The Enchiridion:

Adapted for the Contemporary Reader

By: Epictetus, James Harris

Narrated by: Jason Sprenger

The Enchiridion

The Enchiridion or Manual of Epictetus (Enchiridion is Greek for "that which is held in the hand") is a short manual of Stoic ethical advice.

This manual has been carefully adapted in to modern English to allow for easy listening.

Enjoy!

©2017 James Harris (P)2017 James Harris

He was ignorant of my other faults

The Enchiridion is a short collection of Epictetus' writings, full of practical advice for daily life. First published almost two millennia ago, most of it is still straightforward and still directly applicable. It does have a couple scenarios that are a bit dated since there aren't many gladiators these days and I don't own a horse, but the message is still understandable.

I was a little worried about listening to an audiobook of this nature, as it is just a collection of relatively unconnected thoughts and could seem disjointed, but the narrator did a perfect job of keeping the pacing natural and smooth.

I was provided this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

My favorite piece of advice from this book was this: If anyone tells you that a certain person has spoken in a bad way about you, don’t make excuses about what has been said, but answer "He was ignorant of my other faults, otherwise he would have mentioned those also."

Manual for Stoic Living

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The narrator does a great job going through all of the chapters. The narrator has a smooth voice and the audiobook is easy to follow.

Any additional comments?

I was not familiar with this work and as the title mentions it has been adapted. I don’t know how much of the work has been changed/adapted, but this was a very easy listen. Each chapter is very short and contains a short citation or proverb for living the stoic life. This audiobook is a quick listen and I think it is a much better breakdown of stoicism than Meditations. I highly suggest this book to anyone who is interested in stoicism, no primer is necessary. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Enlightement Though Time

Got more out of this than most of the other self improvement books. Short and to the point. Recommend

Peace of mind from the 2nd century

Any additional comments?

tl;dr: seeking peace of mind? Listen to this. Not once, and not quickly. Really listen.

"It's not even an hour long, how great can it be? I'm glad I got it for free, who would pay for this?" Thought naive me.

Wikipedia calls The Enchiridion "a short manual of Stoic ethical advice" which is more than an understatement. This is a distillation of how to be at peace through Stoicism, a Greco-Roman philosophy which is superficially identical to Buddhism.

The Enchiridion lays out a set of simple principles and examples which would take a decade of dedication to master, if not a lifetime. Every few sentences could be their own chapter or their own book or their own set of books. In fact, you could pick any one of these over 50 chapters and find a self-help book on the shelves right now dedicated to that single chapter's idea. And that 300-page self-help book would swear they found the one secret to inner peace.

Not a single moment is difficult to understand; only difficult to live out. The arcane language has been stripped away and I imagine that this plain language is how it was intended to be heard long ago. The slow, deliberate narration is exactly what this kind of text deserves.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Deep and Informative

If you could sum up The Enchiridion in three words, what would they be?

Deep, Informative, Practical

Any additional comments?

This review copy audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost."