What is the ultimate reality? Can we know it? Is there a God? Is there anything at all? If so, what? Why is there anything? What is consciousness? Am I really free to choose? How do I know when I know? In his book What's It All About?, Richard de la Chaumière explores the basic questions and answers that human beings have asked and sought since the beginning of time. Delving into the domains of philosophy, religion, psychology and science, the author examines various answers provided by such fields of inquiry; however, de la Chamière does not himself adjudicate these answers. His intent is to encourage the readers to reflect and develop their own theories and answers. For him, "to deeply reflect on the basic questions is to honor existence itself, to not take it for granted, and to not just go through the motions of living. To ask the basic questions is to not confine our existence to our individual, daily lives but to expand our awareness to the wider connections of human species, the life community, and the universe." [p. 35] The book is divided into six chapters. The first chapter outlines the basic questions most humans will deliberate on at one time or another during their lifetime. How one ought to live, is there life after death, why am I here, is life worth living, and many more. Chapter two follows with the inquiry into the reasons for asking (or not asking) such questions. De la Chaumière articulates the impact of the decline of religion and the advancement of science. He questions the need for a new story, warns about the perils of asking basic questions, examines various answers that have already been discovered, and provides "different points of departure for truth seekers." [p. 12] The third chapter focuses on epistemology, which is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, the acquisition of knowledge, and whether knowledge is even possible. De la Chaumière begins by discussing our evolutionary context and continues by examining our philosophical heritage left to us by ancient Greeks such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others. The discussion then turns to the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and examines figures such as René Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton. It is followed by critiques of empiricism by John Locke, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Finally, the chapter ends by discussing other ways of knowing such as authority, introspection, altered states of consciousness, etc. Chapter three aims to help the reader determine if any answers are at all possible, and if so, which answers to the basic questions are acceptable. Chapter four entitled, Some types of seekers: Know thyself, focuses on self-knowledge. De la Chaumière writes "we are that species which lives not by reality alone but also by our conceptions of reality. Our observations are partly our constructions." [p. 211] To achieve knowing thyself, the author presents twelve contrasting pairs of truth seekers. The intent is to help the readers determine their own psychological reality and decide which type of truth seekers they are. Once that has been achieved, chapter five looks at alternative world views. The author explores the scientific world view through a look at cosmology, physics and biology, the naturalistic and evolutionary philosophy and spirituality. The chapter ends with a presentation of five different religions and the hope they might offer; Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Finally, chapter 6 briefly revisits the road travelled since the beginning of the book and presents some final thoughts now that the readers are on their own individual paths of truth seeking. He says that "as truth seekers, each of us may follow our own individual way, yet we are all members of the same remarkable species &endash; the same family that sometimes asks, What's it all about?" [p. 371] Richard de la Chaumière's investigation into life's basic questions and answers is an insightful interdisciplinary masterpiece. The sheer immensity of information presented is in itself remarkable but the fact that it successfully engages different domains of expertise is exceptional. To achieve his goal of assisting truth seekers, de la Chaumière realized that a full picture required inquiries into philosophy, science, religion and psychology. A licensed psychologist himself, his studies include philosophy, science, and religion. In addition to his own expertise, he surrounded himself with experts from the various fields so as to receive counsel of specialized scholars. The successful outcome of these collaborations is evident in the quality of the information presented. Although the book is a well-written overview of the different domains of inquiry, there are some difficulties. Even though the text contains an enormous amount of information, Some of the concepts presented would have benefited by a deeper investigation. For example, grasping the complexities of Aristotle's metaphysics and the impact of his ethics requires more details than an overview. Moreover, considering views of post-Kantian philosophers such as Hegel and Nietzsche would also be important for future truth seekers. Delimiting the boundaries of one's work can sometimes be easy for an author, but doing so for an interdisciplinary work such as What's It All About? can be nothing but a challenge for the author. De la Chaumière successfully stretched the boundaries as much as he could for this type of introductory work. The book is presented as being "for you if you would like to make up your own mind about […] the basic questions of life, and want an impartial guide to many of the diverse answers from philosophy, science, Eastern and Western religions." [back cover] In addition, some of the praise included on the book's first page and back cover can easily lead one to believe that the book is written in a language accessible to all walks of life. While the work is eloquent and lucid, it presumes that the reader is already familiar with concepts like epistemology, ontology, teleology, and expressions such as the Unmoved Mover, heliocentric systems and others. In addition, names like Nietzsche, Leibniz, Lavoisier, Lepper, are introduced into the text without background information. Therefore, readers unfamiliar with the domains of inquiry presented in the book, will probably need to limit their reading to one or two sections at a time, giving them time to work through you're their own perspective of the issues raised. The author wrote "to seek truth without wisdom is to invite disaster. To seek truth with wisdom is to cultivate the possibility of great personal happiness. […] To walk through life and keep our balance, it is best to have two strong legs: both wisdom and knowledge to guide and protect us." [p. 39] De la Chaumière intended for What's It All About? to be a guide to assist truth seekers in their search for wisdom. He successfully accomplished what he set out to do. -Anne Bossé The Journal of Philosophical Practice