Review: A Glossary of Life by Manny Garcia

Language is arguably the most important advancement of our species, the tool that helps us define and explain our experience and existence. While all words are useful, some are timelessly tied up in mystery, wisdom, philosophy and emotion. Author Manny Garcia has collected and defined some of these universally significant ideas in his new book A Glossary of Life: Deeper Meaning Behind Our Most Common Words, which is almost certainly unlike any text you’ve ever read.

If you’re expecting a narrative story, this isn’t the book for you. As the title implies, it truly is a glossary – one that covers some of the most powerful concepts we wrestle with on a daily basis: anger, competition, destiny, judgment, growth, meditation, progress, wisdom and so many in between. This isn’t a book that is meant to be read cover to cover; in fact, A Glossary of Life may (should?) take you years to read every entry. Like a Wikipedia waterfall, one concept will lead to another, and this glossary contains the vast majority of heavy-hitting existential subjects.

While most glossaries are objective and fact-based descriptions of measurable phenomena, this one has far more elements of subjectivity, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The opening description of “Soul” is particularly poignant, and captures the spirit of how Garcia writes—“Think of the body and mind together as a metaphorical instrument that can produce beautiful ‘musical’ works such as architecture, philosophy, science, and poetry.” Most entries will make you pause, ponder, and then read the whole thing again, just to make sure it sinks in.

Without slipping into an academic or stuffy style, Garcia delivers his own personal brand of wisdom, through humorous anecdotes, spiritual explanations, and general life advice, which is, at times, fearlessly blunt. Distilling big-picture ideas into a few pages, let alone a single paragraph, is something beyond most people’s ability to summarize, but one that Garcia tackles with admirable skill.

Garcia breaks down complex thoughts into simple, relatable terms, which is much more complicated than it might appear at first glance; he doesn’t oversimplify these terms, and allows them to keep their complexity even in an abridged format. This is a rare skill, as it demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the world, one which is detached and yet intensely engaged, clinical and compassionate at the same time. To construct such a book, and put one’s personal stamp on some of the most controversial and complicated elements of human life, is an ambitious goal, to say the least.

There are the occasional moments when the personal paintbrush of the author veers into his own beliefs, but these opinions are far from harmful. The author, as he explains in the foreword, is not telling us what to think, but simply encouraging us to think. As such, his occasional moments of intimate revelation are endearing and instructive in their own way.

Overall, A Glossary of Life is one glossary that does not deserve to be relegated to the back of some other text. This book should stand alone and be opened often, for a quick but deep dive into the essential link between language and the human experience.