Charles D. Hayes

Charles D. Hayes is a self-taught philosopher and one of America's strongest advocates for lifelong learning. He spent his youth in Texas and served as a U.S. Marine and as a police officer before embarking on a career in the oil industry. Alaska has been his home for more than forty years.

Promoting the idea that education should be thought of not as something you get but as something you take, Hayes' work has been featured in The L.A. Progressive, USA Today, and the UTNE Reader, on National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation and on Alaska Public Radio's Talk of Alaska.

Praised for his remarkable depth of knowledge across numerous disciplines, Hayes affirms through his work that active, continuous learning is what makes life worthwhile. His books encourage the kind of thinking that can transform human relations on a global scale, urging us to continuously examine our values, motivations, and common beliefs. He inspires us to acknowledge our mortality and live authentically as a result, taking deliberate action to leave the world a better place than we found it.

"The temporary nature of our lives may be a reason for unavoidable despair," says Hayes, "but such is the price of intelligence--it doesn't render our lives meaningless. To the contrary, the opportunity to live a life as a human being makes us the most fortunate creatures on the planet. We should be experts at being human and creating a world where humans can thrive."