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Ikigai cover art

Ikigai

Written by: Héctor García,Francesc Miralles
Narrated by: Naoko Mori
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The international bestseller.

We all have an ikigai.

It's the Japanese word for ‘a reason to live’ or ‘a reason to jump out of bed in the morning’. 

It’s the place where your needs, desires, ambitions and satisfaction meet. A place of balance. Small wonder that finding your ikigai is closely linked to living longer.

Finding your ikigai is easier than you might think. This audiobook will help you work out what your own ikigai really is and equip you to change your life. You have a purpose in this world: your skills, your interests, your desires and your history have made you the perfect candidate for something. All you have to do is find it.

Do that and you can make every single day of your life joyful and meaningful.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.

©2017 Francesc Miralles and Héctor García (P)2017 Random House Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"Ikigai gently unlocks simple secrets we can all use to live long, meaningful, happy lives. Science-based studies weave beautifully into honest, straight-talking conversation.... Warm, patient, and kind, this book pulls you gently along your own journey rather than pushing you from behind." (Neil Pasricha, best-selling author of The Happiness Equation)

What listeners say about Ikigai

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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If you don't know your ikigai you have to find it

Ten rules of Ikigai
Stay Active
Take it slow
Don't fill your stomach
Surround yourself with good friends
Get in shape before your next birthday
A cheerful attitude
Re-connect with nature
Thank your ancestors & nature
Live in the Moment
Follow your Ikigai

122 people found this helpful

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Calm like my grandmother👵

It does give some pointed reasons and directions to cultivate better habits and improve life balance

18 people found this helpful

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why should you read?

Perfect narrator. This book is for all the confused souls out there or anyone who wants to be happy.

16 people found this helpful

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A mixture of known facts!!

Nothing new! Be positive, active and do what you love and voilà ikagai!! Where is the revalation??

15 people found this helpful

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Always valued that inner connect

Life is beautiful.
Schooling must include such topics and practices mentioned in the book. In gurukuls this is the daily practice.

14 people found this helpful

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😍

Smoothie sound of narrator.
well packed book about for living it at fullest and longest.

14 people found this helpful

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A compelling read.

The book is invaluable to anyone who is planning to restart life on a positive note.

11 people found this helpful

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nothing you already dont know

found it to be very little informative and does not have any thing that you already do not know

8 people found this helpful

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nothing new

if you are already a book reader ,you won't get anything new said in this book,but for beginners it's good book.

7 people found this helpful

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Best listen

content is very good, audio quality is not good, best learning stay active, eat until 80% full

2 people found this helpful

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  • Christine
  • 03-02-18

Too shallow to really make a difference

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This book is not bad, but just too shallow and simplistic to make a real difference. Many points the writers make seem to be explained either too little, or seem to be woven into the Japanese culture too much for a member of Western society to be able to adapt it so quickly. For example, the writers tell the listener there is no Japanese word for ''retirement''. How do the writers then expect a Western reader to immediately understand and adapt to the Japanese idea of never retiring when they have grown up with retirement all embedded in their life? There's also a much too optimistic description of how ''every Japanese person has a passion they follow'' and how this keeps them going. Why not tell the reader the whole story, about the crushing pressure the Japanese society holds on people, the pressure to succeed, to get a good job, to behave perfectly and be humble and agreeable and whatnot? Perhaps the people of a 100 years old did not feel this pressure yet in their youth, but the current Japanese society is definitely not as ideal and full of ''passion'' as these writers try to make it seem. This book is written like an unrealistic, idealistic fairytale that just does not hit the right spot. A real shame.

What about Naoko Mori’s performance did you like?

The voice of Naoko was very nice to listen to. It was soft and the Japanese words came out so perfectly, they made a welcome change to the English.

3 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 04-03-20

Great book, new found love for Japanese culture

I find this book quite relaxing to listen to, plenty of little information on how to make your life better but small changes that we can do right now.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Nicki
  • 01-02-18

Illuminating

Beautiful and insightful principles to live a long and happy life. I want to listen to this book all over again, and I’ve only just finished it!

2 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Matilda
  • 12-03-23

Shallow and exoticising text, but well read

I was hopeful about this book, but ultimately I was disappointed by the toxic exoticising and fat shaming in the book. The European authors take a shallow view of Japanese culture and try to package it as a neat, consumable concept. I was unimpressed with the out-dated diet advice in what I'd been lead to believe was a book about examining one's life purpose. Furthermore, I was hoping it would give clear instructions for finding one's Ikigai, and kept listening expecting this to come, but it never did. The text was largely repetitive and unoriginal, quoting from many other sources without using these other works to develop a new thesis.

I thought the narrator Naoko Mori did a good job with the material, but at the same time, I feel (perhaps cynically) that the publishers were trying to give the audiobook an air of authenticity by using a Japanese narrator.

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  • lj
  • 21-02-23

Generic dribble

I picked this up looking for an explanation of Ikigai and got chapter after chapter of generic advice coupled with a review of a holiday in Japan

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  • Drew McGee
  • 15-02-23

Good exposure to various philosophies and exercise

Over the past 6 months, I've been on a mission to listen to a dozen books on forming habits, ignoring distractions, and cultivating happiness. This is one of the last books, and it IS simple in comparison to "How to Read a Book" or "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", but that's not entirely a bad thing.

While this book does tend to romanticize Japanese culture as somehow better and more in tune with nature than Western societies - and therefore leading to longer life - it provides a nice overview and exposure to various schools of thought and exercise. Personally, I have an on-and-off-again relationship with yoga, but as the narrator spoke about the different styles, I was reminded of all the various practices I have participated in, and it made me curious about the different styles of Tai Chi. This curiosity in new (to me) and various topics discussed in this book is - for me - the real value.

The rest of the book is a good reminder to practice patience, don't overeat, move, be around friends and loved ones, and to give yourself a break for not having life figured out.

Lastly, the performance is soothing. It might be a good book to listen to while doing a familiar yoga practice, or while sitting on the couch and sipping hot tea. Enjoy!

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 28-01-23

Not impressed by delivery

Important message, but was expecting more from the bestseller. Very simple narrative, unimpressed. Waste of time to describe physical exercises.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Shwetha
  • 30-11-22

Excellent book

What a beautiful book and loved to listening

Passion inside you - Ikigai

Your vision is to discover

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Namrata Sharma
  • 29-11-22

Re emphasising on simplicity

Good read but nothing unexpected . Good change after reading medical books for a while. This book teaches me ‘it is very simple to be happy but it very difficult to be simple’ in todays world .

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  • Anonymous User
  • 25-11-22

Ikigai

Lovely work, good advice and deep explanation with simple words. Humans needs to bond with nature

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  • cbferreira
  • 18-09-18

Superficial

Very superficial - no significant depth in any of the topics approached. Pseudo scientific statements with no reference to actual studies and sometimes inaccurate. Hard to distinguish between evidence-based observations and their narrative.

10 people found this helpful

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  • Mr S R Godfrey
  • 19-09-20

Gave up after 5 chapters

Having read a number of books now on Audible about Ikigai I was looking forward to this,but I have found I was more drawn in by the beautiful book cover which is far better than any of the content.
This book feels like it has been written to showcase the writers skills at reference other authors work and I got so so bored of the constant referencing of other works. There is no personal interpretation of Ikigai at all and it feels like this a book that uses Ikigai as a way to lure would be readers in by throwing the word Ikigai very loosely every 5 paragraphs or so.
Lacking in any warmth, feeling or purpose this book felt soulless and more like a text book that rambled through differing pieces of work.
Very disappointed at the waste of a credit. At least if I had bought the hardback I would have had a beautiful cover for my desk if nothing else.

6 people found this helpful

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  • juozas kasiulis
  • 24-03-18

Though provoking

Really enjoyable audiobook. It explains well the ikigai concept gives plenty of examples. Also there are plenty of mental physical practises to achieve longer better life.
Narration well done.
I am glad I bought it.

6 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 30-11-18

Nice overview, somewhat unscientific

I liked the book, but it was not very information dense. It gives a nice overview of all aspects of living a good life. However it did put too much emphasise on personal accounts and correlation rather than causation which made it somewhat scientifically dubious. Good listen though!

2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Yozora0ryuu
  • 09-09-22

Not for me

If you don't want to listen to this book. Everything you need to know is, make sure to exercise and eat just below your max capacity.
It was recommended to me by my friend and I gave it a try, but I just didn't feel the same kind of connection that other people had with this book. I was hoping it would be a story about the people in Japan and their life, but it kept going on and on about the same thing of eating and exercise which kept getting repeated. I especially got bored towards the middle and end where it started to talk about theories and ideas from different people/group. I listened it till the end just to make sure I didn't miss anything and gave it a fair shot. Maybe YOU might find it interesting, but it was not for me.

1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Juan C Villasmil Ortega
  • 07-12-21

great

Great book to inspire people to change their lifestyle and have a happy life

1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Kindle Customer
  • 12-03-21

the secret is out

loved it, finished listening to it in one day, recommend it to anybody who wants to die an old old man or woman.

1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • kat30
  • 21-07-20

Very nicely narrated

Gives you food for thought. Simple princeples that are easy to incorporate into your life

1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Christianne0406
  • 14-05-20

Spellbinding

I was blown away by this book, and went through it in one weekend. Everyone should read this.

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 19-06-18

Thought provoking!

Thought provoking indeed! I'm certainly going to look for my Ikigai. Beautifully read and the perfect distraction to a busy life.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 06-01-20

Helpful if I was an elderly Japanese villager!

Not at all what I was expecting. Nothing about discovering or striving to find your Ikigai. All about how to grow old & be happy in a Japanese village, don’t see how I could apply much of this in western suburbia.

7 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Grant
  • 12-12-21

I expected more on the culture , not exercising.

I wanted more on the history and the culture, not on how to exercise. its mostly about be good to each other, eat healthy, be happy . It felt like the book was just trying to fill in time.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 06-06-19

Find it! If you haven’t already found it. What’s your ikigai?

I really loved this deep dive into the Japanese secret of living a full and happy life. I stumbled upon this concept as a way of life when combine with being on a hero’s journey so I’m really glad that this book was written, it’s one that I believe every man woman and child should read, then the world will be a better place.

2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 01-09-20

Good but a bit of a rehash

I loved the narrator and overall the book was okay. I would recommend reading if you haven't read many books in the personal development area. However, as someone who has read/listened to the few bigger books in the PD area (e.g. Flow, Mindset, etc.), much of the book felt like recaps. It would've been appreciated if the link between those concepts and ikigai was made clearer.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 26-02-23

Thoroughly Enjoyed

I felt I got a lot out of this book. I would definitely recommend it to others.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 20-02-23

Her voice is so comforting & soothing

I loved this book and finding the meaning of this word and doing activities now to find my ikigai! I think I was already on this path but the Japanese people are naturally a very clever people.

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  • Gregorio
  • 15-02-23

Great book

Soft, insightful and great incentive to slow down down and reflect on life and your own “flow”

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Camilo P.
  • 05-02-23

I in general it was a good book

No Has a few good advice for life.
Worth reading together an extra perspective on life, happiness, and purpose now.

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Roger Eduardo
  • 18-01-23

Good bur could be better

My impression is that there is more to the subject but they decided to keep the book quick and easy.

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Daddy
  • 29-12-22

A lot of