Books & Ideas
Reading notes, philosophy and reflections on living and thinking well.
Facing the End: Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" and a Life Well Lived
Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich: a respectable life revealed as hollow, the lie of denying death, and the question of whether we lived rightly.
The Garden of Simple Pleasures: Rediscovering Epicurus
Rediscovering Epicurus: pleasure as the absence of pain, sorting natural and empty desires, friendship and why death is nothing to fear.
What "The Little Prince" Taught Me About Seeing With the Heart
What The Little Prince teaches about seeing with the heart: what is essential is invisible to the eye, taming and responsibility and keeping wonder.
The Unexamined Life: Socrates' Defense in Plato's "Apology"
Plato's Apology: Socrates' defense at his trial, why the unexamined life is not worth living, Socratic wisdom and conscience over the crowd.
On Love, Work, and Letting Go: Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet"
Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet is one of those rare books that lives in people's lives rather than just on their shelves.
What "The Alchemist" Taught Me About Life
What Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist teaches about life: following your Personal Legend, reading omens, embracing adversity and the power of love.
The Art of Becoming Human: Reflections on Confucius' "Analects"
Lessons from Confucius' Analects: ren (humaneness), the Golden Rule, why ritual and courtesy matter and the junzi, the person of noble character.
What Is and Isn't in Our Power: Lessons from Epictetus' "Enchiridion"
Lessons from Epictetus' Enchiridion: what is and isn't in our power, why opinions disturb us more than events and Stoic freedom as wanting what happens.
Guilt, Redemption, and the Divided Self: Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment"
Few novels live inside your head the way Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment does.
The Way That Cannot Be Named: Exploring Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching"
The very first line of the Tao Te Ching tells you that the book is about to fail on purpose: the Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.
Unveiling the Layers of Capitalism: Insights from Marx to Sen
Capitalism through three lenses: Marx on exploitation and contradictions, Schumpeter on creative destruction and Amartya Sen on capabilities.
Finding Meaning in Suffering: Reflections on Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning"
Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning: lessons from the camps on freedom, logotherapy and why meaning, not happiness, helps us endure.
The Pursuit of the Good Life: Insights from Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics"
If Plato's ethics points us toward a perfect world beyond this one, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics keeps both feet firmly on the ground.
On Borrowed Time: Lessons from Seneca's "Letters from a Stoic"
Lessons from Seneca's Letters from a Stoic: how we waste time, rehearsing hardship, deciding what is enough and philosophy as daily medicine.
The River of Becoming: Reflections on Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha"
Hesse's Siddhartha: why wisdom can't be taught, why Siddhartha leaves the Buddha and what the river teaches about time, acceptance and peace.
Justice, the Soul, and the City: Exploring Plato's "The Republic"
I went into Plato's The Republic thinking it was a book about politics.
Meditations on the Inner Citadel: What Marcus Aurelius Taught Me About Self-Mastery
There is something almost unbearably intimate about reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.