Kindhearted, but confused activist Andrew Markovski hires a pair of eccentric 'existential detectives' to help him find the meaning of life. All the while, a sexy, French author is trying to throw a wrench in their plan by seducing Andrew's mind and body.

"Fleeing the social conformity required by the Communist government, he wanders deep into the regions of the Qiang, Miago, and Yi peoples located on the fringes of Han Chinese civilization and discovers a plethora of different traditions, history, legends, folk songs, and landscapes. Slowly, with the help of memory, imagination, and sensory experience, he reconstructs his personal past"--Jacket.

When thirteen-year-old Pierre Anthon leaves school to sit in a plum tree and train for becoming part of nothing, his seventh grade classmates set out on a desperate quest for the meaning of life.

When Silas Fortunato applies for an editorial position for the "spirituality" section of a local newspaper, he is asked to fill in a bubble sheet to mark his religion. The problem is, his beliefs don't fall within any of the categories. Silas believes that selflessness enlarges vision and that what a person should strive for is to be overcome by the beyond. He believes in honoring otherness and in giving questions credence over certainty. He calls...

"In powerful, formally inventive essays, The Visible Unseen disrupts the purported cultural divide between arts and science. As both a chemist and an award-winning author, Chapela zeros in on the literary metaphors buried in the facts and figures of her scientific observations. Through questioning scientific conundrums that lie beyond the limits of human perception, she winds up putting herself under the microscope as well. While considering the technical...

Explores the way atheism has evolved, deepened, matured, and gained unprecedented resonance and popularity as it has sought to replace an unknowable God in the afterlife with the voluptuous detail and warmth of this life, woven into art, philosophy, science, and a rational, secular morality.

"Languishing--the state of mental weariness that erodes our self-esteem, motivation, and sense of meaning--can be easy to brush off as the new normal, especially since indifference is one of its symptoms. It is not a synonym for depression and its attendant state of prolonged sadness. Languishers are more likely to feel out of control of their lives, uncertain about what they want from the future, and paralyzed when faced with decisions. Left unchecked,...

While trying to figure out the meaning of life, Amelia learns that even when the world is scary and life is as mystifying as ever, some things, such as friends, do last.