How Do You Live?

Anime master Hayao Miyazaki’s favorite childhood book, in English for the first time.
 
First published in 1937, Genzaburō Yoshino’s How Do You Live? has long been acknowledged in Japan as a crossover classic for young readers. Academy Award–winning animator Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle) has called it his favorite childhood book & announced plans to emerge from retirement to make it the basis of a final film. 
 
How Do You Live? is narrated in two voices. The first belongs to Copper, fifteen, who after the death of his father must confront inevitable & enormous change, including his own betrayal of his best friend. In between episodes of Copper’s emerging story, his uncle writes to him in a journal, sharing knowledge & offering advice on life’s big questions as Copper begins to encounter them. Over the course of the story, Copper, like his namesake Copernicus, looks to the stars, & uses his discoveries about the heavens, earth, & human nature to answer the question of how he will live.

This first-ever English-language translation of a Japanese classic about finding one’s place in a world both infinitely large & unimaginably small is perfect for readers of philosophical fiction like The Alchemist & The Little Prince, as well as Miyazaki fans eager to understand his many influences.

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Genzaburō Yoshino (1899-1981) was a Japanese writer & publisher. In 1935, he became director of a collection of educational books for young people. When the acclaimed writer Yūzō Yamamoto was unable to complete a book on ethics as part of the series, Yoshino stepped in & wrote How Do You Live?. Since its debut as a novel & guide to philosophy for young people, How Do You Live? has sold more than two million copies, & been re-edited & republished more than eighty times to reflect the changing times & culture in Japan.