Teach yourself to live - C G L Du Cann

First published in 1955, Teach Yourself to Live is an enchanting and eccentric commentary on how best to live the fullest life and to develop one's self to one's fullest capacity. Acknowledging that you can only attain this fullness by living and not reading about it, this book does not preach a certain lifestyle but is crammed full of timeless wisdom and humourous anecdotes that are sure to inspire, provoke reflection and make you laugh.

Home should be for you, not you for the home. Make your home lest it should make you - what you should not be. Your home should be congenial, like its shell to the snail.

The use of leisure can be foolish or fruitful. Its use is not necessarily wasted because it is not directly purposeful. A man may take his ease with a drink or a smoke in a restaurant or even a public-house, or at home. This may put no money in his pocket or ideas in his head. Nevertheless, this doing nothing may be all right for him - in moderation. Apparent idleness may not be real idleness. We need to dream as well as to do.

In 2008 Teach Yourself will celebrate its 70th anniversary. As part of our plans to commemorate this publishing phenomenon, we will publish four facsimiles of some of our quirkiest and classic titles. Each of these facsimiles will look and feel exactly like the originals; hardback, dust-jacket, end papers. They will be beautiful (and very competitively priced) little books.