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I believe for every book that is labeled as "classic", there is a reason. And if it keeps being labeled as "classic", there must be a reason.

Stephen, that sounds panglossian. Classics are arbitrary titles and must have as many a capricious appraisal as do beloved modern books.

Alex, thank you for commenting.

Stephen, thanks but you're making an Appeal to Tradition fallacy. The reason that many (perhaps most) so-called classics retain their status is that every generation inherits the assumption that "there must be a reason" from the previous generation, and passes it on to the next one. False beliefs are perpetuated in this way for thousands of years.

Yet it remains a classic, despite your opinion, because there are many many people who have read it and consider it worthy of the classic status.

Its a book of great wisdom, dont just take my word for it, Bill Clinton said it was the most influential book in his life after the bible.
Also Prime minister Wen of China has read this book more than a hundred times and keeps a copy of it beside his bed.
It has become quite popular in China today because of his praise.
What exactly about it do you feel does not meet the standards of todays books?
Perhaps you could gain more from it by reading other translations. I found it exceptionally edifying, and still do everytime I pick it up.

This is a book you dip into rather than read cover to cover. Maybe it requires a classic approach of "browse and drop, browse and drop."

Rick wrote: "Alex, thank you for commenting.

Stephen, thanks but you're making an Appeal to Tradition fallacy. The reason that many (perhaps most) so-called classics retain their status is that every generatio..."

I can't agree that this is a bad book or irrelevant today.

I am going to be even more honest. I have never read this book so I have no idea as to its content, however for a book to survive so long merely means it gives us an insight to the intelligence and thoughts of a man who was an emperor of an ancient super power which has had much influence on europe. And thus many recently discovered Western Nations ( discovered, as in new to europeans) Such as the continents of North and South America and Australia.

Whether you find what he is writing to be true or interesting is a completely different matter and I care not how you or anyone else interprets it as that is the beauty of philosophy.

Honestly, did you even read the book?
Despite how much you'd like to believe you're really interesting for dismissing this book, all your review does is prove your thorough knowledge of Western philosophy, or rather complete lack of any knowledge regarding philosophy. Marcus Aurelius is one of the major philosophers of the Roman antiquity and of the stoicist school of thought.

This review made me sad. I certainly did not read this book because I knew it was a classic, or because a Roman emperor was the author. Honestly? I picked it up because I liked the cover design (I always appreciate good typography). I started reading it never having heard of it before, completely without preconception, and loved it from the start. At first glance the adages within seem to be common sense fortune-cookie type pieces of wisdom, but absorbed together, with a due amount of attention and respect they paint a picture of a surprisingly unique, gentle man, perhaps at odds with the warlike, tradition-bound society that produced him.

I find your comment to be quite cynical, assuming that just because you didn't get anything out of a book, it means the rest of the reading world, past and present, is either stupid or deluding themselves.

I have read many classics that I did not like, but this isn't one of them. I can understand why you don't like it... it is sometimes banal and pedestrian, but I think that is part of the beauty of this book.

I was reading this while sharing a room with 13 other girls during an archaeological excavation in Italy, and though we have lived nearly 2000 years apart and from radically different classes, it seemed as though Marcus Aurelius was having the same anxieties relating to people that I was. It gives me comfort to think that... despite all of the talk of the world going to hell in a hand basket, despite time, despite distance, despite language and gender and class... we all have the same concerns.

Time is a sieve that separates the coarse from the fine. If a book is still being read after 3000 years, or after 2000, it's because it's worth reading. There are exceptions, of course, but I think that this is generally true. Moreover, 99.9% the books published in the past 10 years will not be read 2000 years from now. The sieve of time will not pass them on to future generations. As for Aurelius' Meditations, I've been reading and rereading this book for years.

Speaking of rereading good books, here's what Zhu Xi (1130-1200) had to say about it: "The reason people today read sloppily is that there are a great many printed texts...When students today read a text, it's just as if they had never read it. When they haven't read it, it's just as if they had...In reading, simply take what you already understand and read it again and again...Nowadays in reading a text people have yet to read to this point here, and their minds are already on some later passage. And as soon as they do read what's there, they wish to put it aside and move on. This sort of reading doesn't aim for a personal understanding of the text. We must linger over what we read, longing to understand it. Only if we don't wish to put it aside will we come to a personal appreciation of it...Be sure to ponder what you read. Then you'll see the meaning leap right out from the text...These days those who truly read are few, the reason being the pernicious influence of the examination essay. Men make up their minds to seek the unusual in texts even before they read them -- and pay no attention whatsoever to the original meaning. Having got the unusual from them, they imitate it in their examination essays; in the end they're accomplished only at using the unusual in the texts."

Rick which version or versions did you read? I have gone through a lot of different translations and am still hungry for more.

I agree, this is some lightweight stuff.

How influential a book is on a person depends on a lot of factors: where they are in their lives, their general depth, their knowledge of a given branch of philosophy.

A person could easily be vulnerable to any book if it's the first thing like it they'd ever read. Which was more likely when there were fewer information channels.

But the ideas expressed in this are commonplace in the morass of derivative opinions. I'd find it hard to reach age 16 without having already been exposed to the majority of these bromides, in some schmaltzy incarnation or another.

Maybe it's Chicken Soup for The (Roman) Soldier. Haha.

I may have rated it far better than you, but your review is full of truth.

My defense for my rating is basically how 'right' he is in what he says - and the value that has to provide others with guidance (for lack of a better word).

Thanks Cameron, I appreciate that. I've got no problem with someone taking inspiration from Meditations, or with using it to help clarify or develop their own ideas. My problem with the book is that it's a collection of assertions, rather than arguments. What I personally want from a work of philosophy is to be persuaded to understand something new, or to be shown how to see something from a new viewpoint; as opposed to having Truth handed down fully formed from Authority.

Nevertheless, if those assertions resonate with a particular reader (as they do with you and some of the other posters in this thread), or if that reader is moved by Aurelius' elegance or eloquence, that's cool too. (After all, it isn't as though he assassinates brain cells the way, say, Stephenie Meyer does.) There just wasn't very much here that spoke to me.

Richard, that's a good point about about "Meditations" having an authoritarian tone rather than logical convincing tone. I agree.
But it's clear to mostly everybody that this book is fascinating and that your one-star review is dull and antagonistic. A Roman emperor espousing a philosophy that seems to sum up Daoism, Buddhism, and Christianity makes for a good read.

Kinda missed the point I'd suggest...

I think your problem with the book comes from searching in it something that it was not designed to provide. It is not intended to be an exposition of the stoic philosophy. It is in fact a collection of personal reflexions and points of view, hence the assertive nature of its tone. The authors worldview happens to be in accordance with the precepts of the stoic school of tought but it is in no way a systematic exposition of them.

Now, comparing the quality of its content to that of a blog seems to me absurd. There is a reason why this book was a favourite of universal genius of the stature of John Stuart Mill and Goethe.

"My problem with the book is that it's a collection of assertions, rather than arguments. What I personally want from a work of philosophy is to be persuaded to understand something new, or to be shown how to see something from a new viewpoint; as opposed to having Truth handed down fully formed from Authority."
You clearly haven’t read the introduction to the book, or you wouldn’t be making such an unfair statement about it. The book is comprised of the personal writings of an emperor who happened to be schooled in Stoic philosophy. It was not meant to be published for anybody else to read but himself. If you want to be persuaded to understand something new, pick up a textbook of philosophy, not a philosopher-king’s diary. This is not “Truth� handed down fully formed, but rather an insight into how an emperor’s philosophical convictions reflected in his life. Not many books have been published on the application of philosophy to real life. That is its worth.

Who disagree with the geniallity of the author is a moron! period

The Meditations were never meant for publication. Marcus Aurelius kept the spiritual journal for his own personal reasons. He is not addressing his comments to any reader or student. He is addressing it to his own soul, trying to give it direction along Stoic philosophical lines. He is also engaging in an inner exploration.If the contents didn't resonate with you then that is ok,its not for everyone, but be clear on the purpose of the work and judge it accordingly.

Paul wrote: "Time is a sieve that separates the coarse from the fine. If a book is still being read after 3000 years, or after 2000, it's because it's worth reading. There are exceptions, of course, but I think..."

This book has been read by common people since the mid 1800's, not for several thousand years.

Your review is full of solid arguments against the book. Oh, hold on, there's actually none !

I simply couldn't ignore the comparison to today's blogs.... I think you missed the fact that one way or the other this book is the source of the inspirational statements published all over the web these days.

The fact alone that it was actually written by Roman Emperor makes it a classic. Reading this transports you to another age which is reason enough to read it.

I feel that the fact it was written by an Emperor is justified of being called a classic.

I think this review says more about the reviewer than it does about the book.

Seriously!! This book needs to be read one page at a time....or as per your assimilation power. If you read it like a novel chances are you land up giving such astounding review!!

Shilpi wrote: "If you read it like a novel chances are you land up giving such astounding review!!"
Well said!

Sean wrote: "Shilpi wrote: "If you read it like a novel chances are you land up giving such astounding review!!"
Well said!"

:)

Hahaha. That's a little bit too harsh

I hope you read it fully before you reviewed it. Then if you did, I don't know why you expected it to be something it was never written to be. The key to appreciating the book, is to keep it in the context of why and in what circumstances it was written.

A comment like this is proof that the future is doomed. I can only hope that I am long dead before your generation takes power.

Jony wrote: "I hope you read it fully before you reviewed it. Then if you did, I don't know why you expected it to be something it was never written to be. The key to appreciating the book, is to keep it in the..."

Absolutely....well said

Dude Richard...you got merced for your review. (For obvious reasons)

Was Epictetus' writings saved because he was a slave?

Either he didn't read it or he was sadly incapable of understanding even the most basic points of this great collection of personal notes

another comment written just for the sake of going and being 'against' ... worthless

Criticizing someone else's work, particularly without giving any explanation of why, takes no "grapes" at all.

Too bad that your mind is closed. To each his own.

I think you missed the point of the book

This review is absolutely correct

Ther is no clickbait or pop-ups in a book.

I totally disagree with this closed-minded review

That what Marcus was trying to tell you...

I wonder if Richard is still as dumb as a brick? It's been ten years since this review

What a moronic review. I highly doubt this Richard guy even read this book. Maybe this is a way for this guy to get some attention he never got when he was a kid. Eitherway, pathetic!

Tell me why would you say such thing.. ever!

This is not an arguement or a deconstruction of aurelius' thoughts, this is individualistic contrarian masutrbation

You can't control what reviews other people post, but you are in control of your feelings towards them. In this case, most commenters seem to be in control of neither.