Many wise aphorisms and thoughts there. Would recommend it for tougher times, as with any other stoic in general. Don’t read it when feeling incredibly happy, or you are bound to have your emotional state flatten.
I go through Meditations on a regular basis. I have found it to be singularly uplifting. It has never “flattened” my emotional state at all, but I’m not surprised that flattening is an outcome for some readers.
It’s possible that the translation you’re using gives the text a morose tone. On the other hand, I’ve enjoyed both of the translations I’ve read (My current one is Maxwell Staniforth’s and George Long’s.)
When I moved back to the US from Japan, I made an ordered list of the books I had to determine which ones to ship home. This is the top ten:
Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Taleb, The Black Swan
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Thomas & Turner, Clear and Simple as the Truth
Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Wolferen, the Enigma of Japanese Power
Chabon, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
I’ve read Meditations.
Many wise aphorisms and thoughts there. Would recommend it for tougher times, as with any other stoic in general. Don’t read it when feeling incredibly happy, or you are bound to have your emotional state flatten.
I go through Meditations on a regular basis. I have found it to be singularly uplifting. It has never “flattened” my emotional state at all, but I’m not surprised that flattening is an outcome for some readers.
It’s possible that the translation you’re using gives the text a morose tone. On the other hand, I’ve enjoyed both of the translations I’ve read (My current one is Maxwell Staniforth’s and George Long’s.)
Pirsig’s book is brilliant… I recommend that to everyone as well...
If you like the Aurelius, also read the Schopenhauer book of aphora:
http://www.amazon.com/Parerga-Paralipomena-Short-Philosophical-Essays/dp/0199242216
Kavalier and Clay was very good—much better than his other (Yiddish Policeman’s …)
Cholera wasn’t great.