Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way and founder of The Daily Stoic, talks about his personal introduction to Stoicism.
Drawing on his favourite verses from Meditations, he shows the commonsense, its real-world application of Stoicism. It’s not for “turtle-necked professors”, it’s for the man in the street.
If you’re curious, this is a great place to start…
Something to practice your wry smile on.
In 1972, Orson Welles presented this documentary based on Alvin Toffler’s book of the same name: Future Shock.
The tone is suitably apocalyptic: Orson Welles at his doom-laden best.
Continue reading “The premature arrival of the future”
Here’s a 1959, BBC interview with Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. The great man died just 18 months later.
He talks about his early years and the evolution of his thinking.
It’s a fascinating 40 minutes for your Weekend Watch.
Continue reading “Man cannot stand a meaningless life – Carl Jung”
Wonderfully prolific and successful author Neil Gaiman, interviewed by lifehacker and writer Tim Ferriss. This goes straight to the top of my Weekend Watch list.
I discovered Gaiman years ago when, on a whim, I bought a copy of Stardust to read on the Seattle-London flight home. I was hooked instantly by his ability to weave the wildest flights of fancy into a dark but human realism.
Continue reading “Tim Ferris interviews Neil Gaiman, @tferriss, @neilhimself”
Things I didn’t know about Herodotus and his Histories:
If you enjoyed the BBC programme on Machiavelli, you’ll love this.
In this lecture, Professor Quentin Skinner (a contributor to the BBC programme) takes a deeper look at Machiavelli and his famous book.
Continue reading “More Machiavelli, less Machiavellian?”Should everyone, or at least every sovereign professional, read Machiavelli’s notorious book, The Prince?
From the BBC’s Imagine series, this programme explores the history and contemporary impact of Nicolo Machiavelli’s most famous book.
Continue reading “Who’s afraid of Machiavelli? – BBC”
I find I don’t know nearly enough about Leonardo da Vinci.
About a month ago, on Execupundit, Michael Wade recommended this YouTube video of Walter Isaacson discussing his latest book, Leonardo da Vinci. It took me a little while to get to it but if, like me, you haven’t got any closer to reading the book than buying it for a friend, I heartily recommend it.
Continue reading “Leonardo da Vinci, ultimate sovereign professional?”
If you missed Stoic Week, but have an interest in stoicism, this is a good introduction. Massimo Pigliucci, K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at City University of New York, is a contributor to Modern Stoicism, the organisation behind Stoic Week.
Just under an hour long and well worth a watch:
These are really good: two (different) lectures by Jordan Peterson in Iceland. As I recall, the second lecture starts with some background on how he came to write 12 Rules for Life.
The book made its way to the top of the Must-Read pile and I’m currently half-way through. Exceptionally lucid.
And, as Stoic Week nears its end, I see a lot of commonality between Peterson’s responsibility-over-rights perspective and the Stoic perspective.
Set aside a few (well, five) hours to feed the mind…