The Fragile Certainty of Meaning

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

We live in a world saturated with words—spoken, written, tweeted, inscribed—but do we ever stop to ask what they truly mean? In The Fragile Certainty of Meaning, Richard Parr explores the delicate tension between language and understanding, showing how our grasp of meaning is both essential and perpetually unstable.

From ancient philosophy to modern linguistics, from poetry to everyday conversation, Parr demonstrates how meaning is never fixed but constantly negotiated—shaped by context, culture, and the limits of interpretation. He argues that the fragility of meaning is not a weakness to lament but a truth to embrace: the very uncertainty that allows for creativity, connection, and new ways of seeing the world.

With clarity and warmth, The Fragile Certainty of Meaning invites readers to reflect on the power—and the vulnerability—of the words we live by.