Meditations

Aurelius, Marcus

ISBN 10: 1945644575 / ISBN 13: 9781945644573

Published by Chump Change, 1890

About this Item

Gently read. May have name of previous ownership, or ex-library edition. Binding tight; spine straight and smooth, with no creasing; covers clean and crisp. Minimal signs of handling or shelving. 100% GUARANTEE! Shipped with delivery confirmation, if you're not satisfied with purchase please return item! Ships USPS Media Mail.

Seller Inventory # OTV.1945644575.VG

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Meditations
• Publisher: Chump Change
• Publication Date: 1890
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1945644575
• ISBN 13: 9781945644573
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: very_good

About this title

Synopsis

Unabridged private reflections of the Emperor of Rome, on how one is to exist in a world of chaos. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and in the most accepted translation by George Long, is a book that belongs on everyone's shelf.

A favorite of Bill Clinton and John Steinbeck, and influencer of many others for 2,000 years, it is as relevant today to those in power struggles over empires and boardrooms as it was when it was first recorded.

This Value Classic Reprint provides a slim volume with full text at an affordable price.

Review

One measure, perhaps, of a book's worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages? The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be close to the author's intent. The book, which Hays calls, fondly, a "haphazard set of notes," is indicative of the role of philosophy among the ancients in that it is "expected to provide a 'design for living.'" And it does, both aphoristically ("Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.") and rhetorically ("What is it in ourselves that we should prize?"). Whether these, and other entries ("Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life.") sound life-changing or like entries in a teenager's diary is up to the individual reader, as it should be. Hays's introduction, which sketches the life of Marcus Aurelius (emperor of Rome A.D. 161-180) as well as the basic tenets of stoicism, is accessible and jaunty. --H. O'Billovich