A review by anarcho_zymurgist
The Art of Happiness by Epicurus

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.75

I do rather like Epicurus. His philosophy on maximizing personal happiness seems like it should be fairly straightforward, yet it is so refreshing to read compared to his contemporaries. He also has some surprisingly accurate hypotheses on atomic theory, among other natural phenomena. Sadly, since the ancient Greeks did not have the same technology or attitude towards the scientific method as later scientists, these hypotheses remain untested, dogmatic assertions. They are, however, a far cry from the comparatively laughable attempts at metaphysics by his philosophical opponents. Unfortunately, the works of Epicurus remain today mostly in fragments, making the limited length my main critique of the text. I admit I got most of my enjoyment out of the (quite informative) introduction.