frocketg's review against another edition
5.0
Profound, especially during such a difficult year in history. It is a book I will come back to each year and contemplate around.
jackwwang's review against another edition
3.0
The issue with reading philosophical musings from antiquity is that the ideas are from antiquity, and more than the usual works of philosophical musing, this book has ideas that are that much more culturally obscured by the mists of time to made passages hard to digest.
Fortunately Marcus Aurelius is a terse kind of guy, and in under 100 pages this Roman Emperor manages to distill what appears to be the key takeaways from the stoic school of thought. The book is a collection of his musings on how to live a virtuous life, and they read like they've been lifted out of a journal (which I think may have been the case), that is - not particularly linear, jumping here and there, and often repetitive.
In a nutshell the author argues that a virtuous life consists of doing one's duty, and maintaining serenity through anything life has to throw at you, good or bad. In it as well are strains of thoughts about a communitarian idea that virtue and good are inherently social, the irrelevance of the past and future and the sole relevance of the present, and the intrinsic separation between the bodily and earthly nature of man that coexists with his divine and rational "faculties" (an idea that I feel like dates the work, something that directly butts up against our understanding of how the physical and biological informs the mental capacities of human cognition).
Throughout it all, the author exhorts us to act with steely tranquility to anything that may happen, accept all, including death, with calm and dignity. I can't help but feel that stoicism, especially Marcus Aurelius' brand of it, is an inevitable product of privileged men. No surprise that literally the most powerful person in the world of his time sees the universe as inherently the way it should be, the best of all possible worlds, and does not find fault in the determinism of events. There are useful ideas here, and indubitably I will try to use them to inject a measure more of serenity in my life, but its hard to adopt a stoic's view of the universe if one does not blind himself to the stark injustices that have been, and continue to be in our world.
Fortunately Marcus Aurelius is a terse kind of guy, and in under 100 pages this Roman Emperor manages to distill what appears to be the key takeaways from the stoic school of thought. The book is a collection of his musings on how to live a virtuous life, and they read like they've been lifted out of a journal (which I think may have been the case), that is - not particularly linear, jumping here and there, and often repetitive.
In a nutshell the author argues that a virtuous life consists of doing one's duty, and maintaining serenity through anything life has to throw at you, good or bad. In it as well are strains of thoughts about a communitarian idea that virtue and good are inherently social, the irrelevance of the past and future and the sole relevance of the present, and the intrinsic separation between the bodily and earthly nature of man that coexists with his divine and rational "faculties" (an idea that I feel like dates the work, something that directly butts up against our understanding of how the physical and biological informs the mental capacities of human cognition).
Throughout it all, the author exhorts us to act with steely tranquility to anything that may happen, accept all, including death, with calm and dignity. I can't help but feel that stoicism, especially Marcus Aurelius' brand of it, is an inevitable product of privileged men. No surprise that literally the most powerful person in the world of his time sees the universe as inherently the way it should be, the best of all possible worlds, and does not find fault in the determinism of events. There are useful ideas here, and indubitably I will try to use them to inject a measure more of serenity in my life, but its hard to adopt a stoic's view of the universe if one does not blind himself to the stark injustices that have been, and continue to be in our world.
sunset22's review against another edition
5.0
Not to be read for the sake of reading trough, is it. Really more something, as the title says, to meditate on. Depending on your inner state each day i think also will change your feelings about this work or the thing you take away from it. / It feels somewhat amazingly personal to see in someone's mind like that and to see how little the fundamental things in humans have changed as are still important after all this time.
bonewhitemoon's review against another edition
4.0
I love the style in which this book is written, in notes to himself. A lot of good and motivating quotes in here. Makes you look at life a little differently.
jachso's review against another edition
2.0
I read the Barnes and Noble edition of this book, translated by George Long. The collection contains all of M. Aurelius' Meditations and Reflections.
Several repetitions of Stoic philosophy — you will retread over "why bother caring about fame when you, your admirers, and soon after your admirers' children will die," and "why bother letting problems worry you if you have no control" several times in the course of the book.
From the translator's historical notes, the book was likely more just a set of journalistic scribblings that the emperor wished to keep in mind or pass on to his son, Commodus. This is clear to see.
If you wish for Stoic philosophy straight from their early Greek and Roman practitioners, I'd recommend "Letters from a Stoic," by Seneca. Aurelius' journals reflect much of the same info but in a more garbled and freeform tone, where Seneca clearly paints our the principles and gives plenty of examples to boot.
Several repetitions of Stoic philosophy — you will retread over "why bother caring about fame when you, your admirers, and soon after your admirers' children will die," and "why bother letting problems worry you if you have no control" several times in the course of the book.
From the translator's historical notes, the book was likely more just a set of journalistic scribblings that the emperor wished to keep in mind or pass on to his son, Commodus. This is clear to see.
If you wish for Stoic philosophy straight from their early Greek and Roman practitioners, I'd recommend "Letters from a Stoic," by Seneca. Aurelius' journals reflect much of the same info but in a more garbled and freeform tone, where Seneca clearly paints our the principles and gives plenty of examples to boot.
ayeeereed's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this read, mostly because it gave me things to think about and reflect on in my current life. I get a feeling that Meditations is a book I will re-read for years to come because it is helpful at any point in your life.
chrysophylax's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
michaelferlazzo's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Ok, so I had heard that this book was very good, but I did not know it would be this good! Extremely thoughtful, his prose is so forward and plainspoken, the contents are easily obtainable. It’s a book filled with sayings of common sense, that everyone subconsciously knows, but have never thought to think of, leading to you becoming out of practice with common sense. I do think that he is a bit haughty and full of self pride in the dispensing of his wisdom, but other than that, not much else to complain about. I wish I had read this before taking a philosophy 101 class instead of after, because everything would have made so much more sense, (and I would have been top of the class). I also really enjoyed learning about stoicism in this book. Anyway, 4.5 because he disses on Christians even when recognizing that the goals of a stoic and a Christian are similar, and he seems full of himself