The reviewer highly anticipates reading 'Lives of the Stoics' by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, noting its comprehensive coverage of famous Stoic philosophers and its engaging biographical approach. They appreciate the book's potential to make ancient philosophy more accessible to modern readers.
The reviewer expresses great enthusiasm for 'Lives of the Stoics' by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, highlighting its comprehensive biographies of famous Stoic philosophers. They note that the book stands in a venerable tradition of philosophical storytelling, similar to Diogenes Laertius' work. The reviewer appreciates the biographical approach, which makes ancient philosophy more accessible to modern readers, especially those who are not academic philosophers. They also mention that they received an advance review copy and were particularly looking forward to reading this book.
Quick quotes
The reviewer is an author themselves and receives a lot of new books to review but can honestly say this is the one they were most looking forward to reading.
What I really want to stress, though, is the fact that this isn’t a book just for scholars.
Modern readers, perhaps especially those who are not academic philosophers, invariably find it easier to engage with and understand ancient philosophy when they know more about the lives and personalities of the philosophers themselves.