shadowxbird's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
threeraccoonsinatrenchcoat's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
jbmorgan86's review against another edition
1.0
After reading some ancient stoic philosophy, I was looking forward to reading a modern author's take on it. Unfortunately, The Obstacle is the Way was extremely disappointing. This book feels like one long fortune cookie: just try and you will overcome!
Holiday is a college dropout. His bias towards the academia is clear. He says at the beginning that this will not be a groundbreaking book but a rehash of old ideas. In the appendix of the book, he suggests not reading any of the academic works on stoicism because the scholars just made it more difficult.
Holiday is a college dropout. His bias towards the academia is clear. He says at the beginning that this will not be a groundbreaking book but a rehash of old ideas. In the appendix of the book, he suggests not reading any of the academic works on stoicism because the scholars just made it more difficult.
jimmy1087's review against another edition
4.0
Ryan H. is the one who formally introduces Stoicism to me, I have seen his videos on youtube, and he got me engaged when I heard the interview with Tim Ferris.
That said, I must confess as well, that I expected a deeper level of analysis and explanation with the stories chosen by Ryan to explain stoic concepts. But hey, maybe the tenets of the philosophy are as straight forward as he proclaims them to be and there is no need in walking around the bush to convince people.
I think this book deserves a second round in a couple of years. Specifically, the concept pushed through the whole book, "The obstacle is the way" is an inspiring standpoint of view, one that can frequently be used to reframe challenges in our daily lives. Cause, there is one universal truth, we never know when a black swan is around the corner, and so it is better to be mentally prepared.
Before a second read, I must take a look at Ryans recommendations, that he repeatedly suggests: "Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" and "Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca.
On balance, I think this is an excellent introductory book to Stoicism, with notable references to great minds like Seneca, Epictetus, and the great Marcus Aurelius.
That said, I must confess as well, that I expected a deeper level of analysis and explanation with the stories chosen by Ryan to explain stoic concepts. But hey, maybe the tenets of the philosophy are as straight forward as he proclaims them to be and there is no need in walking around the bush to convince people.
I think this book deserves a second round in a couple of years. Specifically, the concept pushed through the whole book, "The obstacle is the way" is an inspiring standpoint of view, one that can frequently be used to reframe challenges in our daily lives. Cause, there is one universal truth, we never know when a black swan is around the corner, and so it is better to be mentally prepared.
Before a second read, I must take a look at Ryans recommendations, that he repeatedly suggests: "Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" and "Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca.
On balance, I think this is an excellent introductory book to Stoicism, with notable references to great minds like Seneca, Epictetus, and the great Marcus Aurelius.
habibah_a's review against another edition
4.0
4.5
I really liked this book. Even though it's not my go-to genre, I think It had a lot of good quotes and good examples. Since I annotated this, I had a little more fun throughout. I feel like this was definitely a great read.
I really liked this book. Even though it's not my go-to genre, I think It had a lot of good quotes and good examples. Since I annotated this, I had a little more fun throughout. I feel like this was definitely a great read.
lisalit's review against another edition
5.0
Great book to be introduced to stoicism. Now I wanna read Aurelius!