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TL;DR: Aristotle talks about Life: Virtues, Friends and Happiness This was a slog to read. There is something intriguing about philosophy with its long passages and obscure words. It is hard to grasp and maybe that's why it's interesting. It seems like a challenge to overcome. At its core, it's an exploration of life or of the abstract. This book is no different. Aristotle discusses what makes a life well-lived, what makes people happy, what constitutes a good man. He talks about factors that lead people to have good or bad lives; and that good people have virtues that are nurtured in them. It can get way too abstract sometimes especially when he is differentiating two already abstract concepts. But he does seem like a well-rounded fellow. Book I: The Object of Life TL;DR: Life is activity. Happiness comes from virtuous activities The three types of life: the life of enjoyment, the political, and the contemplative Happiness, then, is found to be s...

TL;DR: We are not perfect, but be good anyway.  Philosophy Books are always a slog to read. Mixing Religion and Philosophy, It becomes a grind.

TL;DR It is a series of Essays with a self-examination or a self-exploratory aim, discussing various topics that piqued Montaigne's curiosity.  Had Montaigne lived today he would be writing long form blogs. It is influenced by the stoics; some of more well known philosophers such as Socrates, St. Augustine and others. In the philosophical branch, he is lumped under Skepticism. From the writings, he seems like a regular guy, regular in the sense that he's like a neighbor, like an old uncle, a really smart, and at times self-deprecating uncle.

This was a hard read. For a man only starting to dabble in philosophy, this was a struggle. There's a certain kind of blaaggh from philosophy. I don't know what it is. It's almost like listening to a scholarly talk way beyond your comprehension; like if a preschooler sat down in a college trigonometry class. The TL;DR version is: a bunch of philosophers gathered round and discussed details and debated about Justice, Reality and the ideal State, the Republic.

To be completely honest, having seen the word persuasion in the book's sleeves I had thought this was going to be like an ancient Influence by Robert Cialdini . But boy, was I wrong. This was what I always imagined a long class in philosophy might be; a long afternoon class where Philosophy and Language had a love child. The TL:DR version is Aristotle writes that there are 3 kinds of Rhetoric; a couple ways to approach them, and how to structure and focus your messages.

One of the more well-known Stoics today is Seneca. He lived before Marcus Aurelius by roughly around One Hundred to Two Hundred years. Similar to Marcus Aurelius' work, the Meditations, Seneca also wrote various letters, the difference being to whom the letters are addressed.

Confucius lived around 551-479 BC. Far back in time. Sometime around or after that period, his disciples compiled his teachings in what would become The Analects. He probably didn’t write any on his own. Had he been alive today these would have been his words posted and re-posted as quotes/memes by his people. A wise teacher to say the least. I was looking for that quote about the difference between teaching a man how to fish feeds him for a lifetime, instead of giving him a fish that feeds him only for a day. Never saw that quote. He had however many others that serve better in terms of living morally, respecting family, following the rites and virtues, humaneness, serving in government, being a gentleman and so on. Here are some: 1.16: Do not worry that other people do not know you. but be concerned that you do not know them. 2.20: Ji Kangzi asked, "How can I get the common people to be respectful, to do their best, and to encourage each other to strive forward?" The ...

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way" This train of thought, written to himself by Marcus Aurelius a philosopher king from 2 nd century Rome; 100-200 AD, advises what stands in our way; the hardships; the failures; these are part of the path. This is the path.  The Obstacle is the Way is heavy with stoic principles. Ryan Holidays splits the book into 3 parts: Perception, Action and Will. Managing perception; Directing action; and Enduring and accept the world as it is. Perception. It’s how we look and understand our environment. External events do not mean any specific thing. We give them meaning. How we see an event depends on whether we perceive it as strengthening or exhausting. To be objective, see things as they are, keep an even keel, stay present and focused on what can be controlled.  Action equates to doing the right things, Actions are not created equal. Working on the things that matter, and being per...

The title being the main message; Ryan Holiday tells stories of successes and failures by prominent individuals of history and from the recent period; and how everyone is susceptible to the pangs of Ego. When not careful, the same drives that sets us out to attain our successes can easily be the same mechanism that causes us to crash. The book is divided into three parts; Aspire, Success and Failure. As it is with any human endeavour, we have always strived for better. Still, It takes a conscious mind to be able to catch one’s self when the sails are steering away from what truly matters. In times when we aspire for better, it is of great character to be humble and learn. Once we’ve had our successes, the way to stumble is to be disrespectful and to believe our own hype. Instead, we should strive to be gracious and have an open mind, and that what we do is ultimately something beyond ourselves. Alas, when we faced with failures and setbacks; instilling values of res...

I was going through some rough times a couple months back and this book helped me go through that period. This is the best piece of literature  I read this year.   I'm not going to write a summary. Instead I'm merely going to list a couple quotable quotes I'd like to remember. Book 1 - 4: When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own-not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel ...