The Adventure Illusion dismantles one of contemporary culture’s most seductive myths: that life itself should be an epic journey of trials, transformation, and triumph. The call to adventure saturates domains ranging from media to marketing, politics to business, and tourism to therapy. Drawing on existentialist philosophy, narrative theory, and cultural critique, this book analyzes how the hero’s journey has evolved from ancient mythology and medieval romance to a modern ideology that promises meaning and destiny where none inherently exist. Adventure’s hidden costs are exposed through rigorous philosophical argument and detailed analyses of video games, corporate advertisements, social media behavior, and more. Across a variety of domains, adventure consistently fosters unattainable expectations, individualizes systemic problems, legitimizes violence through redemptive narratives, and forces marginalized lives into supporting roles.
Against both rigid life scripts and postmodern chaos, The Adventure Illusion proposes adventurelessness – a liberating acceptance of contingency and plurality beyond the demand for heroic purpose. At once philosophically precise and culturally urgent, this work challenges readers to imagine stories and lives that no longer need quests to matter. Co-authored with Simon Gusman. (Bloomsbury 2026).
The Parasite is Michel Serres’ inventive exploration of how disruption, noise, and uninvited guests shape every biological, social, economic, and linguistic system. Serres shows that parasites are not simply intruders to be eliminated, but productive forces that drive change, communication, and creation itself. With its blends of philosophy, fable, and science, this is one of Serres’ most far-reaching works. Translated from French into Dutch with René ten Bos (Boom 2023).
De constructie van de wereld is an extensive study of the works of Bruno Latour, one of the most influential voices in philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and science and technology studies. Latour shows how scientific theories, technologies, institutions, and ecological systems all depend on shifting networks of human and non-human actors. This book offers a clear entry point into one of the most original philosophies of our time. Part of a series with Ype de Boer’s book on Agamben and Simon Gusman’s book on Sartre (Boom 2022).
The Politics of Debt brings together philosophers, political scientists, and economists to reflect on the political role played by debt. The 2008 financial crisis is the focal point for all essays and interviews in the volume. Co-edited with Sjoerd van Tuinen (Zer0 books 2020).
Against Continuity is the first book to demonstrate that the beating heart of Gilles Deleuze s philosophy is a systematic ontology of irreducible, singular entities. This requires a radical break with decades of Deleuzian orthodoxy, according to which Deleuze’s metaphysics revolves around the dissolution of discrete entities into a continuous world of flows and events (Edinburgh University Press 2019).
The 2023 Korean translation of Against Continuity by Hyojni Kim, available at Galmuri Press.
Avonturen bestaan niet is the Dutch precursor to The Adventure Illusion, laying the groundwork for its dismantling of one of contemporary culture’s most seductive myths: that life itself should be an epic journey of trials, transformation, and triumph. This book traces how the idea of “adventure” came to dominate how we often think about meaning, identity, and the good life. Co-authored with Simon Gusman (Boom 2018).
Alles is een machine argues that every entity (a brick, a love affair, a multinational, a river) is best understood as a machine. Every entity has its own irreducible core, surface, and qualities; and every entity is engaged in generating, connecting to, and transforming other things around it. Drawing on Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Michel Serres, this book builds a systematic account of how these machines interact, revealing a reality far stranger and more dynamic than our everyday models suggest (Boom 2017).