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daviest's review against another edition
5.0
A fairly easy read, covering the concepts of stoicism with enough background and explanation to have context and be applicable, but without too much detail as to be tedious or boring.
I especially like the structure of the book, which talks about each of the three Stoic Disciplines (action, desire and ascent) and then has a chapter focused mostly on application and finally one on other Ancient Greek schools of thought.
I especially like the structure of the book, which talks about each of the three Stoic Disciplines (action, desire and ascent) and then has a chapter focused mostly on application and finally one on other Ancient Greek schools of thought.
dennistraub's review against another edition
4.0
Good introduction to stoicism, its origins, and its applicability in modern life.
dfmjr's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.5
Very good exploration of Stoic philosophy. Starting the workbook that followed this next.
stephenmeansme's review against another edition
3.0
A gentle walking tour of Stoic theory and practice, both in its ancient (Greco-Roman) and modern (late-20th and early-21st century) versions. It was a little too light for me, but the Stoics are still very much worth reading - practical philosophies of life! - so it wasn't a complete miss. I think it's really my taste (or lack of it) when it comes to pop nonfiction in a self-help-adjacent genre, rather than an actual glaring flaw in the writing. So if this is on the fluffy side, A. A. Long's book on Epictetus was on the fascinating-but-dense side... Still looking for the golden mean.
grexios13's review against another edition
3.0
Esperaba más sobre cómo ser un estoico y un poco menos de historia y pláticas imaginadas. No fue un mal libro, solo que me sentí un poco confundido porque no encontré tanto de lo que el título prometía dar. En fin, aprendí varias cosas sobre el estoicismo pero casi nada nuevo que antes no hubiera encontrado en psicología.
Algo que me resultó un tanto chocante pero todavía tolerable, fue que el autor expusiera varias situaciones de su vida. No es que sea algo malo, pero después va hablando sobre cómo no hay que hablar demasiado de uno mismo. Me resultó algo contradictorio, nada más.
Algo que me resultó un tanto chocante pero todavía tolerable, fue que el autor expusiera varias situaciones de su vida. No es que sea algo malo, pero después va hablando sobre cómo no hay que hablar demasiado de uno mismo. Me resultó algo contradictorio, nada más.
reachersaid_'s review against another edition
1.0
When I started this book, I expected a philosophical manual on Stoicism, at the end of a most underwhelming read however, what was delivered was a poorly written and thinly disguised self-help book.
It started out decently enough though, a brief history of the philosophy, followed by an examination of its main tenets. All the good in it was contained in the first 20% and even then there were traces of the navel-gazing to come. Everything after... shockingly poor.
Never have I seen an author miss the mark so much. The decision to write this in first-person only served to show how flawed the author is, all of his biases and prejudices were laid bare. A better title for this book should have been "How to be Massimo Pigliucci", every chapter was littered with entirely boring and braggadocios anecdotes of a man who evidently thinks himself an embodiment of humility, modesty and fine character. You would see interesting chapter titles that ended up being neither informative or thought-provoking, for someone who never missed the opportunity to tell the reader how non-religious he is, the whole book had an air of boring preachiness about it.
I consider myself lucky to not have had this book and this author as my introduction to Stoicism, that would certainly have killed my interest.
It started out decently enough though, a brief history of the philosophy, followed by an examination of its main tenets. All the good in it was contained in the first 20% and even then there were traces of the navel-gazing to come. Everything after... shockingly poor.
Never have I seen an author miss the mark so much. The decision to write this in first-person only served to show how flawed the author is, all of his biases and prejudices were laid bare. A better title for this book should have been "How to be Massimo Pigliucci", every chapter was littered with entirely boring and braggadocios anecdotes of a man who evidently thinks himself an embodiment of humility, modesty and fine character. You would see interesting chapter titles that ended up being neither informative or thought-provoking, for someone who never missed the opportunity to tell the reader how non-religious he is, the whole book had an air of boring preachiness about it.
I consider myself lucky to not have had this book and this author as my introduction to Stoicism, that would certainly have killed my interest.
hagbard_celine's review against another edition
3.0
A basically ok survey of a big body of thought in brief. There are better introductions.
ryanjjames's review against another edition
3.0
The premise of the author being in conversation with some of the classic Stoics was interesting at first, but really wore thin as the book went on. The last chapter was the most practical.
smddly's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25