Wanjiku Gichane

A book that captures the essentials of the ancient philosophy of Stoicism. Stoicism, a set of practices that help us manipulate our emotions to live with arete. This was elegantly done by listing the top 50 practices of stoicism. Reading this book was awakening as it reminded me that most practices were similar to those of Christianity such as the impermanence of the world, selflessness, opportunities to practice virtue among many others. I felt as though the writer focused a great deal on the stereotypes associated with stoicism rather than what stoicism is which was rather off-putting. Listing 50 practices was unmerited. 50 is the ideal number but some of the chapters such as “negative visualization” and “blame your expectations” could have been merged into one paragraph and still set forth sufficient knowledge. Some practices such as “do good, be good” and “kindness is strength” should not have been included as they are not specific to stoicism. If anything the writer should show us why stoicism is so distinctive, if it is. Nonetheless, kudos to the writer for making a philosophical book comprehensible!