Recommended Books on Stoicism

(a) The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living (Non-Fiction) by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

This is a great book to ease you into. Holiday and Hanselman, both huge experts on Stoicism, explore emotions through the lens of Stoic philosophy – how do we deal with anger, grief, fear, loss, find meaning and purpose? The Daily Stoic is laid out to enable us to incorporate Stoicism in our lives on a daily basis, with a mediation for every day of the year that’s inspirational and allows us to start our day grounded in Stoic philosophy. What’s great is that he includes wisdom from all the major stoics from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, or and Epictetus, offering stories and guidance on how to navigate modern-day problems using universal Stoic approaches.

(b) Meditations (Non-Fiction) by Marcus Aurelius

A classic in Stoic literature but one that I would suggest everyone read. This is a translated version, originally written in Greek by the Roman emperor and philosopher, Marcus Aurelius. Originally written to help Aurelius, make sense of his own personal challenges and find comfort and consolation in the writing, this has now become a timeless collection of truths and philosophies that have been leveraged and almost bibled by leaders, academics, statesman and Stoic enthusiasts everywhere.

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You might also find it helpful to explore these feelings in a bibliotherapy session or learn some bibliotherapy techniques to help you process these feelings by completing our online Bibliotherapy, Literature and Mental Health course or our book Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading.

A big hello and thank you for reading! Passionate about literature, psychology, and life I launched Book Therapy as an alternative form of therapy using the power of literature. I train mental health professionals, librarians, teachers as well as readers on using bibliotherapy in their own work through our online Bibliotherapy, Literature and Mental Health course. We also curate reading lists/personalised book prescriptions for clients based on their individual needs. This is our signature personalised reading service.

You can also check out Book Therapy’s other free reading lists and A- Z of book prescriptions (covering both fiction and non-fiction). These suggest books based on your existing life situation (e.g. anxiety, job change, relationship heartache) as well as interests (e.g memoir, historical fiction, non-fiction, crime etc). There’s also a Children’s A — Z of Book Prescriptions. Feel free to check out the blog for more literary gems. There’s also a post on my personal story of how I entered the world of bibliotherapy and book curation.

In this role, I have had the opportunity to publish two books called Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading and The Happiness Mindset, and write various literary essays and pieces for newspapers and magazines. I have undertaken bibliotherapy workshops for The United Nations, various libraries in New York and corporate organisations in the UK and US. My book recommendations have featured in the Guardian, Marie Claire, NBC News, Asian Voice, New York Observer, Sydney Telegraph and various other publications. If you are a parent you might enjoy a podcast I’ve recorded with speech and language therapist Sunita Shah on Raising A Reader & Storyteller. And if you’d like to connect, email me at bijal@booktherapy.io or www.booktherapy.io.

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