Sadler's Honest Review - Piotr Stankiewicz, Does Happiness Write Blank Pages?

I recently added a new review to my Sadler's Honest Reviews series - this one focusing on Piotr Stankiewicz's work, Does Happiness Write Blank Pages?  On Stoicism and Artistic Creativity.

Put very simply, I highly recommend his book, both for its discussion of modern Stoicism and for its examination of artistic creativity.  Here's the video review, going into the details about why I recommend the book.

 

This review is the tenth in the series.  If you'd like to watch any of the others, and hear my in-depth discussions and evaluations of the books, here are the other nine.

• William Ferraiolo, Meditations on Self-Discipline and Failure
• Massimo Pigliucci, How To Be a Stoic
• Pat McGeehan, Stoicism and the Statehouse
• Kevin Vost, The Porch and the Cross
• Chuck Chakrapani, Unshakeable Freedom
• Seneca, How To Die (James Romm, trans. and ed.)
• Epictetus, How To Be Free (A.A. Long, trans. and ed.)
• George Bradley, A Better Human: The Stoic Heart, Mind, and Soul
• Marcus Tullius Cicero How To Be A Friend (trans and ed. Philip Freeman)

New Sadler's Honest Reviews Video

Some time back, I started a new video series - Sadler's Honest Book Reviews - devoted to reviewing recent books purporting to be about philosophy and its intersections or applications to life.  So, practical philosophy, leadership, self-help, productivity, organizational behavior - all of those fall within the broad purview of the series.

Last weekend, I shot another review, this time of a book that is for the most part by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, and also in part by its editor and translator, the great contemporary scholar of Hellenistic philosophy, A.A. Long.  It is called How To Be Free: An Ancient Guide To The Stoic Life, and it contains the entirety of the Enchiridion and nine passages from the Discourses, all translated by Long.  He also contributes a short but excellent introduction to the work, and provides readers with a glossary.

I've got much more to say about this book - about 20 minutes worth, as it turns out - so if you'd like to learn more about it, check out this video book review.

If you'd like to watch any of the other reviews in the series, here's the playlist.

Five Reviews of Recent Books on Stoicism

In the last decade, quite literally hundreds of books have been published, aiming to present Stoic philosophy and practice to a popular, non-academic audience.  They come at it from all sorts of angles, and vary wildly in quality.  So given the wide variety of choices, how can readers determine which books to spend their time, money, and attention on?

Last year, I had the idea to start reviewing books in my main YouTube channel - with a focus on literature having to do with practical philosophy, very broadly speaking. That would include works in applied ethics, philosophy as a way of life, self-help and personal development, leadership and organization, and even culture and technology.  Philosophy winds up being involved in pretty much all of those areas.

Since I was getting quite a few authors on Stoicism sending me their books - and as the editor of Stoicism Today and a member of the Modern Stoicism team - I decided works on Stoicism might be a good place for me to start.

At this point, I have reviewed five books in my new Sadler's Honest Book Reviews video series.  Each of them comes at Stoicism - both ancient and modern - in its own way.  If you're interested to know what Stoicism has to offer and why it has become such a strangely popular philosophical approach among non-academics, you should check out these reviews.

Here they are:

• William Ferraiolo, Meditations on Self-Discipline and Failure: Stoic Exercises for Mental Fitness


• Massimo Pigliucci, How To Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy To Live A Modern Life


• Pat McGeehan, Stoicism and the Statehouse: An Old Philosophy Serving a New Idea


• Kevin Vost, The Porch and the Cross: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Modern Christian Living


• Chuck Chakrapani, Unshakeable Freedom: Ancient Stoic Secrets Applied to Modern Life 

I've overall recommended each of these five books - some more highly than others.  In these reviews, I note what sorts of readers might enjoy or benefit from the book.  I also discuss the style and structure, summarize some of the key ideas, tell you what I liked about the book, and point out any problems I see with it.

So click on any of these that sound interesting to you - you'll get my well-informed, honest assessment - and then you can decide for yourself if you'd like to spend your time and cash (if you don't just get it at your local library) on one or more of these!