Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness

Top positive review

OUTSTANDING! Have bought mutliple formats/copies. 100% happy.

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2023

This is an easy review - FANTASTIC modern translation - done just right. I have given away two copies (paperback) of this book to those I thought could benefit from the classic Stoic text. I then bought back a Kindle copy and a Hardcover for myself. I will likely buy more paperbacks for friends and family.
The author has done such a beautiful job of making the classic text more approachable, memorable, and easy to apply to our lives. I have probably at least eight translations free from the web, but in English they always a bit of a struggle and I tend to put them down prematurely....and quickly forget what I read and therefore do not apply the wisdom to my own life.
Being a student of Roman Stoics and buying and reading many if not all of them to my knowledge (including Seneca) I believe there are three masterworks.
---(1) That One Should Disdain Hardships (aka Lectures and Sayings) by Musonius Rufus (translated by C.E. Lutz, also well done by C. King and W. Irvine)
---(2) Enchiridion by Epictetus (best modern translation by S. Lebell, she has done such a good job)
---(3) Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (best modern translation by Gregory Hays - by far the best!)
Rufus (Philosopher) directly taught Epictetus (Slave and Philosopher) who in turn heavily influenced Aurelius (Orphan, Emperor, and Philosopher). IMHO, and I have read a lot, Seneca is not in the same league as these three. Just my opinion. I have read countless translations of the Enchiridion and Meditations and highly recommend the two I noted above. Really there are only two for Rufus and you should likely get both by Lutz and by King & Irvine.
Cheers!

5 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Diego Banducci

Epictetus Deserves Better

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2005

This book is not a translation of Epictetus' writings. Rather, it is an interpretation written by Sharon Lebell, who is identified on the jacket as "a philosophical writer and musician who lives in Northern California." No other qualifications are listed.

Unfortunately, Ms. Lebell's interpretations, in trying to be contemporary, tend to distort Epictetus' thoughts. Readers interested in learning what he really thought and wrote should read the Enchiridion [ISBN 0879757035] or the Loeb translations of his work [ISBN: 0674991451, 0674992407] For an excellent summary of Stoic philosophy and its major proponents, read A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

To the Stoics, everything is part of the natural order, including cruelty, pain and death. The function of the individual within this world is to suffer with dignity, restraining anger and being tolerant of the acts of others, recognizing that anything they do is in their nature and the natural order of things. The Stoic philosophy is basically pessimistic - Life's a losing battle, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter because we only spend a brief time here, before being recycled by nature.

A pessimistic view, certainly, yet taken as a whole, Stoicism provides useful information for dealing with life's unpleasantries, most of which involve living the simple life - being modest and grateful for the good things that one has enjoyed, treating others politely and fairly, being indifferent to superficial honors and indicia of status, and living life honorably, simply and well during our brief moment on the stage. And if things aren't going well? We'll be dead soon enough, and after that it won't matter.

It is a philosophy particularly well suited to the ascetic and/or military life; Admiral James Stockdale credited Epictetus for his survival in a North Vietnam POW prison.

The foregoing sounds simplistic and depressing, yet the effect of the philosophy is positive, perhaps because we all recognize that we are capable of being better people.

Readers who wish to pursue Stoicism further should consider:
* Seneca's "Letters to Lucilius;" and
* Cicero's "On the Good Life."

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From the United States

Family of Five

OUTSTANDING! Have bought mutliple formats/copies. 100% happy.

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2023

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5 people found this helpful

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Susan P. Blevins

This book of wisdom should be in everyone's home

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2023

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This new translation makes the ageless wisdom even more relevant for us today. Read it through once, with a hi lighter, then leave on kitchen counter opened at random and read every day! That is my recipe for increasing in wisdom and awareness. I have given it to many as a gift and one young man told me it had changed his life. The books were well packaged and arrived in good shape. Thank you.

One person found this helpful

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Jacob

Great book for new readers

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2023

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I am currently just getting into reading and broadening my mind to new ideas and this book is short and vast in the concept it teaches

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Fuad R Qubein

The 2000 Year Old Epictetus Manual

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2018

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The 2000 Year Old Epictetus Manual

For centuries people asked how can I live a happy, fulfilling life? How can I be a good person? The usual reply was often: Read Epictetus’s Manual. And the response to that was Epic who?!

Yes, Epictetus, although a great philosopher, was not well known. He was born into slavery around two thousand years ago in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. At an early age he exhibited superior intelligence and was liberated and sent to Rome to study under Gaius Rufus, the stoic philosopher . He soon became a famous teacher with a large following whose teachings focused on dignity, integrity and tranquility. The biggest feather in his cap was his student Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who later became the ruler of the great Roman Empire. Born in AD 55 Epictetus died around AD 135 in Nicopolis, Greece, leaving behind a great philosophical legacy which endured for more than 2000 years.

Sharon Lebell, the author of this book, entitled the Art of Living, was intrigued by the old philosopher and his age-old teachings . She researched and edited his old philosophical writings ( which were collected by one of his students and called the Manual) and presented it all in a modern readable form.

Across centuries and cultures world leaders, generals and even ordinary people have relied on the Epictetus's Manual for guidance in their struggle for personal serenity and moral direction. It is impractical to list here all the Manual’s 93 directives, but few samples will give the reader an idea of the Manual’s style and content.

- As you think, so you become.
- Events in themselves do not hurt us but our attitudes and reactions give us trouble.
- The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths.
- The surest sign of the higher life is serenity.
- Refrain from trying to win other people’s approval and admiration.
- Show kindness to people who are hurt or depressed but don’t allow them to pull you down.

As we can see from the Manual, the emphasis used to be on personal and social behavior leading to tranquility and happiness. How have our lives changed in the past 2000 years, and can we say that we are a happier genre of people? The fact is it would be futile to try to make a comparison. We now live in a different world altogether - a world engulfed by technology and science and promoted and supported by materialism. Even our spiritual life has taken new trends and complex forms. We have long passed and left behind the social structure and mores of the Epictetus period. In fact we can safely claim that social serenity and tranquility are almost a thing of the past.

Fuad R Qubein
Apr., 2018

56 people found this helpful

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Lowndes

This interpretation speaks to me

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2010

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Without doubt, this book speaks to me like no other interpretation available, and really like no other book. Ms Lebell nails it and brings Epictetus's philosophy to life, here and now, today, in this life, this setting, this moment. Most other translations, with their dated wording require me to take another step cognitively before I can glean the meaning of what's written. That's not a bad thing, but it's not always what I want. Often I have to process the archaic prose and wonder what the original intent was. Sharon Lebell has done this step making Epictetus approachable for people living in today's world. No sanctimony, no pretension.

There are many other translations available of this work for those who prefer prose that is not contemporary. Many of those translations are in the public domain and can be found free of charge on the web and even here on Amazon digitally. I own or have downloaded many of those versions that many of the negative reviewers here refer to as the best translations available. I have read them, studied them and appreciate their existence. Having a modern translation does not detract from those other versions.

I have bought a few of "The Art of Living". I give them to friends. I mailed one to a friend of mine 900 miles away. He does the same. He recently told me he bought eight copies to give away. People in 12-step programs might especially appreciate this book. I myself use a page a day as a "daily meditation" book. Easily this book could be made into a calendar dated reflection book. I have downloaded (from Audible) the abridged audio version of this book. I listen to it at least monthly as I drive.

I can't say enough about this book. It has touched me like no other book has in a long time. It goes hand in hand with my meditation practice, and appears remarkably Buddhist in it's nature. I often am amazed how Stoicism and Buddhism, both 2000 and more years ago, in different parts of the world, had similar precepts.

Thank you Ms Lebell for bringing Epictetus to my attention!

22 people found this helpful

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Dr. John T. Fleming

even watered down epictetus is a treat

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2000

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I basically agree with the review below which was critical of this work as watered down epictetus. I still believe however that this work provides an excellent introduction to the ideas of epictetus in particular and stoicism in general. If this is your only exposure to stoicism, I would worry that you might conclude that this is a warm and fuzzy, feel-good philosophy rather than an extremely tough form of mental discipline where if successful you can expect to live out your life free from suffering and maybe more importantly free from the fear of suffering. Epictetus was not a new age guru but a slave of the roman empire who ended up being the teacher of that other great stoic, the emperor Marcus Aurelius ( see Gladiator movie). The fact that the slave and the emperor both choose to live their lives by the tenants of this philosophy is a more powerful recommendation than anything I could add. I was already familiar with the "Discourses of Epictetus" so I was not really bothered by the shortcomings of "the art of Living" and I have to admit that reading the discourses is quite a slog (it is basically the lecture notes of one of his students). I have given copies of the "discourses" to friends and they went unread while over the last year I have given 10 copies of "The art of living" to friends in distress and they were all read. If you find this philosophy intriguing after this introduction you can move on to the Discourses ( I'd recommend the Long translation - best of a bad lot ) and then the "Confessions of Marcus Aurelius" and "the moral essays of Seneca". "Virtue is necessary and sufficent for a good life" - a radical idea to live by in this cesspool of self-indugence that passes for the good life in 21th century America.

49 people found this helpful

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Jim Martin

Cut Through the Red Tape !!!

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2011

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Blow the dust off this book... Epictetus has been brought to life; I for one had no clue who the man was. What a wonderfully refreshing and comprehensible read! I was pleasantly surprised from beginning to end. Even the introduction set the tone for what was to come. As soon as they mentioned the Dhammapada, and the Tao Te Ching, I knew I was in for something interesting, but I didn't know how good... I was not aware that we had an `uncovered Tao Te Ching' in the West.

This book reads like an ancient scroll of Taoism or Zen Buddhism, but minus the cryptic imagery and esoteric verbiage. Now don't get me wrong, I have been reading quite a few books on Eastern philosophy lately, and I find it fascinating (even though you still walk away from most books with some confusion, and the Zen masters state that you shouldn't understand it all anyway). This book however delivers all the goodies, but with absolutely no confusion whatsoever. What you have here is pure clarity! This is hands-down 5-stars for its simplicity and the beautiful message which unfolds on each and every page. This is reminiscent of some other insightful books such as The Rule of St Benedict, Tao Te Ching, and The I Ching. All of these books have soooo much to offer concerning your everyday thoughts, behaviors, rules of conduct, and straightforward moral ethics - all the values man has long forgotten...

This is a classic piece on a classic individual who displayed his genius way ahead of his time. This short paperback is a keeper by all means, and indeed, one book that can be a wonderful travel companion; it should be read time and time again. Pick up `The Art of Living' and refresh your inner self on how to truly live your life as a human being, one full of virtue, and tranquility...

10 people found this helpful

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Tom Venuto, Author of Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle

Classic for every personal development library

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2018

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The Art Of Living is a small book (144 pages) with big messages. I consider this book a personal development classic because while it's a modern book (1994), it’s author Sharon Lebell's "interpretation" of the classic work by stoic philosopher Epictetus.

Epictetus was born in A.D. 55 in the eastern outreaches of the Roman Empire. The book has been called the Western equivalent to the Dhamapada or the Tao Te Ching.

It is a book of philosophical teachings in the stoic tradition. This interpretation is very easy to read because it has been written in modern language. You can read the original interpretations of Epictetus in his Enchiridion or Discourses, but those are not easy to read in comparison.

This is also easy to read because it is broken in to 93 lessons or instructions (some are only a paragraph long, others a page to page and half at most), making this an easy book to pick up and read in parts during little moments of spare time.

What I like most is that it's based on personal development of character, virtue and behavior. It instructs you on how to think clearly and how to work on yourself daily to become a better person. It's about action and application not just theorizing.

The philosophy also recognizes that everyday life is fraught with difficulty, losses, disappointments and griefs and teaches you how to think right about these events and how to rise to meet challenges.

I have this in my kindle, but I also picked up the original hard cover edition years ago and still have it. Even though I've read it numerous times, this one always stays on my shelf within arm's reach, to pull down and review, or where the mere sight of it will be a cue to remember the messages inside.

123 people found this helpful

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Diego Banducci

Epictetus Deserves Better

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2005

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45 people found this helpful

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GPFord

Critics of this little book are too harsh

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2010

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It is interesting and disappointing that some of the one star and two star critics are so harsh and almost mean spirited in their reviews of Lebell's little book on Epictetus. It may be that those critics need to be reminded that Epictetus himself focused not on the academic, obscure, inaccessible approach to Stoicism. His primary focus was on teaching in the most direct and most elucidating manner. While Lebell's book is certainly no scholarly analysis of the great Stoic philosopher, I never assumed that was her intention. She seems to simply have attempted to write an everyman's introduction to stoicism in general and Epictetus in particular. I remember well Alan Watts being criticized by some academic scholars for being a mere "popularizer of Zin" which, of course, he was and many of us benefited greatly from his efforts. If Lebell succeeds in turning readers on to Epictetus and stoicism she should be applauded not belittled for her efforts. For those of you who did enjoy Lebell's book and are now interested in learning more, I highly recommend A.A. Long's "Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life." It is a very well written book with some very enlightening and, I assume, original insights. I have now read Long's book twice and will likely read it yet again. Each time I do I learn more. Lebell's book is very different from Long's book, but I believe they both have their place and both are worth reading.

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