Le Livre en papier • An Attempt at Thinking de Oswald Maskens

What do we really believe—and how much of it have we thought through?

An Attempt at Thinking began with a personal challenge: take the time to confront your ideas with a blank page. Frustrated by his own shifting political opinions, Oswald Maskens set out to examine the principles behind them. The result is a journey through the limits of human understanding and what they mean for how we govern ourselves.

Across 42 essays, each spanning exactly two pages, the book moves from principles to political traditions and concrete proposals. It asks how measurements distort what they describe, what ownership means, and where individual freedom meets collective responsibility. Along the way, it explores ideas ranging from unconditional survival income and free public transport to voting, migration, and justice.

Historical anecdotes, illustrations, and carefully composed pages give these questions room to resonate beyond the prose. The arguments are direct, sometimes provocative, and open to disagreement.

Written for curious readers willing to question familiar positions, An Attempt at Thinking offers a personal exploration of freedom, power, and living together—with an invitation to put your own convictions to the same test.