Take a photo of a barcode or cover
945 reviews for:
The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
Ryan Holiday
3.86 AVERAGE
945 reviews for:
The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
Ryan Holiday
3.86 AVERAGE
This was another great addition to Ryan Holidays books. This is another example of the ideas presented in meditations but also other experience of people from history that used their failures as a catapult to persevere in life.
While I found Holiday’s point about how many of these Stoicism elements have been used and have been effective for centuries interesting, the rest of this was just… not it for me. People are allowed to feel defeated. Their feelings are valid. And Holiday made it seem as if you should be able to have every single hardship just roll off you’re shoulders. Do I agree with the fact that each hardship makes you stronger and prepares you for the next? To a point, yes. But you’re also allowed to acknowledge that a situation sucks. Overall, this rhetoric felt too Positive Pollyanna for my preferences.
The Obstacle is the Way's rate of transformed five stars shows my immense desire to recommend this book to everyone - reader or non-reader. To turn the tides of obstacles and trivialities into opportunities and triumphs is a skill that can be easily attained through Stoic philosophy and I believe most of us in some way prefer to learn and acquire this sensible practice. If you are one of us, then take the offensive and read this.
The strengths of the book are its pleasant and chill writing - making the reading experience soothing and relaxing, brilliant usage of life experiences as references, splendid tackling of various aspects without focusing extensively with business or history, and lastly, the relevance of Stoicism in the modern world. Having a modern uptake of an ancient philosophy such as Stoicism is relevant in a generation that finds it difficult to grasp the significance of every experience - indifference.
The strengths of the book are its pleasant and chill writing - making the reading experience soothing and relaxing, brilliant usage of life experiences as references, splendid tackling of various aspects without focusing extensively with business or history, and lastly, the relevance of Stoicism in the modern world. Having a modern uptake of an ancient philosophy such as Stoicism is relevant in a generation that finds it difficult to grasp the significance of every experience - indifference.
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
It was a meh book, I guess. Nothing impressive, nothing worth remembering.
It's just a collection of thoughts and stuff other famous people did during their lives. It felt slightly superficial, the anecdotes weren't super impressive, and the collection of positive affirmations were mediocre.
I'd recommend actually going to the source and reading the biographies of the famous people mentioned in the book (if you are into that) or dipping into stoics.
I could barely finish it in 2 months because I kept forgetting about it. It's really just forgettable. Sorry, Ryan, not your best stuff.
It's just a collection of thoughts and stuff other famous people did during their lives. It felt slightly superficial, the anecdotes weren't super impressive, and the collection of positive affirmations were mediocre.
I'd recommend actually going to the source and reading the biographies of the famous people mentioned in the book (if you are into that) or dipping into stoics.
I could barely finish it in 2 months because I kept forgetting about it. It's really just forgettable. Sorry, Ryan, not your best stuff.
A few good nuggets, but overdoses of toxic positivity, and about 30% in I decided to count how many times he mentioned anything about a woman overcoming an obstacle and I counted once, which was a sentence about Amelia Earhart. Then, to further the exploration, I counted how many of his cited sources were by female authors, and that total was 4 out of 81. *sighs and shrugs*
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book is a must-read, especially now in 2020 when this pandemic is being a huge obstacle in many aspects of our lives. It's a very simple, concise and inspiring read about applying stoicism in daily life, and how it will change your life for the better. Highlighted so much from this book!
My only concern was that some of the examples seem to be oversimplified or glorified to justify the philosophy. Some examples were even on sensitive topics, such as winning wars, outsmarting political opponents, thriving amputees or persons with disabilities, to name a few. I think the book would've been better if it kept using examples based on personal accounts or interviews of people who apply stoicism, and not just based on observation of people applying it. I believe it would've hit different if all examples were like that, but I understand that it must be difficult to find significant people now that would actively say that they are applying stoicism to their lives.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's feeling like they're in a rut, or to anyone genuinely seeking to improve themselves. If you've read a lot of philosophy books on stoicism, I'm not sure if you'd still appreciate this, since this is like a beginner's guide to it. But I believe this is a book I'd read more than once in my life, just to remind myself to carry on. I hope you'll read it too.
My only concern was that some of the examples seem to be oversimplified or glorified to justify the philosophy. Some examples were even on sensitive topics, such as winning wars, outsmarting political opponents, thriving amputees or persons with disabilities, to name a few. I think the book would've been better if it kept using examples based on personal accounts or interviews of people who apply stoicism, and not just based on observation of people applying it. I believe it would've hit different if all examples were like that, but I understand that it must be difficult to find significant people now that would actively say that they are applying stoicism to their lives.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's feeling like they're in a rut, or to anyone genuinely seeking to improve themselves. If you've read a lot of philosophy books on stoicism, I'm not sure if you'd still appreciate this, since this is like a beginner's guide to it. But I believe this is a book I'd read more than once in my life, just to remind myself to carry on. I hope you'll read it too.