Annotated Meditations

Russell McNeil has written a pretty nice book on annotated Meditations, which has an accompanying website. I'd encourage anyone interested in Stoicism to check it out. The nice thing about it is that, first of all, Marcus Aurelius's writings can be dense at times. They were translated to English from Greek, a scholarly language that Marcus Aurelius wasn't completely fluent in. So, it's stilted for good reason. Moreover, since the Meditations were really just private notes to himself, they don't follow any sort of logical order. But Prof. McNeil's book actually groups similar passages together, which helps us form a coherent view of Aurelius's thoughts.

His book is brief, but his website compensates for my adding much more material. I would quibble with some of the interpretations in it, which don't quite jibe with how I read things. Then again, I truly don't know much about Stoicism, so I'm willing to give Prof. McNeil the benefit of the doubt.

The book and website are both a worthwhile read, but like Aurelius's writings on their own, it is strong medicine, and best absorbed slowly.