This Week’s BIG Idea
I just finished reading How to Think Like a Roman Emperor. The book serves as an introduction to both Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism. I really enjoyed the book, but more than anything, I loved re-reading about the Stoic tools to deal with setbacks in life. To be clear, Stoicism is a topic that’s dear and near to my heart. I have read a variety of books on the subject, most of them by Ryan Holiday. There isn’t such thing as reading too many philosophy books in my opinion. Going over those Stoic tools regularly is very important because you make sure you internalize them.
One of the reasons why I decided to start this website was to share summaries of my favorite books. Without those summaries, I don’t think I’d be familiar with those Stoic tools. It’s easy to read a book once and then completely forget about its content. But I do have a website with dozens of summaries and they’re an invaluable resource when it comes to remembering content I’ve read but might have forgotten about. It’s amazing how often I go back to those articles to check out my notes on certain books. It’s also humbling to see that other people find them useful as well.
What I’m Working on
After a day when the site simply didn’t work, I’ve been optimizing the website to make it more responsive. I’m no developer, so working on the website usually involves googling certain issues and working on them to the best of my abilities. I wear many hats when it comes to the business side of the site. So at some point, I might have to outsource certain parts of the business to people who actually know what they’re doing.
What I’m Listening to
Donald Robertson on Marcus Aurelius and Understanding Stoicism: When they think of fun, most people don’t think of a podcast about philosophy where two guys talk about a Roman emperor for almost two hours. But hey, I guess I’m not most people. For the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to Mark Manson’s audio articles. Now that I’m almost done with them, I’m finally listening to a bunch of podcasts I was interested in.
What I’m Reading
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson: As a way to internalize some concepts that make an impact on me personally, I often find myself reading about the same topics again and again. So a couple of days ago, I started reading How to Think Like a Roman Emperor. In this book, Robertson uses Marcus Aurelius’s life to teach its readers the main concepts behind Stoicism. I’ve read numerous books about Stoicism, but this school of philosophy has had such a tremendous impact on my life that I find myself returning to those books regularly.
What I’m Watching
The Complete History of the Roman Empire by Odyssey: As I was reading How to Think Like a Roman Emperor I realized that while I do know a lot about Stoicism, I don’t know much about the Roman Empire. I wanted to change that, so I looked for some documentaries on the topic. I came across this massive piece from a YouTube channel called Odyssey. The video provides an in-depth look at the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
This Week’s Quote
“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today?”
Steve Jobs
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