Author Guide · Philosophy
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Byung-Chul Han was born in Seoul in 1959 and studied metallurgy at Korea University before moving to Germany in the 1980s to read philosophy, German literature and Catholic theology in Freiburg and Munich. He wrote his doctorate on mood in Martin Heidegger, and since 2010 he has published a short book in German almost every year. Müdigkeitsgesellschaft (2010), The Burnout Society in English, has been translated into more than 35 languages. He refuses radio and television interviews and rarely discloses details about his life. In 2025 he received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities. This guide covers his 14 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 14 key books · 2009–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Byung-Chul Han has published more than twenty books in German. The best known are The Burnout Society (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft, 2010), The Scent of Time (2009), Psychopolitics (2014), Non-things (2021) and Vita Contemplativa (2022). Start with The Burnout Society: the argument that runs through all his later books starts here.
Where to Start with Byung-Chul Han
If you want his defining book
→ The Burnout Society (2010) — exhaustion as the illness of an achievement society.
If you want time, slowness and lingering
→ The Scent of Time (2009) — his earliest essay on the art of lingering.
If you want the case for doing nothing
→ Vita Contemplativa (2022) — inactivity as what makes us human.
If you want his critique of smartphones and data
→ Non-things (2021) — from things to information.
14 Byung-Chul Han Books, in Order
The Scent of Time
German original: Duft der Zeit (2009). Han argues that the modern priority of the vita activa, the active life, has produced a crisis of time: constant work leaves no room for lingering, so time no longer feels fulfilled. Drawing on Heidegger, Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt, he proposes reviving the vita contemplativa. English translation by Daniel Steuer (Polity, 2017).
The Burnout Society
German original: Müdigkeitsgesellschaft (Matthes & Seitz, October 2010). Every age has its signature illnesses, Han argues, and ours are neuronal, disorders such as depression and burnout. The disciplinary society of prohibitions has given way to an achievement society in which people exploit themselves in the name of freedom. Translated into more than 35 languages; English translation by Erik Butler (Stanford University Press, 2015).
The Transparency Society
German original: Transparenzgesellschaft (Matthes & Seitz, 2012). Han treats transparency as a cultural norm shaped by neoliberal market forces and denounces it as a false ideal, one of the most powerful and pernicious myths of our time. In English from Stanford University Press (2015).
The Agony of Eros
German original: Agonie des Eros (2012). An enquiry into desire and love, in which Han argues that true love takes the courage to give up part of oneself in order to discover the Other. English translation by Erik Butler (MIT Press, 2017), with a foreword by the French philosopher Alain Badiou.
In the Swarm
German original: Im Schwarm (2013). A book on how digital communication and social media have changed our lives. In English from MIT Press (2017).
Psychopolitics
German original: Psychopolitik (S. Fischer, 2014). Han argues that neoliberal power no longer works mainly on the body, as in Michel Foucault’s biopolitics, but on the psyche, through motivation, emotion and Big Data, so that people feel free while they are steered. English translation by Erik Butler (Verso, 2017).
Saving Beauty
German original: Die Errettung des Schönen (S. Fischer, 2015). Han critiques today’s obsession with beauty as a consumerist phenomenon. In English from Polity (2017).
The Expulsion of the Other
German original: Die Austreibung des Anderen (S. Fischer, 2016). Han argues that in an age of excessive communication, information and consumption, the days of the Other are over. In English from Polity (2018).
The Disappearance of Rituals
German original: Vom Verschwinden der Rituale (Ullstein, 2019). A critique of present-day societies in which, Han argues, pseudo-communication and narcissism have replaced community, leaving the individual lost. In English from Polity (2020).
Non-things
German original: Undinge (2021). Han argues that life is moving from an earthly order of things to a digital order of information, or “non-things”: we gather information without gaining knowledge and store data without keeping memories. Chapters include one on the smartphone and an excursus on the jukebox. English translation by Daniel Steuer (Polity, 2022).
Infocracy
German original: Infokratie. Digitalisierung und die Krise der Demokratie (Matthes & Seitz, 2021). Han describes infocracy as the new form of rule of today’s information capitalism, and connects the rush of communication and information to a crisis of democracy. In English from Polity (2022).
Vita Contemplativa
German original: Vita contemplativa (2022). Han argues that we are losing the capacity to be inactive, so that even leisure becomes another form of performance or consumption, and that inactivity is what makes us human. He answers Hannah Arendt’s defence of the active life with a case for contemplation. English translation by Daniel Steuer (Polity, November 2023).
The Crisis of Narration
German original: Die Krise der Narration (Matthes & Seitz, 2023). Narratives, Han argues, produce the ties that bind us: they create community and anchor us in being. The book diagnoses their crisis in the present. In English from Polity (2024).
The Spirit of Hope
German original: Der Geist der Hoffnung. Wider die Gesellschaft der Angst (Ullstein, 2024). Writing against a permanent crisis mode of pandemic, climate crisis and war, in which people merely survive, Han sets hope against a society of fear, as an orientation that opens the future even in catastrophe. In English from Polity (2024).
In What Order to Read Byung-Chul Han
The books are short and largely self-contained, so there is no wrong order. They do form a recognisable arc: The Burnout Society sets out the diagnosis, the books of 2012–2016 apply it to transparency, love, digital crowds, power and beauty, and the books from 2019 onwards turn towards remedies: ritual, things, narration, contemplation and hope.
Publication order of the English editions differs from the German one: The Scent of Time appeared in German in 2009 but only reached English readers in 2017, after The Burnout Society (2015). The years on this page are those of the German first editions.
A reading path
1. The Burnout Society (2010)
2. Psychopolitics (2014)
3. The Scent of Time (2009)
4. Non-things (2021)
5. Vita Contemplativa (2022)
Other Byung-Chul Han Books in English
Beyond the 14 key books: 10 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Power, violence and culture (year of English edition)
7
7 books · 2017–2022
- 2017Shanzhai: Deconstruction in ChineseMIT Press
- 2018Topology of Violencefrom Topologie der Gewalt (2011); MIT Press
- 2018What Is Power?from Was ist Macht? (2005); Polity
- 2019Good Entertainment: A Deconstruction of the Western Passion NarrativeMIT Press
- 2021Capitalism and the Death DrivePolity
- 2021The Palliative Society: Pain TodayPolity
- 2022Hyperculture: Culture and Globalisationfrom Hyperkulturalität (2005); Polity
East Asian thought and the garden (year of English edition)
3
3 books · 2022–2025
- 2022The Philosophy of Zen BuddhismPolity
- 2023Absence: On the Culture and Philosophy of the Far EastPolity
- 2025In Praise of the Earth: A Journey into the Gardenfrom Lob der Erde (2018); translated by Daniel Steuer, Polity
The years · 1959–2025
Quick facts about Byung-Chul Han
- Known for
- Short, aphoristic essays arguing that self-exploitation, digital overload and the loss of contemplation define life in the twenty-first century.
- 1959
- Born in Seoul
- 1994
- Doctorate in Freiburg on Heidegger
- 2025
- Princess of Asturias Award
- Born
- 1959, Seoul, South Korea
- Education
- Metallurgy at Korea University; philosophy, German literature and Catholic theology in Freiburg and Munich
- Doctorate
- University of Freiburg, 1994, on mood in Martin Heidegger
- Taught
- University of Basel from 2000, Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design from 2010, Universität der Künste Berlin from 2012
- Writes in
- German; most English editions are published by Polity, Stanford University Press, MIT Press and Verso
- Honours
- Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities (2025)
The red mark is 2010: Müdigkeitsgesellschaft, published in English as The Burnout Society.
How Byung-Chul Han Writes: Short Books, Big Claims
Han writes short. Most of his books run to around a hundred pages, built from brief chapters that each take one concept, such as transparency, the swarm or the non-thing, and turn it over. His sentences are compressed and often aphoristic, which makes the books quick to read and easy to quote; a reviewer in Spektrum der Wissenschaft compared the style of Der Geist der Hoffnung to Nietzsche’s aphorisms.
His method is diagnosis by contrast. He sets two orders against each other, discipline and achievement, the negative and the positive, things and information, the active and the contemplative life, and reads the present as the victory of the second. His sources are mostly German and French philosophy, above all Heidegger, Hegel, Nietzsche, Arendt and Foucault, alongside his own studies of Zen Buddhism and East Asian thought.
The same compression draws criticism. The Hong Kong Review of Books praised his concision but said he sometimes veers into “billboard-sized statements”, such as “Neoliberalism is the capitalism of Like”; the Literary Review called Non-things a “terse cultural-theoretical sermon”. Others describe his books as closer to literature or poetry than to academic philosophy.
Watch
Byung-Chul Han’s Princess of Asturias speech
Han’s acceptance speech for the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, given at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo on 24 October 2025, from the Foundation’s own channel.
Frequently asked questions about Byung-Chul Han’s books
How many books has Byung-Chul Han written?
More than twenty in German, most of them now available in English. This page covers 14 key books, from The Scent of Time (2009) to The Spirit of Hope (2024), and lists ten more English editions below them.
What are Byung-Chul Han’s books in order?
By German first edition: The Scent of Time (2009), The Burnout Society (2010), The Transparency Society (2012), The Agony of Eros (2012), In the Swarm (2013), Psychopolitics (2014), Saving Beauty (2015), The Expulsion of the Other (2016), The Disappearance of Rituals (2019), Non-things (2021), Infocracy (2021), Vita Contemplativa (2022), The Crisis of Narration (2023) and The Spirit of Hope (2024).
Where should I start with Byung-Chul Han?
With The Burnout Society. It is short, it introduces the idea of the achievement society and self-exploitation that the later books build on, and it is his most widely translated book. If you are drawn to slowness and contemplation, start instead with The Scent of Time or Vita Contemplativa.
What is Byung-Chul Han’s most famous book?
The Burnout Society (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft, 2010), translated into more than 35 languages. In English it was translated by Erik Butler and published by Stanford University Press in 2015.
What is The Burnout Society about?
Han argues that every age has its typical illnesses and that ours are neuronal, disorders such as depression and burnout. The disciplinary society of “you should” has become an achievement society of “you can”, in which people exploit themselves and experience it as freedom.
What does Byung-Chul Han mean by vita contemplativa?
The contemplative life: time for lingering, attention and doing nothing, as opposed to the vita activa of work and production. He develops the idea in The Scent of Time (2009) and returns to it in Vita Contemplativa (2022), where he argues that inactivity is what makes us human.
What language does Byung-Chul Han write in?
German, although he was born and grew up in South Korea. His English translators include Erik Butler (The Burnout Society, The Agony of Eros, Psychopolitics) and Daniel Steuer (The Scent of Time, Non-things, Vita Contemplativa).
Has Byung-Chul Han won any prizes?
In May 2025 he was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, and he gave his acceptance speech at the ceremony in Oviedo on 24 October 2025.
Does Byung-Chul Han give interviews?
Rarely. He refuses radio and television interviews and seldom discloses details about his private life, including his exact date of birth. Public appearances such as lectures and his Princess of Asturias speech are the main chances to see him speak.
Has Byung-Chul Han written about Zen Buddhism?
Yes. The Philosophy of Zen Buddhism (English edition 2022) and Absence: On the Culture and Philosophy of the Far East (2023) are devoted to East Asian thought, and the contrast between Western activity and Eastern stillness runs through his books on time and contemplation.
Footnotes
- Byung-Chul Han — Wikipedia
- The Burnout Society — Wikipedia
- Byung-Chul Han, Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities — Fundación Princesa de Asturias
- Vita Contemplativa: In Praise of Inactivity — Wiley/Polity
- Byung-Chul Han, Bücher — Perlentaucher
- Der Geist der Hoffnung — Spektrum der Wissenschaft
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Every age has its signature afflictions.”
— Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society (2015, translated by Erik Butler), the opening line
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