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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
Hard to follow
Basically, "No more roundabout discussion of what makes a good man. Be one!"
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
reflective
medium-paced
This is a fascinating read in many ways. It wasn't meant to be read by anyone other than Marcus Aurelius himself, and to read the so called "Meditations" means to get a glimpse into the thoughts of this man. He might have appreciated the irony of the whole world now being able to read those thoughts, and to remember him this way.
Since the contents of this journal are fairly repetitive, constantly circling around the same philosophical concepts, I'd strongly recommend to not read this from cover to cover. It is much better suited to read a few paragraphs, put it down, think about it, and come back to it at a later point in time.
The brief introduction into the concepts of Stoicism and the biography of Marcus Aurelius, written by translator Gregory Hays, gave the necessary context for understanding and interpreting the "Meditations". I appreciated that Hays included a couple of pages that point out a diverse range of books for further reading, as well as a numbered list of introduction notes explaining the most important decisions he made in his translation.
Since the contents of this journal are fairly repetitive, constantly circling around the same philosophical concepts, I'd strongly recommend to not read this from cover to cover. It is much better suited to read a few paragraphs, put it down, think about it, and come back to it at a later point in time.
The brief introduction into the concepts of Stoicism and the biography of Marcus Aurelius, written by translator Gregory Hays, gave the necessary context for understanding and interpreting the "Meditations". I appreciated that Hays included a couple of pages that point out a diverse range of books for further reading, as well as a numbered list of introduction notes explaining the most important decisions he made in his translation.
slow-paced
Holy moly, I finally got through it. I gave it 4 stars; however, it is worth noting that I feel weird about rating this book at all. Firstly, it was written in AD 140-180ish. Secondly, this was translated into Olde English, which takes me so much longer to read and understand. Lastly, the author had no intentions on publishing this—as it was just a collection of his most intimate thoughts.
Some days, I could power through a couple of pages. Other days, I could only get through one. I put this book down for a couple of months, then picked it back up. Overall, I’m glad to have finished it. For the parts that I did understand, it really was insightful :)
Some days, I could power through a couple of pages. Other days, I could only get through one. I put this book down for a couple of months, then picked it back up. Overall, I’m glad to have finished it. For the parts that I did understand, it really was insightful :)
nothing really matters we’re all gonna die just do what you want and try to be a good person
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced