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The Stoic Challenge
- A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
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The Stoic Challenge
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Summary
A practical, refreshingly optimistic guide that uses centuries-old wisdom to help us better cope with the stresses of modern living.
Some people bounce back in response to setbacks; others break. We often think that these responses are hardwired, but fortunately this is not the case. Stoicism offers us an alternative approach. Plumbing the wisdom of one of the most popular and successful schools of thought from ancient Rome, philosopher William B. Irvine teaches us to turn any challenge on its head. The Stoic Challenge, then, is the ultimate guide to improving your quality of life through tactics developed by ancient Stoics, from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca to Epictetus.
This book uniquely combines ancient Stoic insights with techniques discovered by contemporary psychological research, such as anchoring and framing. The result is a surprisingly simple strategy for dealing with life’s unpleasant and unexpected challenges - from minor setbacks like being caught in a traffic jam or having a flight cancelled to major setbacks like those experienced by physicist Stephen Hawking, who slowly lost the ability to move, and writer Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered from locked-in syndrome.
The Stoics discovered that thinking of challenges as tests of character can dramatically alter our emotional response to them. Irvine’s updated “Stoic test strategy” teaches us how to transform life’s stumbling blocks into opportunities for becoming calmer, tougher, and more resilient. Not only can we overcome everyday obstacles - we can benefit from them, too.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- C.J. de Jong
- 15-07-23
Great book
When it is explained like this it is all easy to understand. Do listen to this book!
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Alan Wilson
- 03-06-24
An interesting take on Stoicism
This is a really interesting book, but it is not for beginners, or people new to Stoicism. It doesn’t clearly state that it is, or it isn’t, so I’d like to make it clear. If you’re looking for a good introduction at a basic level I highly recommend The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism by Matthew Van Natta. I listened to that on Audible and found it most informative and fascinating. A good history lesson to boot.
This book seems more a practical tool suggestion, as how to put the Stoic learning into practice, without properly explaining what Stoicism is. I agree with some other reviewers, there are some points where language and stance are questionable, but not enough to erase the points trying to be made. This is a good follow up for folks who maybe already know a bit about Stoicism and just want more examples for them to follow/hear about.
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- Simon
- 31-12-20
Excellent.
A great expansion of the ideas and principles described in The Good Life, in particular how to deal more effectively with setbacks. Very relevant in current circumstances.
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- Nikolai Kleppe
- 21-05-21
Brilliant insights into stoic practice.
I listened to this in particularly stressful times and found that it both stripped me of some illusions of control and gave me the best tools for acceptance, calmness mind and preparedness.
Well-written, well-read, thorough, easy to follow and easy to implement in your own life.
Highly recommended!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michael Galloway
- 02-01-23
excellent and easy to follow
really enjoyed this audio book. the narrative was clearly read and set out in an easily digestible way. well done to both the author and narrator for a great piece of work.
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- Stuart Horrocks
- 28-03-21
Life changing
This book has the power to adjust your quality of life without changing your circumstances or material possessions. It is humorous, practical and uplifting. Thank you to the author.
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- Stevie G
- 03-04-21
Great principles to live by
A really interesting listen. It presents an alternative way of dealing with all the mishaps that happen in ordinary life.
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- MR JM FOSTER
- 23-05-20
Interesting and useful
My only criticism is that some of the content overlaps with some of Irvine's other books. Despite that, I took lots of value from this and strongly recommend it.
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- M.S.
- 23-01-22
Might be a life changing book for you
As author mentions stoicism might not be best fir for everybody and I fully agree on this point. However (depending on where you are at your life) this might open your horizons towards more balanced (and hopelly happier) way of living. It has done so for me.
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- Mike
- 02-11-22
Good
I'm a millennial, I thought the chapter about millennials was on point. Even if anything in the book was deliberately inflamatory (which it isn’t) having your feathers ruffled by it would be an indication that more stoic practice and reason was needed.
Very practical book. Useful psychological tricks, especially in the ending chapters.
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