Letters from a Stoic

seneca's letters from a stoic, marcus aurelius' meditations, the pragmatic programmer by david thomas & andrew hunt

I like to read a wide variety of genre from fiction to human psychology. For the mind: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg - A great book on how to communcate more effectively with others. Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman -He is the only psychologist ever to recieve the Nobel Prize if I remember correctly. This book scientifically digests human biases and errors and how they influence our every day lives and decision making. Sometimes it a bit too technical for my taste and I like mostly the first part. (its not an easy read) I rarely had so many Aha-moments. A random walk down on wall street - For investing your income in stocks. What to do and what no to do. Simple, with facts. Sapiens by Harari -Interesting, I remember it was a great read and fun read. Connecting a lot of dots :) On programming: Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann - I am failry a junior web dev, so any material that is clear and explains well is a great source of information and inspiration. This is such a book.…

Finished Range and Siddhartha, and now reading Seneca's letters from a stoic. Range is a great book that extols the virtues of playing around and dabbling with multiple skills. Immensely readable. Siddhartha, is a fascinating take on advaita vedanta, Sramana, and Buddhism. As someone familiar with these 3 philosophies, I liked Hesse's take on them. The story is really simple and can be finished in 2-3 sittings. Letters from a stoic is full to the brim of wisdom and I've never filled a book with so many bookmarks and notes before. Seneca writes like a straight arrow and doesn't mince words. No wonder the book is still around, one of the best examples of Lindy effect.

Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Taleb Letters from a Stoic - Seneca The Bible Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzsche Psychological Types - Carl Jung

'Letters from a Stoic' is indeed a masterpiece, and I've found that the Penguin Book's translation is fantastic. It made me feel like I was reading my own grandpa's letters with warm-hearted instructions on how to be a good person when I become a grown-up.

I have always been of the opinion that you ought to read the stoics in the order of: 1. Epictetus (foundational with the enchiridion) [trans Robert Dobbin] 2. Seneca’s letters (eloquent exhortations from one person to another) [trans Robin Campbell] 3. Aurelius’s meditations (powerful self-reflections not meant for publication) [trans Martin Hammond] I found that, going back, both Seneca or Epictetus were lesser reads than Aurelius, but I’m still glad I read them. [These are my preferred translations, but I did see this comment and just ordered the translation mentioned https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8717216]

Seneca - Letters from a stoic; Herman Hesse - Steppenwolf , Siddhartha and The glass bead game (Magister Ludi)

- Rationality From AI to Zombies (huge collection of essays about (rationality,intelligence,quantum physics,bayesian probability,philosophy...) that can be read on lesswrong.com) -Intuition Pumps and other Thinking Tools -Sapiens -Edward.O Wilson Letters to a young scientist -Cédric Villani Birth of a Theorem -Emanuel Derman Models Behaving Badly -Letters From A Stoic by Seneca -Mathematics it's contents methods 3 Volumes (Aleksandrov et al.) -Nick Bostrom Superinteligence -The Moral Animal by Robert Wright

Demon Haunted World (Sagan). The art of baloney detection and scientific thinking. Letters from a Stoic (Seneca). The pursuit of happiness is meaningless, focus on the pursuit of wisdom. Poor Charlie's Almanac (Charles T. Munger). A library of mental/thinking models can take you a long way. Of Human Bondage (Maugham). What is the meaning of life?

Peterson is very good at speaking and lecturing (practice makes perfect!) and I enjoy his work. That said, his tack is largely an updated stoic philosophy. A good idea, don't get me wrong. Still, if you liked his book, I'd go back and read more about stoicism. Here are some suggestion, but if anyone else has others, please chime in: https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Thrift-Editions-Marcus-Au... (https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Thrift-Editions-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/048629823X) https://www.amazon.com/Senecas-Letters-Stoic-Thrift-Editions... (https://www.amazon.com/Senecas-Letters-Stoic-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486811247/ref=pd_sim_14_7?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0486811247&pd_rd_r=MY1XXP4DKN8QNDBGPYMR&pd_rd_w=bcmaG&pd_rd_wg=LyiNS&psc=1&refRID=MY1XXP4DKN8QNDBGPYMR) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism

"Letters from a Stoic" by Seneca "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins "Deep Work" by Cal Newport "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" by Jared Diamond

Letters from a Stoic Getting Real Cambodia Noir Vagabonding All great reads!

- The Enchihirdion by Epictetus - Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Letters of a Stoic by Seneca - Dhammapada (various translations) - Bhagavad Gita (various translations)

Re-reading what I consider to be the best book on Stoic philosophy - Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium by Seneca

Some titles I've recently read or at least have placed on my reading list. -------------------- Philosohpy Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium - Seneca Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (must read) The Republic - Plato -------------------- History Five Chimneys - Olga Lengyel The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (must read) The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank -------------------- Fiction (particularly dystopian) 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451 (crime/action) Child 44, The Secret Speech, Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith -------------------- Economics Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Thomas Piketty Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty - Banerjee, Duflo Why Nations Fail - Robinson -------------------- Economics/Decision making/Psychology Undercover Economist, Freakonomics, Nudge, Thinking Fast and Slow -------------------- Random titles The Selfish Gene, Self-Reliance, The Elements of Style (about writing), Slaughterhouse-Five -------------------- Some links to inspire your reading (though you may want to checkout the websites first to get an idea of the topics they cover) http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books…

The Black Swan (anything by Taleb really), Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Letters from a Stoic by Seneca, Epictetus' Discourses, Fish that ate the whale by Rich Cohen, Man's Search for Meaning, Titan, Principles by Ray Dalio (not really a book, but really worth reading, plus it's free), 4HW by Tim Ferris, The Strategy Paradox. Also Teddy Roosevelt's biography has been very influential.

Some books that stood out this year (many not for their intended reasons) The 4 Hour Work Week (Tim Ferriss) - In parts entertaining, interesting, self-promoting, educational, inspirational, attractive and undesirable. Definitely worth the read and a great call to action. Will make you consider what you want and how you can achieve it. The Game (Neil Strauss) - Truly interesting story and an interesting view on human dynamics and hacking one of the more important systems (dating). A great view on what is most important - ends or means. Will make you consider how people work, what motivates them and whether success cures emptiness. Losing my Virginity (Richard Branson) - The awesome and entertaining story of Virgin with lots of great advice and startup David vs Goliath inspiration. Will make you consider what determination and the little guy can achieve. Business Stripped Bare (Richard Branson) - Branson's more focused take on business advice and patches on bits of the Virgin story since the first book. Will make you consider the power of being genuine and growing a company with people treated as smart humans. On Writing (Stephen King)…