Philosophy

★★★★★ | Philosophy | Digital | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

This short book oozes with wisdom with the help of Ken Liu’s wonderful translation and notes. Read this one slowly and set aside time for reflection. So much of the advice is contrary to conventional western views that it can seem non-sensical. But try, you must. ★★★★★ 

Can you open yourself to your senses—quieting the mind like water?

Death is good. Senescence is good. The beginning is good. The end is good. You are, like all things in the cosmos, swimming in the flux of Dao.

★★★☆☆ | Philosophy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads 

Eastern philosophy with a Westerner’s no nonsense practicality.  Watts cites the Hindu Upanishads as the source of his philosophy that there is no self, we are all one with the cosmos, and it’s only because of our social customs and teachings that we believe we are independent and apart from others and the world. We do not leave this earth when we die, just as we didn’t come into the world at birth.  We have always been here.

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The Book by Alan WattsRead More »

★★★★★ | Philosophy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads 

Sometimes the universe sends you exactly the book you most needed to read. What a clear-eyed and compelling manifesto of living your best life right now.

★★★☆☆ | Philosophy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

An interesting collection of stories and anecdotes about how ego can be a destructive force in a person’s life.

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Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan HolidayRead More »

★★★★☆ | Philosophy | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Friendship is one of life’s greatest blessings, but are seldom accounted for as such.

True friendship is selfless and must be predicated on virtue with no expectation of gain.

Riches and success tend to change a person. If he forsakes his friends for possessions, he’ll one day wonder who he bought all this stuff for, and will have no one to enjoy them with him.

In the face of a true friend a man sees as it were a second self. So that where his friend is he is; if his friend be rich, he is not poor; though he be weak, his friend’s strength is his; and in his friend’s life he enjoys a second life after his own is finished. This last is perhaps the most difficult to conceive. But such is the effect of the respect, the loving remembrance, and the regret of friends which follow us to the grave. While they take the sting out of death, they add a glory to the life of the survivors. 

★★★★☆ | Philosophy | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

A quirky book full of dense wisdom.  Thinking in such extremes is interesting.  The ending was anti-climactic (and weird).

Highlights

We overestimate what we can do in one year. We underestimate what we can do in ten years.

One of the best feelings in life is to meet someone who grew up in an opposite culture but has your same humor, thoughts, or taste.

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How to Live by Derek SiversRead More »

★★★★☆ | Philosophy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Favorite Highlights

“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.” 

Where one loses control of emotions, another can remain calm. Desperation, despair, fear, powerlessness—these reactions are functions of our perceptions. You must realize: Nothing makes us feel this way; we choose to give in to such feelings. 

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The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan HolidayRead More »