Unforbidden Pleasures

Written by Adam Phillips

Narrated by Steven Crossley

Much has been written of the forbidden pleasures. But what of the "unforbidden" pleasures?

Unforbidden Pleasures is the singular new book from Adam Phillips, the author of Missing Out, Going Sane, and On Balance. Here, with his signature insight and erudition, Phillips takes Oscar Wilde as a springboard for a deep dive into the meanings and importance of the unforbidden, from the fall of our "first parents," Adam and Eve, to the work of the great psychoanalytic thinkers.

Forbidden pleasures, he argues, are the ones we tend to think about, yet when you look into it, it is probable that we get as much pleasure, if not more, from unforbidden pleasures than from those that are taboo. And we may have underestimated just how restricted our restrictiveness, in thrall to the forbidden and its rules, may make us. An ambitious book that speaks to the precariousness of modern life, Unforbidden Pleasures explores the philosophical, psychological, and social dynamics that govern human desire and shape our everyday reality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515975465

Adam Phillips

Adam Phillips is the author of eleven previous books, including Side Effects and Houdini's Box. He writes regularly for the New York Times, the London Review of Books, and The Observer. He lives in London.