Herald of a Restless World

“A vivid, graceful biography.”—New York Times Editors' Choice

“Lively and deft.”—New York Times

“Insightful…a much-needed reintroduction of Bergson to English-language readers.”—Wall Street Journal

“Fascinating and lively…[Herring] has a genius for condensing complex philosophical and scientific postulates into digestible bites.”—Nation

“The best introduction I know of to Bergson’s life and thought, in either English or French. It is also the most delightful book I’ve read about him, written with clarity, joy, humor, and narrative drive.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

"A good primer on [Bergson's] ideas, which are needed more than ever.”—Economist

“The most intellectually stimulating book I read this year.”—John Banville, New Statesman

“Intellectual history at its finest.”—New Criterion

“[Herring is] a great writer with a light touch. She finds ways of telling stories and relating ideas and thinkers and thoughts and social events that are completely compelling… It is a really significant debut and she is a writer to watch.”—Five Books, “The Best Philosophy Books of 2024”

“Very entertaining.”—The New European

“Lucid and moving…Ms. Herring’s biography is an extraordinary portrayal of a man and his ideas. It is difficult to imagine a biography of a thinker better than hers.”—New York Sun

“Very readable… [Herring] presents a lively picture of an oddly contradictory character.”—Society for Psychical Research

“Herring has a gift for description that makes her writing deeply engaging. The book is well plotted and draws the reader back to scenes as the narrative of a novel might do. Deemed a great writer who could plainly communicate complex ideas, Bergson, therefore, is deserving of a biographer who follows in his path.” —Spectrum Culture

“Written in graceful prose and drawing a clear analogy with contemporary techno-optimism and its discontents, this captivates.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A solidly researched and earnestly accessible portrait of a creative, free-thinking intellect."—Kirkus

“From perfumed ladies to end-of-life mud baths, this beautifully written book tells the story of a seemingly unassuming, bowler-hatted Frenchman whose philosophy would sweep the world. Its profound ideas—evolution, consciousness, time—are explored with depth and humor in a way that is, appropriately, creative and new. Emily Herring has captured the magic and the mystique of Bergson.”—Emily Thomas, author of The Meaning of Travel

“Henri Bergson thought nothing could be learned about a philosopher’s ideas by studying their life. Herring proves him very wrong in this engaging biography of the Parisian thinker who accidentally became an international celebrity.”—Nigel Warburton, author of A Little History of Philosophy

“With flair and verve, Herring unveils the life and philosophy of the enchanting and trailblazing icon of change and creativity: Henri Bergson. The result is a fascinating biography and magnificent revival of this brilliant thinker who was once the most influential philosopher in the world. Herring’s beautifully compelling narrative shows how Bergson’s ideas still hold the power to illuminate the human experience and the meaning of life.”—Skye Cleary, author of How to Be Authentic

“Thanks to Herring, Bergson is back—and it’s about time.”—Matthew Sweet, author of Operation Chaos