In our era of email, smartphones, and wild consumerism, it's easy to lose sight of what's important. Few know this better than Haris Dimitriadis, an ex-corporate climber who one day realized that, although he had all the hallmarks of success-money, a good job, the respect of his peers-he wasn't happy. In fact, he felt hollow, dissatisfied, and anxious. Thankfully, he discovered Epicurus. In this pioneering thinker, Dimitriadis found a teacher whose ideas seemed specifically designed to cure our uniquely modern ache. Indeed, few classical philosophers remain as relevant and practical today; Epicurus' worldview is rooted in our senses, feelings, and natural dispositions. Sweeping aside our modern assumption that the acquisition of happiness is necessarily painful and regimented-think of our love for strict workouts, diets, hard work, and other ascetic practices-Epicurus declared that finding happiness is easy: we simply need to embrace our natural desires. With wit, rigor, and in simple, easy-to-understand language, Epicurus and the Pleasant Life joyfully brings Epicurus singing into the twenty-first century. Leading the reader through the worlds of philosophy, religion, neuroscience, psychology, and astrophysics, Dimitriadis and Epicurus present a great, self-affirming truth: that you too can lead a blissfully happy life, if you only learn how to reach out and take it.