Meditations (Chartwell Classics)

The book is beautifully bound, BUT the book does not number any of the meditations. They r just separated by double spacing.Secondly there have been zero updates to the George Long translation as it is rife with Thouest and Thys.Thirdly, unlike other entries in the Arcturus series there is zero art work.A missed opportunity. But hey the cover is nice.

Personal diary or notebook of the ancient Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius _April 26, 121 AD – March 17, 180 ADHis words see through all of the vanities of today's world. Compared to his Stoic and Socratic Meditations found in this diary of personal notations, today's so-called spiritualities just comes across as so much personal contrivance and mind candy.The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius are a potent antidote to today's philosophical conjectures, social media and the digital mirage of life.In the end there is something reassuring in an unassuming way about Marcus Aurelius's diary, a sobering virtue and sense of things, a divine reality, a reason or rational essence that breaks the spell of the loves and lusts of the world.A guide, a grounding sobering wisdom, a voice true, a light, bringing discernment and circumspection, leading to some kind of freedom of the soul and the spirit. A wonderful intimate revelation of ancient Stoic and Socratic philosophy...................The translations by either George Long, or Maxwell Staniforth are very good, and to be recommended.

Teeny tiny font and low saturation [grey] font made the Aurelius wisdom more challenging than usual to imbibe.

Marcus Aurelius is one of the three ancient Stoics. Seneca and Epictetus are the other two. The philosophy of Stoism is new to me. I started with some YouTube videos from Daily Stoic(webpage: dailystoic.com) The truths are profound and a philosophy to which I will love by. Two emamples: Marcus Aurelius said Momento Mori (Remember you will die). This means you are always dieing and you never know when you will. So don't harbor resentment of your past but learn from it. Don't get anxious about the future; live in the present moment and be greatful for it. Secondly: "The obsticle is the path." Don't take short cuts or the easy way. Delay gratification. We all face obsticles in our lives and the path is to deal with it in manner that will benefit you whether you know it or not. Work hard and it pays for itself within yourself. That's just a taste of the greatness of Stoism. Emerse yourself in these teachings and become the person you know you can be!!

Some thoughts are over my head and a couple hundred of his thoughts hit home. It’s funny how life doesn’t really change.

My aim has been to read literature of the 1st century and compare surrounding thought with that of the Bible. This mentions ‘the Christian’s’ once and ‘the book of Ephesians.’ This frames the world in a very interesting way and his aim is to practical and to bring peace to people’s soul which would be the result with his understanding of how the universe works.

What can be said other than this is a true classic? Not too difficult to understand as this George Long version was recommended in comparison to some that use an archaic style of literature. Will review specifics after comparison with The Emperor's Handbook, the other accepted translation that's highly touted as a hardback edition.Knocking a star off due to the cheapness of this book, more thick pamphlet/brochure than "book" lol. Despite this, I suppose not much can be said for $3 as the content of the book is what matters... but it sure would be nice if they stepped up the quality/appearance of this edition by this author which would be appreciated by book collectors. Perhaps even thicker paperback version?

This is a different kind of book little hard to understand but I like it very much I appreciate all the books I ordered.

I made a rookie error in assuming that any translation of ‘Meditations’ would be about the same. This translation is clumsy and is rather like one done by Google Translate rather than a vernacular English speaker. I regret not going for the z penguin Classic which I will pick up at some stage. Self-published on/by Amazon - not clear who did the translation. A pity.

A bit difficult to digest as the language is somewhat dated and, I suspect, somewhat literally translated from the original. Nevertheless, many interesting concepts re: life and relationships are discussed and debated. Not an easy read, and one I did with other novels interspersed between the meditations. Worth reading and contemplating, though.

It's impressive a man of such status has a deep understanding and awareness of the fragility of the world. It's written in classical english, took me some time to read and understand what is being said but still readable nonetheless. I sometime find myself lost in midst of reading cause I'm not used to the writing style, but as soon as I'm on track (by re-reading/looking up some word on the dictionary) there's always a little gem hidden.

There is a series of twelve books in this I am at Book five and struggling, some of the translation does not seem to make sense, whilst I understand some of it some appears to be gibberish. Yes I know I am reading the translation of an ancient text. I might get a print version and try that.

I was lured to this book to hear some nuggets of wisdom. I found them for sure, however I had to dig for them. This book is not an easy read and has no distinguishable flow. It is really a collection of ramblings.There are some great pearls of wisdom and this book is a fascinating look inside the mind of a Roman Stoic and Emperor. Yet, it was painful to read. I was glad when the ordeal was over.