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How To Be A Stoic

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'In this thought-provoking book, Massimo Pigliucci shares his journey of discovering the power of Stoic practices in a philosophical dialogue with one of Stoicism's greatest teachers.' RYAN HOLIDAY, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY AND THE DAILY STOIC

Who am I?

What am I doing?

How ought I to live my life?

Stoicism teaches us to acknowledge our emotions, reflect on what causes them and redirect them for our own good. Whenever we worry about how to be happy, we are worrying about how to lead a good life. No goal seems more elusive.

Massimo Pigliucci explores this remarkable philosophy and how its wisdom can be applied to our everyday lives in the quest for meaning. He shows how stoicism teaches us the importance of a person's character, integrity and compassion.

Whoever we are, we can take something away from stoicism and, in How to be a Stoic, with its practical tips and exercises, meditations and mindfulness, he also explains how relevant it is to every part of our modern lives.

© Massimo Pigliucci 2017 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 Alternative & Complementary Medicine Consciousness & Thought Meditation Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Society Spirituality Stoicism Mindfulness

Critic reviews

Pigliucci makes a good case for Stoicism and living stoically
A good case for the enduring relevance of 2,000-year-old precepts
In this thought-provoking book, Massimo Pigliucci shares his journey of discovering the power of Stoic practices in a philosophical dialogue with one of Stoicism's greatest teachers.
Excellent (Oliver Burkeman)
As its title suggests, How to Be a Stoic is a how-to book, but one of a very high order. Yes, Massimo Pigliucci gives his readers advice on how to live a happy and meaningful life. He is careful, though, to put a secure foundation under that advice by explaining who the ancient Stoics were and how they arrived at the conclusions they did. Do you want to avoid wasting the one life you have to live? Read this book!
How to Be a Stoic proves many things: that the ancient school of Stoicism is superbly relevant to our times; that profound wisdom can be delivered in lively, breezy prose; and that Massimo Pigliucci is uniquely gifted at translating philosophy into terms helpful for alleviating and elevating the lives of many
This is a lucid, engaging, and persuasive book about what it means to pursue Stoic ideals in the here and now. Massimo Pigliucci's imaginary conversations with Epictetus carry the reader effortlessly along while grounding the discussion firmly in the ancient Stoic tradition-and in his own life experience. The result is a compelling picture of a Stoic way of life that is consistent with contemporary science and philosophy, and is both eminently ethical and down-to-earth practical. It will be inviting to Stoics and non-Stoics alike who are willing to reason together seriously about how (and why) to be a modern Stoic.
If you want to learn the ways of Stoicism, and you're living in the 21st century, this should be one of the first books you read. Massimo has written a fine primer for the aspiring Marcus Aurelius.
All stars
Most relevant
I liked the author's attempts to write about philosophy in a more scientific way. He is clearly convinced that stoic philosophy is the way to go but points out it's not the only way. Overall, it's a nice introduction with some deeper discussion on some, but not all topics; one wonders if the publisher had a hand in pruning the text against the author's wishes here.

These discussions I found, were important because they help to show what some of the difficulties someone studying stoicism will need to face and it is refreshing to find an author who is happy talk around a subject rather than the usual introductory shallowness so many books, or complex language that make many academic texts impenetrable

a very useful introduction to a worthwhile subject

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The narrator is, I'm afraid, terrible. Awful. Renders the audiobook unlistenable-to. Get someone else to read it - preferably the author, who has a great voice.

What a shame

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I stopped listening to the book because of the intonation of the voice. He was reading the book without understanding a word of what he was saying.

Decent book very bad voice

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Content excellent thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Probably need to buy the book the accompanying PDF doesn’t have the daily suggestions

Delivery was very dry

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Great compilation of thoughts and ideas. Interesting and engaging from start to end. I was looking for that different view on world and life, something that would giude me a little bit in every day life and this book is that. Very fitting and pleasant narrator. Love it!

Awesome book!

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