The Five Most Popular Books on Stoicism

Modern introductions to Stoic philosophy as a way of life

According to Amazon.com, these are the five bestselling books on modern Stoicism. They’re all popular introductory texts rather than academic ones. I’ve not included the ancient primary sources, the most widely-read of which are The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, The Moral Letters (to Lucilius) of Seneca, and The Discourses and Handbook of Epictetus.

I usually suggest reading The Meditations first and then the Handbook of Epictetus. However, if you want to learn about modern Stoicism, apart from reading the classics, I’d recommend taking a look at all five of the titles below.

1. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living (2016) by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

This is certainly the most popular book currently available on Stoicism. It consists of short daily readings, which can be studied over the course of a year.

Hanselman has provided many original translations of ancient Stoic sources, including some lesser known ones. There are several gems from the Stoic sayings of Zeno, and from the often-overlooked plays of Seneca.Holiday provides daily…