How to Have a Life

An Ancient Guide to Using Our Time Wisely

A vibrant new translation of Seneca's "On the Shortness of Life," a pointed reminder to make the most of our time

Who doesn't worry sometimes that smart phones, the Internet, and TV are robbing us of time and preventing us from having a life? How can we make the most of our time on earth? In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger offered one of the most famous answers to that question in his essay "On the Shortness of Life"—a work that has more to teach us today than ever before. In How to Have a Life, James Romm presents a vibrant new translation of Seneca's brilliant essay, plus two Senecan letters on the same theme, complete with an inviting introduction.

With devastating satiric wit, skillfully captured in this translation, Seneca lampoons the ways we squander our time and fail to realize how precious it is. We don't allow people to steal our money, yet we allow them to plunder our time, or else we give it away ourselves in useless, idle pursuits. Seneca also describes how we can make better use of our brief days and years. In the process, he argues, we can make our lives longer, or even everlasting, because to live a real life is to attain a kind of immortality.

©2022 Princeton University Press (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Excellent narration!

The skittle books are wonderful. Senaca is perfect for today and his message comes through load and clear. Don’t waste time!

Relevant 2,000 Years After It Was Written

A breezy translation of an ancient document. The only thing preventing me from giving it 5 stars is the author admits to changing the male focus of the text to be more inclusive. A good translator doesn't take liberties to indulge their own biases. Let the ancients be seen in their natural habitat and not one constructed by modern virtue signalers.

That being said, still worth a listen. The lament of people spending hours at the hairdresser validates the saying: "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Good lessons

Really interesting book. Enjoyed the book. Not sure I would pay. Hard to follow at parts

Interesting insights

Enjoyed the performance and tidbits about coming to grips and advice and tidbits on the fleeting passage of time we have and what we do with it.