Image displaying the covers of five books titled 'Manuals of Life' and 'Sketches of Life' by Hendrik Deckers. The first three books are part of a series, with titles 'Live,' 'Upgrade,' and 'Liberate.' The last two are titled 'Walk With Bess' and 'Can Not Sleep,' each with subtitles about thoughts on walking and restless minds, featuring book covers with nature and indoor scenes.

A series of books for living with clarity, health, and meaning

Rooted in science, philosophy, and lived experience, Manuals of Life offers practical guides and thoughtful essays for people who want to live with clarity, health, and meaning.

Two series. One philosophy.

The Manuals

The Manuals of Life are structured guides for essential domains of living, including health, thinking, meaning, behaviour, attention, relationships, and the inner life. Each book focuses on one domain.

LIVE
A Manual for the Examined Life.

UPGRADE
A Blueprint for Energy, Health and Longevity.

LIBERATE
A Manifesto for the Thinking Human.

The Sketches

The Sketches of Life are reflective essays written from ordinary moments. Walking. Sleepless nights. Memory. Time. Kindness. These books do not instruct. They notice.

What I Think About When I WALK WITH BESS

What I Think About When I CAN NOT SLEEP

Meet the Author

The Manuals of Life philosophy of living well is a grounded worldview about agency, clarity, responsibility, and the reality of limits. Neither ideological nor mystical. Practical, secular, and human.

The Advanced Reader Circle

The Advanced Reader Circle is a small, private group of early readers who are invited to engage with selected Manuals of Life titles before public release.

Join the Advanced Reader Circle

Why This Exists

Manuals of Life exists because many intelligent people were never taught how to live deliberately.

We were taught how to perform, comply, succeed, and optimise. We were rarely taught how to care for our bodies, examine our beliefs, build meaning, protect our attention, or live consciously within limited time.

These books exist to address that gap. Calmly. Seriously. Without slogans or shortcuts.