A Guide to the Good Life : The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
All in all Irvine does a fine job in offering his 'resolutely practcal' brand of Stoicism to a popular audience. His citation of the original sources is effective and stimulating of interest. His tone is just right one for the popular audience he wishes to reach. (Walter M. Roberts III, Bryn Mawr Classical Review )
Product Description
One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life. Using the psychological insights and the practical techniques of the Stoics, Irvine offers a roadmap for anyone seeking to avoid the feelings of chronic dissatisfaction that plague so many of us. Irvine looks at various Stoic techniques for attaining tranquility and shows how to put these techniques to work in our own life. As he does so, he describes his own experiences practicing Stoicism and offers valuable first-hand advice for anyone wishing to live better by following in the footsteps of these ancient philosophers. Readers learn how to minimize worry, how to let go of the past and focus our efforts on the things we can control, and how to deal with insults, grief, old age, and the distracting temptations of fame and fortune. We learn from Marcus Aurelius the importance of prizing only things of true value, and from Epictetus we learn how to be more content with what we have. Finally, A Guide to the Good Life shows readers how to become thoughtful observers of their own life. If we watch ourselves as we go about our daily business and later reflect on what we saw, we can better identify the sources of distress and eventually avoid that pain in our life. By doing this, the Stoics thought, we can hope to attain a truly joyful life.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
There has been quite a trend lately for philosophy academics trying to repair the discipline's reputation amongst the general public for high-minded irrelevance. Surfing this trend in the UK are the likes of Tony Grayling, Julian Baggini, Stephen Law and Alain de Botton. Now here's American thinker William Irvine giving the Roman Stoics a bit of a spring clean.
Irvine describes the basic principles of stoicism (concentrating mainly on Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius rather than their Greek predecessors). He then discusses how one might apply these principles to 21st century Western life and finally reports back on his own attempts to do just that.
Along the way, Irvine explains in some detail a number of psychological techniques for achieving serenity. These include
- negative visualisation, in which by imagining the worst we both appreciate what we already have and prepare for future loss
- identifying what we can and cannot control and ignoring the latter
- accepting that there is nothing we can do to change the past and little to affect the future
- self denial, which brings the same benefits as negative visualisation
- periodic reflection on our behaviour with a view to improvement.
If the only thing that you (think you) know about stoics is that they favoured the stiff upper lip, then the theoretical side may be a bit of an eye-opener. But it also has much to recommend it as a discussion of how stoic principles might continue to be relevant today. It's certainly far more useful than those endless books on how to change your life overnight just by, like, really really wanting to.
Irvine describes the basic principles of stoicism (concentrating mainly on Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius rather than their Greek predecessors). He then discusses how one might apply these principles to 21st century Western life and finally reports back on his own attempts to do just that.
Along the way, Irvine explains in some detail a number of psychological techniques for achieving serenity. These include
- negative visualisation, in which by imagining the worst we both appreciate what we already have and prepare for future loss
- identifying what we can and cannot control and ignoring the latter
- accepting that there is nothing we can do to change the past and little to affect the future
- self denial, which brings the same benefits as negative visualisation
- periodic reflection on our behaviour with a view to improvement.
If the only thing that you (think you) know about stoics is that they favoured the stiff upper lip, then the theoretical side may be a bit of an eye-opener. But it also has much to recommend it as a discussion of how stoic principles might continue to be relevant today. It's certainly far more useful than those endless books on how to change your life overnight just by, like, really really wanting to.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I studied philosophy at university, and Irvine stands out amongst professional philosophers as a man who manages to get his message across with elegant simplicity. This book is not only easy to understand; he manages to make stoicism extremely relevant to modern concerns. It's hard to imagine how someone who could not benefit from reading this book. No matter how awful life seems, stoicism has something to offer.
I find many things of value in buddhism, but balk at the religious worship associated with it. Stoicism has much to offer westerners drawn to buddhism. Friends who have read widely around stoicism after reading this book tell me that their appreciation for Irvine's book was even greater the more they read.
I find many things of value in buddhism, but balk at the religious worship associated with it. Stoicism has much to offer westerners drawn to buddhism. Friends who have read widely around stoicism after reading this book tell me that their appreciation for Irvine's book was even greater the more they read.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A very interesting and readable book that sums up the work of a number of greek philosophers about how to lead a happy and fulfilling life. Clearly structured and with a lot of every day examples. A must-read for people who are looking for more in life.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
" More like wrestling than dancing"
"More like wrestling than dancing"
This was how Marcus Aurelius, one of the most famous stoic philosophers described life, and it was Stoicism he relied upon to face his... Read more
This was how Marcus Aurelius, one of the most famous stoic philosophers described life, and it was Stoicism he relied upon to face his... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Corax
Doesn't really get it
The problem with this book is that the author does not understand the Stoics. He makes no attempt to engage with Stoic logic or physics, and as a result manages to seriously... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Wp Harris
Excellent starter guide to Stoicism.
I bought this book along with Discourses and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics) as I'm quite the Stoic. Read more
Published 12 months ago by TwoCentsTooMany
Makes it all accessible
The Author is a professor who is clearly very good at making relatively obscure texts accessible and interesting. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ahmed Karim Lameer
Reasonable for a beginner, though frustrating for others
Though Irvine seems to grasp the nature of Stoic philosophy this work, in my view, fails to aid anything to the Stoic world. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Grant Hawkins
Pleasant read and informative
Very easy reading and concise reading about the Stoic philosophy. There's wisdom in here for everyone. Well written and balanced.
Published 17 months ago by Arne Kuilman
A Joy to read
I like the way that the author introduces this as a philosophy for modern life and manages to introduce the key concepts in a way that is meaningful for life in the twenty-first... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Ed Brenmal
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Careers > Career Guides
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Careers > Job Hunting
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Self Help > Practical & Motivational
- Books > History > Religious History > Christianity
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Testimony & Inspiration
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Inspirational
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
