Phillips unearths layers of convolution that common sense overlooks. In true psychoanalytic fashion, what we think we want is unmasked as self-deception and what seems like pain has its pleasures. The stories we tell ourselves protect us from our fears and our adult preoccupations mask childish concerns' - The Conversation  

'An introspective look at the psychology of letting things go and aims to give readers some insight into their own lives in the process' - CNN

SPECIFICATIONS:

Author:Adam Phillips - Адам Филлипс

Publisher:Penguin

Language:English

Publication Date:2025

Number of pages:160 pst

Format:Paperback

Width:129 mm / 5,1'

Height:197 mm / 7,8'

Weight:118 g

ISBN:9781405958035

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SKU: 31534573366

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Ctg1363
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My tea stays warm to the bottom of the cup!!!
I am so glad I purchased this mug water. I drink tea all day but it cools down quickly. Since I purchased this mug warmer my tea stays hot to the bottom of the cup. The temperature is adjustable so you can keep your drink at your desired temperature. The top is glass and wipes clean easily. I like the rubber gasket that fits on top of the warmer. It keeps your mug in the center of the warmer and should you have a spill it catches the liquid. I've been using it every day for over a month now and it's going strong and is reliable. Perfect for personal use or as a gift.
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Sarah Akin
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
Keeps my coffee as hot as I want it to be
Color: Silver
This coffee warmer is much better than the candle warmer that I was using for my coffee before. With a range of 3 temperatures, I have a choice of temperatures from hot to very, very hot, and the warmer shuts itself off after a while, just in case I forget. The description advises that ceramic cups do not retain heat as well as flat-bottomed cups, but I have not found that to be a problem. Coffee in my ceramic mug stays as hot as I want it to be. The knob on the side makes this warmer easy to turn on and to select a temperature, plus I feel that it is a good value.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2026
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Cecilia Tosh
Louisville, US
★★★★★ 5
Perfect Mug Warmer
Color: Black
I bought this to replace one I'd had for more than 25 years & I'm glad I got this one. Keeps my hot drinks hot for hours & will shut off after that. Quickly heats back up when needed. Very sleek looking. Easy to set up. Just take it out of the box & plug it in.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2026
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Amazon Customer
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 5
I love it for my workspace! Hot tea all day
Color: Wood Grain
I love this item. The size is perfect, as I prefer something less bulky for my work desktop. It isn't as fancy as others that has the digital display screen, which is fine by me, because I don't necessarily need that. The knob and different colors that indicate the temperature range works fine. The temperature on this thing works fantastically well for me. Using it on the lowest setting keeps my drink nice and hot in a cold office. I use a heatproof glass teapot with this and its a good fit. It keeps my tea hot throughout the day, so I am able to pour smaller amounts of drink and take my time sipping it throughout the day without worrying that it will get cold. At point I almost forgot that it has an automatic shut-off safety feature when I noticed it was off. So that is a good feature to have. I highly recommend this.
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Draper, US
★★★★★ 4
Requires a very specific mug to be useful.
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The hotplate itself gets hot enough on its highest setting where it would burn your finger if you left it one there for more then a couple seconds. However when it come to what mug you can use to transfer that heat to your drink, this WILL NOT work with just any old ceramic, metal or glass mugs. You absolutely need to have a perfectly flat bottom on it. If the center of the bottom of the mug does not make direct contact with the very center of the warmer, it will not transfer heat. So straight way plan of spending another $15 to $20. Amazon has some available with good reviews all be it not a very big selection. I'm giving this 4 stars because the description needs to be very clear about this and its not.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2026

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