The Stoic Bundle

Three Books on Enduring

This bundle collects three works written centuries apart, in different languages, from different traditions, that all converge on the same question: how do you hold yourself together when the world offers no guarantees? A Roman emperor's private journal, a condemned senator's philosophical dialogue, and a German novelist's retelling of the Buddha's path. These are the three books people return to when circumstances get difficult.

What's Included

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Clydesdale, Complete and Unabridged). The private notebooks of the last of the Five Good Emperors, written to himself during military campaigns along the Danube frontier in the 170s AD. Never intended for publication. Marcus reminds himself, over and over, to accept what he cannot control, to act justly, and to remember that he will die. The most practical work of ancient philosophy still in print.

The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius (Mint Editions). Written in a prison cell around 524 AD, the year before Boethius was executed on charges of treason. A dialogue between the imprisoned author and the personified figure of Philosophy, who arrives to remind him that fortune is fickle, virtue is the only true good, and the universe is governed by reason. The most widely read philosophical work of the medieval period.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (Random House). Hesse's 1922 novel following a young Brahmin's journey toward enlightenment in the time of the historical Buddha. Siddhartha tries asceticism, wealth, sensual pleasure, and despair before arriving at wisdom through the sound of a river. Short, lyrical, and written with the economy of a parable.

About This Bundle

• Authors: Marcus Aurelius, Boethius, Hermann Hesse
• Books: 3
• Format: Paperback / Mass market paperback