I was about 13 when an uncle gave me a copy of Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World.

It was full of ideas that were new to me, so I spent the summer with my head in and out of that book.

It spoke to me and brought me into a world of philosophy.

That love for philosophy lasted until I got to college.

Nothing kills the love for philosophy faster than people who think they understand Foucault, Baudrillard, or Confucius better than you — and then try to explain them.

Eric Weiner's The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers reawakened my love for philosophy.

It is not an explanation, but an invitation to think and experience philosophy.

Weiner starts each chapter with a scene on a train ride between cities and then frames each philosopher's work in the context of one thing they can help us do better.

The end result is a read in which we learn to wonder like Socrates, see like Thoreau, listen like Schopenhauer, and have no regrets like Nietzsche.

This, more than a book about understanding philosophy, is a book about learning to use philosophy to improve a life.