The book starts with a decent introduction to Stoicism but quickly devolves into a poorly written self-help book filled with the author's biases and braggadocios anecdotes. The reviewer found it underwhelming and not a good introduction to Stoicism.
The reviewer began reading 'How to Be a Stoic' expecting a philosophical manual on Stoicism. The first 20% of the book provided a brief history and examination of the philosophy's main tenets, which was decent. However, the rest of the book was disappointing. The author's decision to write in first-person exposed his biases and prejudices, making the book feel more like a thinly disguised self-help guide. The chapters, despite interesting titles, were neither informative nor thought-provoking. The reviewer found the book boring and preachy, with the author coming across as arrogant rather than humble. They consider themselves lucky not to have had this book as their introduction to Stoicism, as it would have likely killed their interest in the philosophy.
Quick quotes
The decision to write this in first-person only served to show how flawed the author is, all of his biases and prejudices were laid bare.
A better title for this book should have been "How to be Massimo Pigliucci", every chapter was littered with entirely boring and braggadocios anecdotes of a man who evidently thinks himself an embodiment of humility, modesty and fine character.
I consider myself lucky to not have had this book and this author as my introduction to Stoicism, that would certainly have killed my interest.