A Book Recommendation for Beginners

, yet not only for beginners.

I am not affiliated with the author, nor was I asked to review this book. The book earned this review by being a good book, and I am thankful to Donald Robertson [1] for introducing me to it.

Review of: Stoicism, A Very Short Introduction by Brad Inwood

TLDR: This book is concise yet easy to read, and provides historical as well as philosophical context for stoicism, important when trying to make sense of the writings of Markus Aurelius, Seneca and Arrian/Epictetus but goes way beyond those three individuals in its analysis. It also reflects on modern views on stoicism, their relation to what was and possible roads ahead. I recommend it wholeheartedly as a first book, or a companion book to any other book on the topic of stoicism.

109 pages, 118 with references and index. 17.3 x 11.2 cm. 6.8 x 4.4 inches.

The author manages to condense a lot of material as well as his commentary on it, into this short volume. It is segmented into 7 chapters:

1. Ancient Stoicism and Modern Life
2. Reading Stoicism Today: Markus Aurelius, Epictetus, and even Seneca
3. The Origins of the School, Stoicism and Plato
4. Physics
5. Ethic
6. Logic
7. Stoicism, Then and Now

and includes a time-line as well as the occasional picture to aid the understanding of certain concepts. Is is not a self help book that goes on for pages about a minor issue, but a holistic approach to stoicism and its modernization.

So, if you have been following stoicism casually for a while I think buying this book is the best way of understanding what the regulars of this subreddit are talking about, as all the important stoic vocabulary is in there. This book won't try to convince you to be a stoic (as modern self help books tend to do), nor does it seek justifications for the more obscure parts of the stoic system, rather, it will lay down the facts for anyone interested in stoic thought.

If I could convince you to give the book a try, see the final paragraph of the book included at the end of Robertsons review, which I want to recommend to you as well.

[1] Donald Robertson's Review