How to Listen

Name: How to Listen
Price: 29.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780691265582

An Ancient Guide to Learning from Others

Plutarch, Jeffrey Beneker

$29.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Press
01 July 2026

Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500; Social & political philosophy; Self-help & personal development; Latin

Series: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers

Listening is a skill

even an art

and it's essential to learning and to life. Indeed, as Plutarch writes in How to Listen, 'listening well is the foundation for living well'. In this volume, Jeffrey Beneker presents a vivid and accessible new translation of Plutarch's classic essay about how to become a skilled listener, complete with an inviting introduction and the original Greek on facing pages.

Plutarch is most famous as the author of Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of Greek and Roman statesmen. But he was also an expert on teaching and learning and How to Listen is arguably one of his best pedagogical works. A proponent of active listening well before its time, Plutarch explains the skills we need

and the obstacles and distractions we must overcome

to become effective listeners. Good listening requires, above all, an acknowledgement of our own ignorance in certain subjects and a commitment to gaining knowledge. We must set aside pride and envy so we can respect the expertise of others. We must also train ourselves to see through style and focus on substance, to discriminate between weak and strong arguments, and to criticize ideas fairly and accurately.

Filled with shrewd insights and advice, How to Listen shows how to cultivate a skill that everyone who wants to learn and live well must master.

By: Plutarch
Edited and translated by: Jeffrey Beneker
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 171mm, Width: 114mm,
ISBN: 9780691265582
ISBN 10: 0691265585
Series: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers
Pages: 152
Publication Date: 01 July 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Plutarch (c. AD 40120), a native of Greece and a citizen of Rome, was a philosopher, writer, lecturer, and an expert on teaching and learning. He wrote many essays on ethics, history, science, and culture, in addition to Parallel Lives, his famous biographies of Greek and Roman statesmen. Jeffrey Beneker is professor of classics at the University of WisconsinMadison. He is the editor and translator of Plutarch's How to Be a Leader (Princeton) and the author of The Passionate Statesman: Eros and Politics in Plutarch's Lives.