Montaigne began his essais ("attempts" or "tests") preoccupied with mortality, following the deaths of all but one of his children, his brother, best friend and father. One of his early essays is entitled "To Philosophise Is to Learn to Die". However, as Frampton explains in this intelligent and sympathetic study, Montaigne gradually came to reject despair and to conclude that "living happily  is the source of human happiness". In short, he came to value everyday life, albeit from the "shell-like protection" of a book-lined tower in his château. Frampton neatly contrasts him with Descartes, showing Montaigne to be more human and humane. Montaigne's scepticism also appeals to modern sensibilities and he adopted the magnificent motto Que sçais-je?  what do I know? It ought to be on every coat of arms, secular and ecclesiastical, throughout the land. Montaigne's "human-centred" philosophy, Frampton argues, could help us gain self-knowledge, too, but this is not the middlebrow self-help book the title suggests, and is all the better for it.