Stoicism 101: From Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus to the Role of Reason and Amor Fati, an Essential Primer on Stoic Philosophy

Adams 101

by Erick Cloward

Discover all the essential wisdom of the stoics with this engaging, informative, and easy-to-understand guide to all the key philosophers, concepts, and principles of the stoic philosophy.

You’ve seen the memes and quotes everywhere—from Reddit to TikTok—but what is stoicism really about?

Stoicism 101 teaches you everything you need to know about this influential philosophy—from its key figures (including Epictetus, Seneca the Younger, and Marcus Aurelius), to its key principles (virtue, mindfulness, and the dichotomy of control).

This easy-to-read guide uses engaging, straightforward lessons to teach you all the important stoic concepts. Whether you are new to stoicism or have been studying it for some time, in this book you’ll find quick, thorough, easy-to-understand explanations of stoic philosophies and practices such as mastering desires and emotions, cultivating character and virtue, learning self-acceptance, dealing with criticism and adversity, practical exercises for achieving happiness, and more.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Self Help

272 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The philosophical arguments and propositions are helpful and enjoying to read, but this book was SO repetitive and had so many filler words, sentences, and even paragraphs. The amount of times I read something similar to “and the next sentence/paragraph will talk about this more!”, “see the previous sentence for further information”, read the same exact phrases over and over again, or read the same quotes over and over again made this frustrating. This could easily have been 120-150 pages, not 266. The same 3-4 topics were covered over and over and sometimes in ways that were specific to a new chapter/subtopic, but not always. Again the content itself wasn’t bad, but the overall syntax was not there.

[Isabella Sundqvist · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 🌟 there were some very good and interesting stoic theories that I learned more about, but it became quite repetetive.. a slow read but will definitely get back to it another time and look through my notes!

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easily understood introduction to Stoic philosophy. The book also gives you practical tips to incorporate these ideas into your way of thinking. It has helped me reduce my anxiety already.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer on the philosophy. Dinging it a star for repetition. Some sections read the same way even though the words were different.

[Joel Furches · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fads come and go in the modern era, and with the availability of the internet, they spread more rapidly than ever before. Every few weeks, a new diet emerges which has people advocating for its effectiveness, or a new type of herbal remedy comes along, or a way to “manifest” things into your life makes the rounds.
Occasionally such fads claim to have their roots in ancient practices, or traditions – as this is a way to lend credibility to an otherwise novel idea. Frequently these fads will claim to have ties to science, as this gives them more modern kinds of credibility. However, as soon as these trends rise up, so do experts making just as much noise debunking the fad as those trying to promote it.
One more recent fad has come, surprisingly, from within the scientific community. From psychology, more specifically. And this fad definitely does have ties to ancient traditions. I am speaking here of the philosophy of Stoicism.
While it was established over 2300 years ago, it would be an exaggeration to say that stoicism ever died out. It has had its enthusiasts and practitioners across the years, who have leaned upon its techniques to cope and remain resilient through hardships. But when modern psychology began to discover that all of the most effective therapies currently in practice were embodied in this ancient philosophy, the merits of this philosophy as a form of therapy and lifestyle began to receive real attention for the first time in millennia.
One of the more visible modern promoters of this philosophy is the speaker, podcaster, and author Erick Cloward. Cloward’s magnum opus on the subject of this philosophy is the book Stoicism 101. In this book, Cloward performs the impossible feat of condensing over 2000 years worth of praxis and development into a single volume under 300 pages long. In this book, Cloward outlines the history of the practice, including its origins, development, and the most famous philosophers associated with the technique. He then proceeds to outline all of the major practices and ideas associated with the philosophy, and explain how the reader may apply these practices to his or her life.
The effectiveness of stoicism is time-tested and attested by psychologists to be a buffer against many kinds of stress, anxiety, and mental illnesses. Cloward’s book is a condense, pocket-sized volume with large print, and a very digestible writing style. The book is well-organized according to topic, and develops the themes organically across the text.
Stoicism recommends regular meditation on one’s thoughts and values in the morning and before sleeping. Consequently, this volume would make for an excellent bedside reader to guide one’s morning and evening contemplations. I greatly appreciated this book, I would gladly re-read it to pick out its meat, and I recommend you do the same.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent primer to the philosophy of Stoicism. I would recommend it primarily to people who are fairly new to Stoicism, or who may still have questions about the core principles. However, I still found it a useful refresher for myself after almost 15 years as a practitioner.

The book is divided into 60 short chapters (of four to five pages each). It begins with a history of the philosophy, its most well-known historical figures, and then evolves into an examination of the four core virtues and other basic tenets. From there the chapters can really be read in any order and consider how Stoicism views topics such as love and relationships, goal-setting, self-acceptance, criticism, change, and much more.

Cloward writes with clear and direct language. If you’ve listened to his podcast (which I highly recommend), you will have some idea of his style of communication. The book is very easy to understand and comes well indexed and with clear chapter headings.

Erick, this is one of the first reviews and I’m hoping you read this - please write more! You are the most humble and gentle of the modern Stoic presenters and the world would certainly benefit from more of your guidance and example.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that this book makes Stoic philosophy approaching and easy to understand but there were times were it became repetitive and made it a bit of a slow read for me personally. I felt like by the end I understood the basic concepts and appreciated that the author made some current world uses of these ancient ideas as well. I especially enjoyed the section about how Stoic philosophy shaped some of the modern ideas in psychology and mental health field like CBT. It is kind of fascinating that these concepts and ideas started in the ancient world but still can be applied to today's modern mind.

I also liked how the book was set up into smaller sections so you could read a bit and put it down and not feel like you were right in the middle of something. The information was clear and concise but again maybe a little repetitive. Also there are times where the author says more on this in a past or future section but in the ebook version I had it wasn't possible to jump around to find that section if you were hoping to learn more about that particular thing at the moment. Not sure if that would have been fixed in the final version.

I received a digital reader copy of this book through NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for my honest review.

[Forrest Palmer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, I love the concept of stoicism. This book was so poorly written I couldn’t even finish it. I only got about halfway through before I’d had enough of being beaten over the head with the same five sentences. This book only needed to be 50 pages, because it only had 50 pages worth of things to say. The amount of times this book repeated itself was incredibly distracting.

[Dale Dewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful primer on Stoicism although the author in several sections, tended to repeat concepts. It became a bit dry by the end by the history of stoicism and the practical advice the book gives in putting the principles into practice is well worth a read. The quotes from Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Areleus .were the highlights,

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review

[Jay Zwelling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I would agree with the other reviewers that the book is quite repetitive, I still enjoyed it. If you are novice at Stoicism then the repeating of concepts was understandable to convey the theories. But it if are already familiar with Stoicism (I wasn't) then this book probably isn't for you.

[Megan Glynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got 50 pages into this book before I decided I couldn’t read it any longer. While it provides good basics to Stoic philosophy, the text was very repetitive. It does not read well, flow, and reads like AI. To anyone looking to learn about Stoicism, Breakfast with Seneca is much more enjoyable and meaningful.

[Alfie Yee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good starter part or reminder resource for Stocism. I do like the way the chapters are categorised to intersect with everyday living. One feedback is that the tenants then to be repetitive. Not the fault of author that is just how Stocism. A few core tenets that is applicable to many things

[Alec Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parts of the book that were novel were very informative, useful, and easy to understand. However the book could’ve been 100 pages shorter as the same concepts were repeated countless times.

[Frimann Gudmundsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Þörf áminning, ekki eins áhrifaríkt og að lesa Meditations en góð upprifjun.

[Mike Tomasek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Repetitive.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a listener of the stoic coffee break for several years, i was thrilled to learn of this book. Stoicism 101 breaks down the basics of the philosophy for anyone interested in learning the basics.

[Derrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

As advertised, it’s a crash course in stoicism. However the book falters in its repetition and use of filler phrases. Felt like they were trying to hit a word count at times.