"“[A] clear-eyed, meticulously argued study. . . . By bringing grief to philosophy Mr. Cholbi brings philosophy closer to the other humanities; he’s as incisive a critic as he is a philosopher."---Hamilton Cain, Wall Street Journal

“A clever, deeply touching book, Grief adds to the growing canon of important, thoughtful writing on this inevitable stage of life that we all need to understand and learn more about. Taking a new, philosophical perspective, Michael Cholbi invites us to think in a way that is accessible but serious—we are all philosophers after all.”—Juliet Rosenfeld, author of The State of Disbelief: A Story of Death, Love, and Forgetting“Socrates claimed that all of philosophy is training for death, but philosophers have nevertheless been strangely silent on bereavement and grief. Fortunately, we now have Michael Cholbi’s book, which takes us through the key philosophical questions about grief. Revolving around the paradox of grief—that it is painful yet valuable—Cholbi writes clearly and wisely about this fundamental human phenomenon. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in grief: philosophers, humanists, and general readers will all benefit from it.”—Svend Brinkmann, author of Grief: The Price of Love“Informed, erudite, and humane, this outstanding book investigates the scope, nature, value, and rationality of grief, presenting a ‘qualified optimism’ against accounts that see grief as a weakness, a source of shame, and a threat to our humanity. Cholbi skillfully deploys resources from philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, literature, and medicine to enhance our understanding of grief, and the book will be of great interest to all those working in these fields, and indeed any of us who want to know more about this central but philosophically neglected element of human experience.”—Michael S. Brady, author of Suffering and Virtue“An engaging and illuminating contribution to the philosophy of death, Grief advances a novel and surprising account of what grief is and what makes it rationally defensible, valuable, and perhaps even obligatory. A humane, thoughtful, and insightful book, Grief will be invaluable to sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, while general readers will also find it accessible and compelling.”—Patrick Stokes, author of Digital Souls: A Philosophy of Online Death