The Life Inside cover art

The Life Inside

A Memoir of Prison, Family and Learning to Be Free

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The Life Inside

By: Andy West
Narrated by: Simon Darwen
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About this listen

Can someone in prison be more free than someone outside? Would we ever be good if we never felt shame? What makes a person worthy of forgiveness?

Andy West teaches philosophy in prisons. Every day he has conversations with people inside about their lives, discusses their ideas and feelings, and listens as they explore new ways to think about their situation.

When Andy goes behind bars, he also confronts his inherited trauma: his father, uncle and brother all spent time in prison. While Andy has built a different life for himself, he still fears that their fate will also be his. As he discusses pressing questions of truth, identity and hope with his students, he searches for his own form of freedom too.

Moving, sympathetic, wise and frequently funny, The Life Inside is an elegantly written and unforgettable book. Through a blend of memoir, storytelling and gentle philosophical questioning, it offers a new insight into our stretched justice system, our failing prisons and the complex lives being lived inside.

©2022 Andy West (P)2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited Ethics & Morality Philosophy Social Sciences Funny

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Critic reviews

"An authentic, fascinating and deeply moving story about the different ways people search for freedom." (Terry Waite)

"Andy West’s tense and intimate book is an education - a completely unsentimental and, for that reason, a compassionate and moving one." (Geoff Dyer)

"Expands both heart and mind." (Ciaran Thapar)
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I loved the whole approach & style of story telling & reporting what went on. It was dense with examples from which I can learn a lot so need to dip in and hear it again.
Loved it…. A lot, well done

Read it again!

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Gentle beautiful honest exploration of philosophical and personal dilemmas of prisoners in prison and in our own prisons.

wonderful exploration of philosophy in prison

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An absolutely brilliant and fascinating book, excellently written and I was kept interested the whole way through.
Definitely would recommend.

Brilliant and Fascinating Book

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Excellent writing, reminiscent of Orwell's - that perfect balance of scene setting and story telling that immerses you totally.
As a prison teacher myself, I'm impressed by how well Andy West has managed to depict prison education and the experience of working 'inside'.
This book is as often touching as it is eye opening, and on many occasions I found myself unsure whether I wanted to cry or laugh out loud!
The book explores some of the floors of our justice system from a perspective that is usually hidden from public view. I would argue that one SHOULD read this book so as to become better informed of the actual effect of prisons in Britain.
Read well too, I cannot recommend this enough!

Stop wasting your time and GET THIS BOOK!

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What a fascinating book to look at how philosophy can apply to people’s lives, and in this case, the teacher who has a father, brother and uncle who have been involved in all sorts of criminal escapades and spent time in jail, is now trying to support other prisoners lives by showing them how philosophy can help prepare you for life – both inside and outside of prison.
- Some of the philosophical conundrums include looking at identity, freedom, shame, desire, luck, happiness, time, madness, trust, salvation, forgetting, truth, looking, laughter, race, change, stories, home, and kindness. The author tells a story and then asks what it means. He tells the story of how Ulysses listened to the Songs of the Sirens who sang a song so beautiful that sailors would kills themselves rather than flee, to continue listening to the sung songs – the prisoners compare it to drugs. That won’t be the first time. He uses the Stoics, Shakespeare, Beckett and philosophers old and new to help prisoners learn more about themselves and the life around them. Is life down to luck or what we make of it, is it all just determined like the throw of a dice or is life more like a game of chess? Using these tools help us to navigate the paths through life that we all will take.
- Populations in prison have doubled over the last few years - this is because we are now putting people in prison for historical crimes. What's interesting about the book as the author shares the lessons of ancient Greek philosophers and many modern ones as well as stories and works from literature using examples to make people think about their prison sentence and if they can at least be free in their minds using works by Viktor Frankl and Primo Levi (both Holocaust survivors).
- The lessons allow the prisoners to discuss the human condition – is life meaningless, absurd, and just a series of random events or does it have a purpose and meaning.
- The book also gives a viewpoint and voice to some of the prisoners who are serving time in prison.
- I also like the idea that Philosophy is a way of helping us to prepare for death without all the spiritual religion.
- One of the inmates explains that people only know what they know and describes being inside to the world we were living in under Covid – it was just like being in prison. An Illuminating and thought-provoking book.

interesting look at philosphy

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I made the mistake of trying to get ‘along’ with the narrators voice. But I couldn’t. I personally found his voice, tone and clipped intonation, abrasive and hard. I was so looking forward to this as the subject of the book was very interesting. But try as I might I felt there was over enunciation which I found distracting.

I managed 15 mins

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