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Lives of the Stoics

Written by: Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
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Publisher's Summary

Instant New York Times Advice & Business best seller, USA Today best seller, and Wall Street Journal number one best seller!

A New York Times Noteworthy Pick and a "stellar work" by Publishers Weekly

From the best-selling authors of The Daily Stoic comes an inspiring guide to the lives of the Stoics, and what the ancients can teach us about happiness, success, resilience, and virtue.

Nearly 2,300 years after a ruined merchant named Zeno first established a school on the Stoa Poikile of Athens, Stoicism has found a new audience among those who seek greatness, from athletes to politicians and everyone in between. It's no wonder; the philosophy and its embrace of self-mastery, virtue, and indifference to that which we cannot control is as urgent today as it was in the chaos of the Roman Empire.

In Lives of the Stoics, Holiday and Hanselman present the fascinating lives of the men and women who strove to live by the timeless Stoic virtues of Courage. Justice. Temperance. Wisdom. Organized in digestible, mini-biographies of all the well-known - and not so well-known - Stoics, this book vividly brings home what Stoicism was like for the people who loved it and lived it, dusting off powerful lessons to be learned from their struggles and successes.

More than a mere history book, every example, from Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius - slaves to emperors - is designed to help the listener apply philosophy in their own lives. Holiday and Hanselman unveil the core values and ideas that unite figures from Seneca to Cato to Cicero across the centuries. Among them are the idea that self-rule is the greatest empire, that character is fate; how Stoics benefit from preparing not only for success, but failure; and learn to love, not merely accept, the hand they are dealt in life. A treasure of valuable insights and stories, this book can be visited again and again by any listener in search of inspiration from the past.

©2020 Ryan Holiday (P)2020 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

"Whether you're a general or a gardener, a stockbroker or a senator, there is much to learn from Ryan Holiday’s excellent Lives of the Stoics." (Senator Ben Sasse)

“Holiday and Hanselman (coauthors of The Daily Stoic) explain in this stellar work the implications of Stoic dedications to truth, wisdom, resilience, and character...This illuminating collection of biographies makes great use of Stoic wisdom to demonstrate the tradition’s values for any reader interested in ancient philosophy.” (Publishers Weekly [starred review])

“An introductory guide to the luminaries of Greco-Roman ethical philosophy.... Thoughtfully complicates Stoicism. Rather than emphasizing Spock-like, unemotional rigor (as pop culture often does), the authors reveal how the philosophy often debated its identity.... At a time when public nobility is hard to come by, this is a good reminder of the power of ethical leadership.” (Kirkus Reviews)

What listeners say about Lives of the Stoics

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  • Amy
  • 2021-03-16

The narrator ruins this book for me

I imagine this is actually a good read. It's however, hard to get through with this narrator. He is rushing through it and I had to slow down the speed so it was being said at a close to normal rate of speed. His voice is so monotone and almost depressing to listen to. Not worth the credit in my opinion. Also he constantly pronounces words incorrectly. I suggest find the actual copy on Amazon and give it a read. Such a shame. Replace the narrator and I'll be able to give a good opinion.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great for those who follow stoicism/philosophy

Great book! I learned a lot. BUT can the speaker be replaced??? I seriously struggled. It was the tone, the speed without breath. I just don’t get how someone felt it was good? Definitely a book better left read than listened to. If you can push past that then you will take a lot away which can point you in new direction of research.

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4 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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ears bleeding

Like listening to a child read a book out loud that they have never read before. Punctuation means nothing to Ryan, he reads as if the book is just one long sentence. No inflection, no variance of tone or pace. I'm going to pick this book up, cause I can't get through it with Ryan reading it.

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3 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • T.S
  • 2021-09-10

Read to fast

Holiday speeds through this book like hes late for lunch. Slow it down buddy. We wanna take it in.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too bad about the narration.

I could not finish listening to this book because of the quality of the narration. Either too fast or too slow and very monotone. Too bad, because the subject matter was interesting.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Listen One of Many

You can tell Ryan is passionate about the subject. There is no fluff or filler here, absolutely every sentence and paragraph is full of amazing information. A must multiple read book.

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  • o
  • 2022-10-29

awesome book, poor reading.

Great book and the other's written by Holiday...however, I suggest him not to read them himself...I think is not his strength.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great blend of history and Stoic learning.

I thoroughly enjoyed this blend of history and Stoic learning. It was so interesting to learn how interwoven all the lives of the ancient Stoic philosophers were and to learn about the lesser known Stoics who also made big contributions to the philosophy.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

too complicated

Not easy to understand the point of any story. Too many little details and the point gets lost.
Other Ryan Holiday books are better.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Meditations

If i had to give one criticism is that people would walk by and think the narrator was a robot cause of the unwavering sound of his voice or by the speed at which it was read.

I personally enjoyed it and stayed engaged to the end, i will probably return to listen again as i felt i learned a few things but i couldnt possibly absorb it all on one outing.

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