Letters from a Stoic
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season254 pages, about 5 hours: four-fifths the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbIn Letter 1, Seneca tells Lucilius to reclaim and account for his time.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 11 reviews from critics and book blogs, one credits the plot and 11 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesMarcus Aurelius’s Meditations is the book reviewers pair it with most, and The Stoic Shelf asks which to read first.
The case for it
on Letter 48’s joke
“joke I would not be surprised to find in a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up comedy act”
a book blog on the translation
“an immensely readable translation with extensive, useful notes”
a book blog on the letters on friendship
“I found them very comforting, and a true testament to the Human Condition”
four stars · a book blog on his everyday examples
“a bath house full of loud strangers, a ship he didn’t want to get on”
a book blog
The case against
on Seneca’s own hypocrisy
“often accused of being a hypocrite whose lifestyle was far removed from his doctrines”
four stars · a book blog on some of the letters
“Some of the passages are dry, a few feel irrelevant, others are repetitive”
four stars · a book blog on the sexist comments
“there are quite a few sexist comments peppered through the book”
a book blog on the book’s length
“philosophy is like caviar: rich in flavor but hardly a full meal”
three stars · a Substack review
