Robert Jensen will read from and discuss his new book, “This I Don’t Believe: A Fulfilling Life without Meaning.” Jensen is in town for a September 18 reading at Books on the Bosque. He graciously offered to stay in town another day to meet with us.

Jensen, an Emeritus Professor in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author of a dozen books on politics and culture. He lives in Arroyo Seco with his wife, the singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson.

This I Don’t Believe confronts the common fear that life has no intrinsic meaning and then describes one path to fulfillment without it. Mixing memoir and philosophy, Jensen invites readers to ponder the possibility of life without transcendence. Rejecting common sources of meaning—belief in God, spirituality, Nature mysticism, and free will—need not leave us stuck with nihilism. Drawing on his work as a journalist and professor, Jensen suggests that a life of thinking and work—joyful inquiry into a wonderfully complex world, coupled with a practice of ordinary labor—is enough to create a fulfilling life.