How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)

This is an excellent little book. Long's translation of the Enchiridion and excerpts from the Discourses into modern standard English is clear and compelling--just as Epictetus would have it, no doubt. Of nearly equal value is the author's introduction to the text, which serves as a very good primer on important Stoic themes in light of Epictetus's work and specific approach.And now, a wish: I would really like to see a new translation by Professor Long of the entire Discourses, published in a quality hardcover edition, similar to the University of Chicago Press editions of Seneca's work, with which Long was involved. Here's hoping!

I have an old copy of the Enchiridion that this replaces. A.A. Long adds valuable context and a wonderful translation. I was so pleased that I purchased a copy for a friend, who similarly enjoyed it. I plan to go back to this handbook time and again.

This is one of the most practical handbooks on self-motivation I have read in recent years.

A must have for any Stoic practitioner

Nice stoic treatment of happiness

Excellent book. Words to live by.

5 stars of course for Epictetus. However, this series is plagued by a sort of audacious censorship license that they allow themselves in applying 2021 "Woke" ideas in editing and translating ancient Greek texts. In Seneca's "De Ira - On Anger" in this princeton series, they censored - completely deleted, a section where he describes women as quick to anger and other traits. In this edition translated by A.A. Long, the editor has decided to change all uses of the third person male pronoun in the original to the third person plural. That is, instances of He/Him have been changed instead to They/Them. For this alone, stay away from this product and purchase any of the other editions (I recommend the Oxford by Hard or The Cambridge Classics by Oldfather), don't support those who believe in this type of revisionist activism.

Excellent introductory book of quotations. The problem is that half the book is in the original Greek, along with the English translation, written in large font, each page featuring huge margins? I just don’t like type of con and the great Greek philosopher might know why.

From all the youtube videos I've watched of Epictetus, I thought this would be very interesting to read. I was mistaken. If you want something by a true Stoic that will snack you on the face and wake you up to the true meaning of life, best not read this, but Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, or Dialogues by Seneca. This is a let down.

Interesting

it is quite hard to find literature from original stoic thinkers, even more so the good translations of the classics. This book does just that, it explains the philosophy from one of the greatest stoics, Epicteus. A must have in anyone's collection of books on Stoicism.

I think the author got greedy or took a week long book reading challenge. The book is a copy of William Abbott Oldfather version. I still wonder why at first place he wrote this book and then charging readers a premium.Stoics died but modern day writers like the author are making money from it. Yikes ...