Wiser Than Yesterday
90 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 years ago -In-depth breakdowns of some of the worlds most thought-provoking and inspiring books.
Our hosts, Nicolas Vereecke and Sam Harris digest non-fiction books from all centuries and genres.
This podcast is here to help listeners become smarter. To learn about ideas they haven't heard of or to gain more perspectives on the books and ideas they are familiar with.
We dive into topics such as philosophy, business, feminism, psychology, politics, economics and who knows what else. Our goal is to simply explore the best ideas and learn new things. You're most welcome to join us for the ride.
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Episodes
NEURODIVERSITY - PSYCHOPATHS: The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success by Kevin Dutton
April 06, 2022 12:00 - 27 minutes - 18.9 MBThe Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of "madness" along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in brain scanning and neuroscience, Dutton demonstrates that the brilliant neurosurgeon who lacks empathy has more in common with a Ted Bundy who kills for pleasure ...
NEURODIVERSITY - AUTISM: NeuroTribes; The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
March 23, 2022 11:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBNeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity By Steve Silberman What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answer...
NEURODIVERSITY - AUTISM: NeuroTribes; The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
March 23, 2022 11:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBNeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity By Steve Silberman What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answer...
NEURODIVERGENCE: NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
March 23, 2022 11:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBNeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity By Steve Silberman What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. Wired reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answer...
NEURODIVERSITY - ADHD: Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain by Peter Shankman
March 02, 2022 16:00 - 38 minutes - 34.6 MBFaster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain By Peter Shankman In Faster Than Normal, Shankman shares his hard-won insights and daily hacks for making ADHD a secret weapon for living a full and deeply satisfying life. Both inspiring and practical, the book presents life rules, best practices, and simple but powerful ways to: Harness your creative energy to generate and execute your ideas Direct your hyperfocus to get things done Ide...
Neurodiversity - ADHD: Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain by Peter Shankman
March 02, 2022 16:00 - 38 minutes - 34.6 MBFaster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain By Peter Shankman In Faster Than Normal, Shankman shares his hard-won insights and daily hacks for making ADHD a secret weapon for living a full and deeply satisfying life. Both inspiring and practical, the book presents life rules, best practices, and simple but powerful ways to: Harness your creative energy to generate and execute your ideas Direct your hyperfocus to get things done Ide...
Neurodivergence: Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain by Peter Shankman
March 02, 2022 16:00 - 38 minutes - 34.6 MBFaster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain By Peter Shankman In Faster Than Normal, Shankman shares his hard-won insights and daily hacks for making ADHD a secret weapon for living a full and deeply satisfying life. Both inspiring and practical, the book presents life rules, best practices, and simple but powerful ways to: Harness your creative energy to generate and execute your ideas Direct your hyperfocus to get things done Ide...
Investing Recap
February 16, 2022 12:00 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBThoughts and Learnings in Investing Everyone should be thinking about investing. Every money decision you make is an investment decision. All investments are broadly equal on the risk/reward spectrum. Only actively make investment decisions when you have an edge. Your investment strategy will depend on your situation (your age, tolerance for downturns, goals, etc.) Compounding is key in investing and in life Downturns are the price you pay for being invested. Think positive-sum (put your mone...
Investing: Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market by Noah Horowitz
February 02, 2022 11:00 - 35 minutes - 30.8 MBArt of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market By Noah Horowitz Art today is defined by its relationship to money as never before. Prices of living artists' works have been driven to unprecedented heights, conventional boundaries within the art world have collapsed, and artists now think ever more strategically about how to advance their careers. Artists no longer simply make art, but package, sell, and brand it. Noah Horowitz exposes the inner workings of the contemporary art...
Investing: What is Decentralized Finance or DeFi
January 19, 2022 16:00 - 54 minutes - 48.8 MBDecentralized Finance or DeFi Decentralized Finance offers financial instruments without relying on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks. Instead, it uses smart contracts on a blockchain. DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds from others, speculate on price movements on assets using derivatives, trade cryptocurrencies, insure against risks, and earn interest in savings-like accounts. DeFi uses a layered architecture and highly composable building blocks. Some a...
Investing: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson
January 05, 2022 15:00 - 52 minutes - 47.4 MBThe Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness By Eric Jorgenson Getting rich is not just about luck; happiness is not just a trait we are born with. These aspirations may seem out of reach, but building wealth and being happy are skills we can learn. So what are these skills, and how do we learn them? What are the principles that should guide our efforts? What does progress really look like? Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the ...
Investing: The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel
December 29, 2021 16:30 - 43 minutes - 37.2 MBThe Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness By Morgan Housel Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money―investing, personal finance, and business decisions―is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinne...
Investing: The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom, and Enlightenment by Guy Spier
December 22, 2021 09:00 - 48 minutes - 39.1 MBThe Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom, and Enlightenment By Guy Spier What happens when a young Wall Street investment banker spends a small fortune to have lunch with Warren Buffett? He becomes a real value investor. In this fascinating inside story, Guy Spier details his career from Harvard MBA to hedge fund manager. But the path was not so straightforward. Spier reveals his transformation from a Gordon Gekko wannabe, driven by greed, to a sophisticat...
Investing: Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 Into $100,000,000 by Jason Calacanis
December 15, 2021 13:00 - 43 minutes - 36.8 MBAngel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 Into $100,000,000 By Jason Calacanis One of Silicon Valley’s most successful angel investors shares his rules for investing in startups. There are two ways to make money in startups: create something valuable—or invest in the people that are creating valuable things. Over the past twenty-five years, Jason Calacanis has made a fortune investing in creators, spotting and helping build and fund...
Investing: NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), explained
December 08, 2021 08:00 - 39 minutes - 35.6 MBNFTs (Non-Fungible Token), explained A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger (blockchain). NFTs can be associated with easily-reproducible items such as photos, videos, 3D models, audio, and other types of digital files as unique items (analogous to a certificate of authenticity). NFTs use blockchain technology to provide a public proof of ownership. Copies of the original file are not restricted to the owner of the NFT, and can b...
Investing: The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous
December 01, 2021 16:00 - 51 minutes - 46.5 MBThe Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking By Saifedean Ammous The Bitcoin Standard analyzes the historical context to the rise of bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications. While Bitcoin is a new invention of the digital age, the problem it purports to solve is as old as human society itself: transferring value across time and space. Ammous takes the reader on an engaging jou...
Investing: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
November 24, 2021 15:00 - 44 minutes - 41.3 MBThe Intelligent Investor By Benjamin Graham The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing. The book provides strategies on how to successfully use value investing in the stock market. Historically, the book has been one of the most popular books on investing and Graham’s legacy remains. Key Takeaways Investment is not gambling or speculating An investment is going to protect the principal and provide an adequate return. An...
Investing: Talking To My Daughter About The Economy by Yanis Varoufakis
November 19, 2021 09:00 - 45 minutes - 39.8 MBTalking To My Daughter About The Economy: A Brief istory of Capitalism By Yanis Varoufakis In this letter to his teenage daughter, one of the world's most famous economists uses vivid stories to explain what economics is and why it is so dangerous. What is money and why does debt exist? Where do wealth and inequality come from? How come economics has the power to shape and destroy our lives? Economics is not a technical science, it is an epic drama: a battleground of ideas, a war between the ...
Investing: Introduction to Investing
November 15, 2021 17:00 - 39 minutes - 35.7 MBIntroduction to Investing We live in a capitalistic society, where everything revolves around adding value. Adding value can be anything: farmers, bakers, architects, artists, teachers, athletes. When you go to school, you are being trained to bring value to society. After you finish school and start working, you are being paid for creating value. In this episode, we will lay down the groundwork for the rest of the book that we will be reading in this season. We will also discuss why should ...
Investing: Introduction
November 15, 2021 17:00 - 39 minutes - 35.1 MBIntroduction to Investing We live in a capitalistic society, where everything revolves around adding value. Adding value can be anything: farmers, bakers, architects, artists, teachers, athletes. When you go to school, you are being trained to bring value to society. After you finish school and start working, you are being paid for creating value. In this episode, we will lay down the groundwork for the rest of the book that we will be reading in this season. We will also discuss why should ...
Body Recap
October 27, 2021 12:00 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBRecap of the human body books that we have read If Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body - James Hamblin Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams - Matthew Walker Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art - James Nestor Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don't Have To - David Sinclair Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ - Giulia Enders Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Health...
Body: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
October 13, 2021 07:00 - 33 minutes - 33 MBBorn to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen By Christopher McDougall Inspiration for reading this book came when Nico's friend came for dinner wearing these weird-ass shoes. Naturally - he asked him about it, cause Nico love weird stuff, and told him that humans have evolved to walk and run barefoot, and that cushioned shoes are the reason why so many people have issues in their knees, hips and backs, both from running but also from daily life. A...
Body: Death by Food Pyramid - Denise Minger
September 29, 2021 07:00 - 32 minutes - 30.7 MBDeath by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health By Denis Minger Denise Minger shares her personal story about how she got convinced to go all-out raw vegan at a pretty young age. She initially saw tremendous health improvements, but after a while she started losing a lot of weight. She decided to stop eating vegan after her dentist told her that he/she had never seen such bad teeth in someone her age. She exposes the forces that...
Body: Burn by Herman Pontzer
September 15, 2021 13:00 - 32 minutes - 30.6 MBBurn: The Misunderstood Science of Metabolism By Herman Pontzer We burn 2,000 calories a day. And if we exercise and cut carbs, we'll lose more weight. Right? Wrong. the Hadza, who every day move around for ~4 hours and 15,000 steps, use the same amount of energy as couch-potato North Americans. Exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level. Our extremely effective "metabolic compens...
Body: Gut by Giulia Enders
September 03, 2021 13:00 - 29 minutes - 28.3 MBGut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders For too long, the gut has been the body’s most ignored and least appreciated organ, but it turns out that it’s responsible for more than just dirty work: our gut is (literally and figuratively) at the core of who we are. The book starts with a voyage through our full digestive tract, discussing the pain-killing powers of our saliva, the shape and structure of our intestines, and the best position to sit on the toilet....
Body: Gut
September 03, 2021 13:00 - 29 minutes - 27.5 MBGut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders For too long, the gut has been the body’s most ignored and least appreciated organ, but it turns out that it’s responsible for more than just dirty work: our gut is (literally and figuratively) at the core of who we are. The book starts with a voyage through our full digestive tract, discussing the pain-killing powers of our saliva, the shape and structure of our intestines, and the best position to sit on the toilet....
Body: Lifespan
June 30, 2021 07:00 - 44 minutes - 39.6 MBLifespan: why we age - and why we don’t have to By Dr. Savid Sinclair #1: Aging is a disease: We must move away from treating age-related diseases and focus on their root. Reclassifying aging as a disease is a critical first step in this shift in approach. Sinclair believes we’re wasting money and time on what he calls “whack-a-mole” medic “There is nothing more dangerous to us than age. Yet we have conceded its power over us. And we have turned our fight for better health in other directions...
Body: Lifespan by Dr. Savid Sinclair
June 30, 2021 07:00 - 44 minutes - 40.3 MBLifespan: why we age - and why we don’t have to By Dr. Savid Sinclair #1: Aging is a disease: We must move away from treating age-related diseases and focus on their root. Reclassifying aging as a disease is a critical first step in this shift in approach. Sinclair believes we’re wasting money and time on what he calls “whack-a-mole” medic “There is nothing more dangerous to us than age. Yet we have conceded its power over us. And we have turned our fight for better health in other directions...
Body: Breath
June 23, 2021 04:00 - 37 minutes - 31.6 MBBreath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly. The missing pillar in health is breath, it all starts there Nestor finds that the science of breathing really is a lost art, and discovers more in ancient burial sites and secret Soviet facilities than in modern science labs. Points to antifragility. Modern research is showing us that making even slight a...
Body: Breath by James Nestor
June 23, 2021 04:00 - 37 minutes - 32.2 MBBreath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly. The missing pillar in health is breath, it all starts there Nestor finds that the science of breathing really is a lost art, and discovers more in ancient burial sites and secret Soviet facilities than in modern science labs. Points to antifragility. Modern research is showing us that making even slight a...
Body: Why we sleep
June 16, 2021 16:00 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBWhy we sleep Written by Matthew Walker Amazing breakthrough - science has discovered a new treatment Live longer Enhances memory More creative Look more attractive Makes slim Lowers food cravings Protects cancer and dementia Wards off colds and the flu Lowers risk of heart attacks and stroke and diabetes Youll even feel happier, less depressed and less anxious Neglecting sleep undercuts your creativity, problem solving, decision-making, learning, memory, heart health, brain health, mental hea...
Body: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
June 16, 2021 16:00 - 32 minutes - 36 MBWhy we sleep Written by Matthew Walker Amazing breakthrough - science has discovered a new treatment Live longer Enhances memory More creative Look more attractive Makes slim Lowers food cravings Protects cancer and dementia Wards off colds and the flu Lowers risk of heart attacks and stroke and diabetes Youll even feel happier, less depressed and less anxious Neglecting sleep undercuts your creativity, problem solving, decision-making, learning, memory, heart health, brain health, mental hea...
Body: If Our Bodies Could Talk by James Hamblin
June 09, 2021 14:00 - 37 minutes - 41.8 MBIf Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body by James Hamblin Doctor turned journalist Launched a series of videos for the atlantic in 2014 explores the human stories behind health questions that never seem to go away—and which tend to be mischaracterized and oversimplified by marketing and news media. He covers topics like: Diet Sleep Aging • Can I “boost” my immune system? • Does caffeine make me live longer? • Do we still not know if cell phones cause cancer?...
Body: If Our Bodies Could Talk
June 09, 2021 14:00 - 44 minutes - 41.1 MBIf Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body by James Hamblin Doctor turned journalist Launched a series of videos for the atlantic in 2014 explores the human stories behind health questions that never seem to go away—and which tend to be mischaracterized and oversimplified by marketing and news media. He covers topics like: Diet Sleep Aging • Can I “boost” my immune system? • Does caffeine make me live longer? • Do we still not know if cell phones cause cancer?...
Business Recap
June 02, 2021 17:00 - 36 minutes - 31 MBRecap of the business books that we have read Shoedog: Autobiography of Phil Knight, founder of Nike The lean startup, Eric Ries: How to build a startup, the antifragile way Ben Horowits The Hard thing about hard things helps throw light at the challenges a CEO goes through. The Messy Middle - Scott Belsky: Talks about stuff between the most romantic parts of a venture, from starting in a garage or college dorm to successfully doing a multi-billion dollar IPO. Obviously Awesome - April Dunfor...
Business: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy - Richard Rumelt
May 19, 2021 14:00 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBGood strategy, bad strategy: The difference, and why it matters By Richard Rumelt Key insights Strategy =/= ambitious goal setting, vision, charisma Around the 60’s, many authors started ascribing leader’s success to their vision, combined with their charisma. This has resulted in a lot of bad strategy, based on ambitious goal setting. Example: 20/20 plan - 20% growth with 20% profit margin. Often a goal or a vision can be a perfectly fine starting point for a strategy. However, the strategy...
Business: Venture Deals - Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson
May 12, 2021 20:00 - 38 minutes - 31.7 MBVenture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson Ever thought about getting investments for your startup? Ever thought about investing in a startup? Whether you are an entrepreneur, an investor, a lawyer or just a stakeholder in the venture capital market, this book is for you! In it, renowned investor Brad Feld addresses some topics within the Venture Capital ecosystem, explaining in a practical and didactic way how things work. You'll understand a bit more about raising money, how to get away...
Business: Hooked - Nir Eyal
April 27, 2021 23:00 - 37 minutes - 33 MBHooked - how to build habit-forming products by Nir Eyal How do successful companies create products people can't put down? Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us? Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the "Hook Model" - a four steps process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage cust...
Business: Obviously Awesome - April Dunford
April 21, 2021 06:00 - 30 minutes - 24.8 MBObviously Awesome April Dunford extracts from her own 20+ years of real-world tech marketing experience a basic positioning framework that actually works, because she sees that positioning is often misunderstood, and can be really powerful, especially for saas startups Definition: Positioning is the act of deliberately defining how you are the best at something that a defined market cares a lot about. When customers first encounter your product they look for "signals" to try to understand wha...
Business: The High Growth Handbook
April 14, 2021 02:00 - 32 minutes - 30.4 MBThe High Growth Handbook Global technology executive, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high-growth, tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Stripe, and Square as they've grown from small companies to global enterprises. Across all of these breakout companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has now codified in High Growth Handbook. In this definitive guide, Gil covers key topics, including: * the role of the CEO * m...
Business: The Messy Middle - Scott Belsky
April 07, 2021 14:00 - 32 minutes - 28.9 MBThe Messy middle by Scott Belsky Most startup stories describe the most romantic parts of a venture, from starting in a garage or college dorm to successfully doing a multi-billion dollar IPO. Scott Belsky, who is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, Chief Product Officer at Adobe, and product advisor to many of today's top start-ups, goes about it differently. He dedicates this book to the messy middle, the middle stretch, which is the least talked about, but probably the most important part...
Business: The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz
March 31, 2021 03:45 - 27 minutes - 19.5 MBThe Hard thing about hard things A valuable book for tech entrepreneurs, The Hard thing about hard things helps throw light at the challenges a CEO goes through. Ben Horowitz launched Loudcloud in 1999, just before the dotcom bubble. Their company offers enterprise SaaS to tech clients. Then the trouble began * Because of the dotcom bubble, many of their customers went out of business * Had to IPO to survive, during hard times * After going public, they pivoted to become OPSware, a radically...
Business: The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
March 12, 2021 12:00 - 33 minutes - 25 MBThe Lean Startup by Eric Ries A startup is a grand experiment = "a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty" Too many startups begin with an idea for a product that they think people want. They then spend months, sometimes years, perfecting that product without ever showing the product, even in a very rudimentary form, to the prospective customer. Scientific management has been used to optimize processes at the beginning of the 20th...
Business: Shoe Dog - Phil Knight - The story of Nike
March 05, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBShoe Dog is a memoir by Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The memoir chronicles the history of Nike from its early struggles to its evolution into one of the world's most recognized and profitable companies. It also highlights certain parts of Phil Knight's life. This book is a great insight into the world of business and how a huge company and brand is made from humble begginings. It highlights the amazingly stressful and difficult trials of an entrepreneur and the mistakes and lessons along the ...
The best books of 2020
February 03, 2021 19:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBWe (Sam and Nico) look back at what we read on the show in 2020. We both choose our top three books from the year that we discussed on the show and share what the biggest lessons were that really stuck with us. Looking back with hindsight at the most powerful lessons was a great tool to really show what the absolute best books were which can be less obvious in the moment. We also had one wildcard book each that we read outside of the show but was really worth a mention. The top list Joint fir...
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
January 23, 2021 09:00 - 38 minutes - 27.4 MBWritten in Greek by the only Roman emperor who was also a philosopher, without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a remarkable series of challenging spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the emperor struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe. While the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation and encouragement, Marcus Aurelius also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a timeless collection t...
Seneca - On the Shortness of Life
December 26, 2020 16:00 - 28 minutes - 20.5 MBThe Stoic writings of the philosopher Seneca offer powerful insights into the art of living, the importance of reason and morality, and continue to provide profound guidance to many through their eloquence, lucidity and timeless wisdom. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives—and ...
The Republic - Plato
November 20, 2020 18:00 - 23 minutes - 20.9 MBThe Republic Where Plato lays down his ideas of an ideal state and its rulers. Plato's Utopian state is one which is just and his ideal rulers are philosophers. Presented as a series of dialogue between Socrates and Plato's brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon, in eleven parts Plato step by step forms his ideal state (Part I and II), its rulers (Part IV and Part VII), their education, women's position (Part VI) and the position of art and poetry (Part X) in the new state. Plato’s ideal republic; ...
Epicurus
November 16, 2020 18:00 - 21 minutes - 15.3 MBEpicurus Epicureanism is powerfully and refreshingly relevant, offering a straightforward way of dealing with the issues of life and death. The chapters in this book provide a changeable of contemporary opinions about Epicurus' teachings. Key to happiness: Don't fear god Don't fear death What is good is easy to get What is bad is easy to endure This doesn't mean Epicururs pleaded for overindulgence He made a hierarchy of desires Natural and necessary desires Natural and non-necessary desires ...
Enchiridion by Epictetus
October 19, 2020 12:00 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBEnchiridion Enchiridion means handbook: practical guide for life Starts with the dichotomy of control; * Some things are in our absolute control, our thoughts, decisions, actions, likes/dislikes * Some things are not in our control; our body, what others think, our position in life, property … Only things that are in our control are good or bad, everything outside of our control is indiffeerent. We shouldn't worry about them. Example: Epictetus had a lame leg. Takeaways: Don’t get so upset ab...