This book is a sample of stoic philosophy explained by a philosophy professor who has become a motivational speaker in corporate America. The prose is therefore reminiscent of all the upbeat, motivational corporate seminars that I've attended over the years. It is direct, but free of nuance and poetry. The thinkers, Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, are voices of the Roman republic and empire, and their thoughts are abstracted in this volume. The author is somewhat critical of Epictetus and his lack of feeling, or rather his lack of attention to the positive effects of feeling on motivation and satisfaction. I am very attracted, perforce, to stoicism, given all the minor disappointments I have each day. I wish that many of my patients would develop stoicism for their ailments. This book was not profound, and my experience of it was interrupted and I did not grasp a sustained argument. ( )