Vojtech &
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson

I enjoyed the crossover of stoicism and therapy. Stoics said that philosophy is only useful as long it helps us live better. Some of the books do tend to be a bit too much abstract to be really useful in day-to-day life. This book is nice exempt.

Every stoic practice is translated into actionable points you can use during your day. I heavily value books which try to take on something abstract and move it into your real life. After all, value is what gives us a better life, no?

Disclosure: I received a pre-release copy from the publisher. This book is a great introduction to both Marcus Aurelius and Stoic philosophy. It blends the biography of the roman emperor with the philosophy and history of stoicism, and the author ties it all together in a great way. In fact, having already read Meditations I found the biography and the stories about Marcus and the people around him to be the most interesting parts of this book. It gives the philosophy a lot more texture than just reading Marcus own words. That is not to say you should skip Meditations, but rather that they go really well together. This is a great companion book to Meditations. (I’d love to see other books like this of other great classical philosophers like Socrates, Plato etc. If you know of any please let me know)