About the book
The fear of looking back on a wasted life is one that William B. Irvine takes up as he argues that Stoicism, a popular school of thought in ancient Rome, still applies today. Irvine sets out the techniques the Stoics used to reach tranquility and describes his own experience of practicing them. Topics include minimizing worry, letting go of the past, focusing on what can be controlled, handling insults, grief, old age and the pull of fame and fortune. From Marcus Aurelius comes the habit of prizing only what has true value, and from Epictetus contentment with what one has. He also urges readers to observe their own daily conduct and reflect on it to find sources of distress.
Marc Andreessen called it possibly the best walk-through of Stoic philosophy, and Jason Fried said it had the biggest impact on him of any book he read that year. Derek Sivers found that the philosophy he had lived by since 17 matched Stoicism closely.
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This book has 5 recommendations
Recommended by Mike Benkovich (Founder/Anatomonics)
Source: Book-talk with Mike Benkovich, web developer & entrepreneur
Jason Fried (Co-Founder/Basecamp)
The book that had the biggest impact on me this year was “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy”.
Scott Perry (Author, Stoic Guitarist)
The historic Stoic and Buddhist texts are very accessible, but William Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life is a gentle introduction to Stoicism’s relevance to modern life and touches on its similarities to Buddhism.
Marc Andreessen (Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz)
Best (?) walk through the ancient/current philosophy of Stoicism. You can't control other people but you can control yourself, so do that.
Derek Sivers (Founder/CD Baby)
Almost too personal for me to give an objective review, because I found when reading it that the quirky philosophy I've been living my life by since 17 matches up exactly with a 2000-year-old philosophy called Stoicism. Mine was self-developed haphazardly, so it was fascinating to read the refined developed original. Really resonated.
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