The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living

This book inspired me to buy "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, who is quoted very frequently in this book. THAT was a bit harder of a read, and makes me appreciate this book much more. This book shines because 1) each page takes no more than 2-3 mins to read and digest, easily fitting into ANY daily routine, and 2) Ryan's commentary that enables us to extract the most of each carefully selected quote. I have page flags all throughout this book. If you're looking for a daily devotional that focuses more on practicality, lifestyle and principles rather than religion, please give this book a try.

The Daily Stoic does exactly what intends to do, and that is to guide you through life’s daily troubles.

Summary For those who want to get to the point, this is a good book. If you want to become more resilient against life’s obstacles, you should buy this book.

• Who should read this book: This is a book for someone who wants to become more “thick-skinned” in life, but also do the right thing. If you want to become someone who never flinches towards adversity, this is the book for you.

• Format: Well designed. Each page corresponds to a date on the calendar, so each day comes with a new meditation. You never need to read more than one page a day

• Content: Each page starts with a relevant topic for any stoic. A related quote soon follows. Much of the page is dedicated to the authors explanation of the quote in everyday terms.

• Impact: While the book won’t internalize it for you, it will tell you what you need to do to persevere through life’s challenges.

Detailed Review

Who should read this book This book is useful to everyone, because everyone faces challenges in life. This book is meant to help you through these challenges. While it won’t solve your problems for you, it will give you guidance, but also the fortitude to face them. You can be someone can’t seem to get a break, or you can have your entire life under control. Either way, this book will toughen you up to become a master of your own life.

Format This book isn’t made to be read in one sitting. Consider it more of a calendar in book form. The authors named it well since it truly is meant to be read daily. It might be daunting to read something every day, but it’s not. You will be able to read it in less than five minutes, but will give you something to think about for the rest of the day.

Content I’ll use the page of February 8th as an example. A title like “Did that make you feel better?” follows a calendar date on each page, in this case, February 8th. A related quote soon follows from a famous stoic, dating anywhere from Ancient times to modernity. This specific date has a quote from the Roman philosopher Seneca. The rest of the page is dedicated towards the authors views on the previous material. While it’s not as quotable as, well, the quote, it does give insight to the layman about these seemingly archaic views. This date, the author talks about how reacting extremely to a terrible situation will not solve said situation. It is better to remain calm in the face of adversity, so a clear head can be kept to make better decisions. Every day in the calendar year has something to offer to the would-be stoic.

Impact This is the trickiest subject, but not at the fault of the book. The book has all the material necessary to change your life, but it can’t be accomplished without you, the reader, internalizing the lessons taught. If you do internalize it, then you will face life as a stoic.

Final Verdict Buy this book, it’s well put together and has useful information for everybody.

This book is an excellent read. Each day has a special Stoic philosophical statement with an interpretation by the author. Each morning over coffee, I read the passage and ruminate on its implications for modern life. I am now on my second year, rereading the philosophical musings of the great Stoics. Each reread provides new insights that I can easily apply to modern life. At 66, it is nice to still learn a different life view and not be married to a rigid dogma. I have bought and gifted this book to the next generation with a solid philosophical foundation.

I am loving this book and the lifestyle it is helping me lead. I have been given similar books over the years ie the pivot year and didn’t get past the first page bc it was so dumb. A lot of these types of books seem to be a joke but this book is based on ancient concepts that work and make sense and actually helps u learn to be the best u. It’s not asking u to write or do anything diffeeent in ur life but to read each days leason and try to incorporate them into ur life. If u want to get ur life back and be a person who understands that u control ur life and ur happiness. Buy this book asap

The book was mentioned by a priest on YouTube. (Yeah, I know.) I expected it to be thoughtful, spiritual, generous, and enlightened. At times, it is that. But, it's also about war and combat and force. The jacket notes proclaim CEOs, celebrities, and athletic coaches embrace stoicism. Those, to me, are all suspect professions when it comes to right livelihood. (Yes, I'm mashing up Buddhism with stoicism) Quite often, the men and women in those fields represent the worst of mankind: greed, abuse, violence for entertainment, and narcissism.

I am reading the daily meditations with an openness to applying those guideposts to peaceful and mindful actions. Still, it is hard to look past the many examples in The Daily Stoic applying these principles to war.

Context is key. I write this as America is under siege by warmongers who threaten liberty and human rights. I don't know. Maybe I can learn to be a peaceful warrior wielding words instead of weapons.

Reading on...

The philosophical school of Stoicism may have been born in the 3rd century BC, but it has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years. In modern times, Stoicism served as the basis for cognitive behavioral therapy, a psychotherapeutic technique used to treat depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and other mental maladies. Many contemporary would-be Stoics, however, prefer to bypass CBT entirely and go straight to the source for their life-coaching by using the writings of the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome as the basis for a guide to living. With all the Stoic self-help books published in recent years, it was only a matter of time before one utilized the “daily affirmations” format. Such is the strategy of The Daily Stoic, published in 2016. The book was written by Ryan Holiday, a former PR man and marketing director, and Stephen Hanselman, a publisher and literary agent with a master’s degree in philosophy.

As the title of the book indicates, The Daily Stoic delivers 366 mini-lessons in Stoicism, dated January 1st through December 31st. These daily entries are divided into months, each revolving around a different theme, such as “Passions and Emotions,” “Duty,” “Fortitude and Resilience,” and “Virtue and Kindness.” Each daily lesson begins with a quotation from an ancient Stoic—most commonly Epictetus, Seneca, or Marcus Aurelius, but the authors also include selections from less familiar Stoics like Musonius Rufus, Cleanthes, and Zeno (the latter quoted from Diogenes Laertius’s Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers). Holiday and Hanselman then provide a page or two of elaboration on the quote and how it applies to the problems of modern life.

Overall these daily Stoic meditations are really quite well-written. The authors are adept at taking ancient Stoic concepts and translating them into plain English without dumbing-down the philosophical content. Holiday and Hanselman certainly know their stuff and write about Stoicism knowledgably and intelligently. They often use examples from history or current events to illustrate the points made in the ancient quotes, which keeps the text interesting and relevant to 21st century readers. If you have already looked into Stoicism, chances are you’ve probably already read the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius or the Discourses of Epictetus, but this book will help you see those texts in a new way. Occasionally, the lectures sometimes veer into what one might call “self-help shaming,” implying that if you’re not living your life to the fullest, then your life is a waste. Such instances read more like a 21st-century conceit than what the Stoics had in mind when they promised a life of tranquility. Overall, however, I found the book quite insightful and useful.

Though I believe in Stoicism and its benefits for mental and emotional health, I did not diligently stick to the lesson-a-day schedule the book prescribes. Sometimes I got bored with The Daily Stoic and let several days go by without picking it up; sometimes I would enthusiastically devour half a month’s worth of entries in one sitting. This is not the best book I’ve read on Stoicism (William B. Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life is hard to beat), but it is better than most. If you are serious about Stoicism, these daily contemplations on Stoic thought can be a useful tool to augment your studies. Having just finished the book with the end of the calendar year, I’ll probably just go back to the beginning and read it all over again.