Imagine a Parisian cafe post World War II. Sitting around the table are some of the most serious and admired figures in history — Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, and others. They're debating issues like politics, literature, and philosophy. Then think about how their outlook might help us today.

In her book, "At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails" author Sarah Bakewell takes her readers on a romp through the existentialist movement in the early part of the 20th century, where issues like feminism and freedom were being tackled by some of the great philosophers of their time, and considers how those philosophies could be applied in modern times.