Again and again we return to the question: how should we live? To Henry David Thoreau, the 19th-century author, philosopher and naturalist, the answer was simplicity itself. Here his biographer Laura Dassow Walls selects five key texts that explore the Thoreauvian way of thinking.

As questions of identity become a focus of political debate, interest in existentialism has been booming once more. Here, the philosopher Jonathan Webber discusses five classic books dealing with existentialist themes that deserve a bigger audience.

It’s an observable phenomenon that the gap in life satisfaction between the very young and the very old with those in their 40s is equivalent to that associated with getting a divorce. Kieran Setiya, the MIT philosopher and author of Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, chooses the best books to counsel you through this difficult period.

Philosophy is sometimes assumed to be a dry, academic subject but it also has much to say about how we live, love and relate to each other. Emrys Westacott chooses the best books on philosophy and everyday living.

Humanist ideas are not a recent phenomenon, but have been around for millennia, says Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK. He explains why it’s worth making a positive choice to be a humanist and recommends a great humanist reading list.

The Stoics offer us valuable strategies of thinking about and dealing with hardships that remain relevant for modern society, says the philosophy professor and author Massimo Pigliucci. Here he recommends the five books that best express the essence of Stoicism and how it might be applied to real life.

‘There was a research study done in the 1960s that identified that people will open themselves up to a stranger on a train and tell them deep personal information they would never tell their closest friends, partially because they have this sense that they can confess.’

Existentialist philosophy isn’t about bringing despair and angst into our lives, it’s about discovering our inner freedom, explains Sarah Bakewell, the author of At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails. She recommends the best books on Existentialism.

To learn how to live well we must look to the past, says social philosopher Roman Krznaric. He recommends five books, from Thoreau to Orwell, that inspire us to live more adventurously.

The Slovenian philosophy professor decries the tyranny of choice and says we now expect long life, a beautiful body, sexual and job satisfaction. But the idea that we can perfect ourselves dooms us to failure and misery

The challenges – and opportunities – of our times have never been greater. Everything from our models of political participation to the very architecture of our brains is at stake, says the novelist and technology blogger Nick Harkaway.

What does a moral life entail? How does one achieve it? Philosopher AC Grayling picks the best books on “being good.”

How much do we take in of the world around us? You can tell a lot more about your surroundings than you realise, if you only know how and where to look, as the psychologist explains

Finding meaning in life is not the same as finding happiness, argues Canadian philosopher Paul Thagard. He picks the best books on the meaning of life.

Most of us want to be happy, and yet it’s hard to achieve. Jonathan Haidt, psychologist and author of  the classic The Happiness Hypothesis, talks us through five books, old and new, to better understand happiness.