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mazeman's review against another edition
4.0
The "Fragments" at the end of this Dover version are the best part.
koals's review
fast-paced
4.0
Usually I don't have the patience to read philosophy, but this was very digestible and written in easily understandable language. These are just my personal opinions on the philosophy.
I really like the points of accepting things that are out of your control, including the opinions of other people, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. I also love how the importance of our own judgement of an event is emphasized, a lot of these themes can also be seen in modern psychology (e.g. locus of control).
He began to lose me when he took everything to the extreme, like "either you're a philosopher who only strives for inner peace or you will only ever know material wealth", "keep laughter to a minimum" or "avoid socializing with non-philosophers [...] be careful not to sink to their levels". Some of that just sounds elitist in its own way, like he is gatekeeping inner peace, or just taking it way too seriously. Maybe that's just how they used to talk back then, I don't know, either way I believe that you can work on being content with what's given to you and still enjoy pleasure. Or am I trying to have my cake and eat it too, and I would really be much happier if I gave away all my things and stopped talking to my friends about "banalities like gladiators, horses, sports, food and drink"?
Anyways, while some parts of this confused me, I did enjoy it and it made me think. A lot of this is still good advice to keep in mind and strive to live by.
I really like the points of accepting things that are out of your control, including the opinions of other people, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. I also love how the importance of our own judgement of an event is emphasized, a lot of these themes can also be seen in modern psychology (e.g. locus of control).
He began to lose me when he took everything to the extreme, like "either you're a philosopher who only strives for inner peace or you will only ever know material wealth", "keep laughter to a minimum" or "avoid socializing with non-philosophers [...] be careful not to sink to their levels". Some of that just sounds elitist in its own way, like he is gatekeeping inner peace, or just taking it way too seriously. Maybe that's just how they used to talk back then, I don't know, either way I believe that you can work on being content with what's given to you and still enjoy pleasure. Or am I trying to have my cake and eat it too, and I would really be much happier if I gave away all my things and stopped talking to my friends about "banalities like gladiators, horses, sports, food and drink"?
Anyways, while some parts of this confused me, I did enjoy it and it made me think. A lot of this is still good advice to keep in mind and strive to live by.
kasper6696's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Classic stoic text. Must read.