Angelus News | July 2, 2021 | Vol. 6 No. 13

2021
BOOKS ISSUE
AN INNER LIFE
WORTH LIVING
After her conversion to Catholicism,
Zena Hitz discovered pleasure in
learning and study for its own sake.
Now, she wants you to.
BY MIKE AQUILINA
It was 2020, and the world suddenly
lost its bustle. Isolated from the
workplace and other social contact,
we were left with ourselves, and none
of our distractions seemed adequate to
the task of amusing us. We were ready
to learn how to think.
And then came Zena Hitz’s “Lost
in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures
of an Intellectual Life” (Princeton
University Press, $16.95). Reviews in
major media were effusive in their
praise. The Wall Street Journal called
it “disarmingly simple and deeply
engaging.” NPR praised it as “a very
thought-provoking book.” To scholar
Stanley Fish it was “thrilling.” Rapper
Zena Hitz | PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
MC Hammer called it “an amazing
book.”
“Lost in Thought” is part memoir
and part self-help book. Hitz tells
the story of how she achieved early
success in academia, only to find the
joy drained from her work. She had
entered the field of classics because
she loved literature, but then learned
that literature was often less important
to academic life than cliques, competition,
and gossip.
So she dropped out. She left a
high-prestige position and spent
several years revaluing the elements
of her life: work, friendships, reading,
and thinking. She also converted to
Catholicism.
She spoke with Angelus about her
discoveries, and why the life of the
mind is for everyone, not just the
elites.
There’s a rich tradition of books
that lead us in the cultivation of an
intellectual life, from Boethius to
A.G. Sertillanges. Why do we need
to be reminded so often?
The simple answer is that intellectual
life is always an effort! It’s an
achievement to live out our nature
in this way. We can survive at a bare
animal level without thinking or
studying. Worse, our inner autopilot
goes for impressing others or securing
comforts over the activities that matter
just for us and our own growth, like
study, prayer, and simple acts of love.
10 • ANGELUS • July 2, 2021