A lovely find from a brief passing through Brussels; the book had recently been out. Sarah Bakewell has been working in the field of humanist literature for a while, and of hers there is also How to Live: A Life of Montaigne. But instead of a deep dive in one single person, Humanly Possible delves into the broader tradition, spanning from Ancient Greece to the contemporary times, interweaving a history of something whose precise definition took second place to its manifestation.

The result is a tremendously readable effort, in a style of wonder and curiosity which mirrors what one would argue humanism to be itself about.