Ranked #3 in Survey, Ranked #3 in Devotion — see more rankings.
In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life. Using the psychological... more
Reviews and Recommendations
We've comprehensively compiled reviews of A Guide to the Good Life from the world's leading experts.
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Marc Andreessen Co-Founder/Andreessen HorowitzBest (?) walk through the ancient/current philosophy of Stoicism. You can't control other people but you can control yourself, so do that. (Source)
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Timothy Ferriss Author & EntrepreneurRecommends this book
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Jason Fried Co-Founder/BasecampThe book that had the biggest impact on me this year was “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy”. (Source)
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Phil Libin CEO/EvernoteA very interesting read. (Source)
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Tobi Lütke Founder & CEO/ShopifyOne of the best books I’ve ever read. (Source)
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David Heinemeier Hansson An easy way to learn about [Stoicism] and recognize why this resonates. (Source)
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Emrys Westacott Irvine counters the common perception of Stoicism as advocating a rather tedious, self-denying, joyless existence. He shows it’s really not like that. (Source)
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Derek Sivers Almost too personal for me to give an objective review, because I found when reading it that the quirky philosophy I've been living my life by since 17 matches up exactly with a 2000-year-old philosophy called Stoicism. Mine was self-developed haphazardly, so it was fascinating to read the refined developed original. Really resonated. (Source)
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Massimo Pigliucci It’s a sort of philosophical judo, what Bill practises. As a result, he’s been a much happier person. (Source)
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Mike Benkovich Honourable Mentions: Four Hour Work Week, The Happiness Hypothesis, Meditations, Catch 22, A Guide To The Good Life. (Source)
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Scott Perry The historic Stoic and Buddhist texts are very accessible, but William Irvine’s A Guide to the Good Life is a gentle introduction to Stoicism’s relevance to modern life and touches on its similarities to Buddhism. (Source)
Rankings by Category
A Guide to the Good Life is ranked in the following categories:
- #48 in Architecture
- #37 in Ethics
- #21 in Fire
- #28 in Happiness
- #73 in Life
- #38 in Lifestyle
- #77 in Mind
- #68 in Mindset
- #50 in Morality
- #7 in Morals
- #44 in Philosophy
- #17 in Philosophy History
- #5 in Stoicism
- #57 in Thought
- #30 in Wisdom