Lives of the Stoics
The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius
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4.5 • 88 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Instant New York Times Advice & Business Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, and Wall Street Journal #1 Bestseller!
A New York Times Noteworthy Pick and a "stellar work" by Publishers Weekly
From the bestselling authors of The Daily Stoic comes an inspiring guide to the lives of the Stoics, and what the ancients can teach us about happiness, success, resilience and virtue.
Nearly 2,300 years after a ruined merchant named Zeno first established a school on the Stoa Poikile of Athens, Stoicism has found a new audience among those who seek greatness, from athletes to politicians and everyone in between. It's no wonder; the philosophy and its embrace of self-mastery, virtue, and indifference to that which we cannot control is as urgent today as it was in the chaos of the Roman Empire.
In Lives of the Stoics, Holiday and Hanselman present the fascinating lives of the men and women who strove to live by the timeless Stoic virtues of Courage. Justice. Temperance. Wisdom. Organized in digestible, mini-biographies of all the well-known--and not so well-known--Stoics, this book vividly brings home what Stoicism was like for the people who loved it and lived it, dusting off powerful lessons to be learned from their struggles and successes.
More than a mere history book, every example in these pages, from Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius--slaves to emperors--is designed to help the reader apply philosophy in their own lives. Holiday and Hanselman unveil the core values and ideas that unite figures from Seneca to Cato to Cicero across the centuries. Among them are the idea that self-rule is the greatest empire, that character is fate; how Stoics benefit from preparing not only for success, but failure; and learn to love, not merely accept, the hand they are dealt in life. A treasure of valuable insights and stories, this book can be visited again and again by any reader in search of inspiration from the past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Holiday and Hanselman (coauthors of The Daily Stoic) explain in this stellar work the implications of Stoic dedications to truth, wisdom, resilience, and character. The authors present the work as a series of biographies of philosophers and ground each of the 26 profiles in the virtues of courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom that Stoics believes necessary to living a happy life. They distinguish "pen and ink philosophers" (more concerned with writing than living) from the Stoics, whose central tenet is summed up best by Marcus Aurelius's: "Do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter." Including profiles of Stoics who were boxers, slaves, failed merchants, Roman senators, and occasionally "iron" women, each chapter provides a brief historical context before exploring the challenges of seeking a humble life in the Stoic fashion. Rather than offering prescriptive practices, the authors believe one can "learn more from the Stoics' lived experiences (their works) than we can from their philosophical writings (their words)": Cynic philosopher Crates of Thebes taught Zeno to learn from humiliation; Cleanthes of Assos, a middle-aged water boy, preached stoicism at night in the streets; Chrysippius, a long-distance runner, stressed the value of meritocracy over the misjudgments of social position. This illuminating collection of biographies makes great use of Stoic wisdom to demonstrate the tradition's values for any reader interested in ancient philosophy.
Customer Reviews
Great read
Not very often it happens that a difficult task of taking a reader on a journey that spans centuries, geographies manages to clearly and cohesively communicate profound ideas of philosophical value.
Great rhythm and tone of voice.
We live in times of great turbulence and devaluation of integrity, and a perfect time to be reminded of Stoics and their universal purpose we desperately need more of. Inspired to be a better man.
Highly recommended.
Trigger Warning
This book should come with a trigger warning for graphic depictions of multiple suicides. Also, why we need to get so graphic with that? Seems like it was just there for shock and awe.
While there are a few good quotes from the Stoic philosophers, that's about all this book is good for, and there are plenty of places to get that content. The biographical writing isn't strong. You could just read Plutarch and other ancient texts, which have better writing, even if you get the free public domain translations. Holiday essentially took their work, added some modern clichés, and repackaged it.
It seems it was a stretch to make a full book out of this content too. It barely clears 300 pages thanks to the inclusion of some short biographies that tell us almost nothing. The Stoic ideas are great, and I want to learn more about them. I'm going to go read some Plutarch, Cicero, or Seneca.