The Stoic Challenge cover art

The Stoic Challenge

A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Stoic Challenge

By: William B. Irvine
Narrated by: Brian Troxell
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

A practical, refreshingly optimistic guide that uses centuries-old wisdom to help us better cope with the stresses of modern living.

Some people bounce back in response to setbacks; others break. We often think that these responses are hardwired, but fortunately this is not the case. Stoicism offers us an alternative approach. Plumbing the wisdom of one of the most popular and successful schools of thought from ancient Rome, philosopher William B. Irvine teaches us to turn any challenge on its head. The Stoic Challenge, then, is the ultimate guide to improving your quality of life through tactics developed by ancient Stoics, from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca to Epictetus.

This book uniquely combines ancient Stoic insights with techniques discovered by contemporary psychological research, such as anchoring and framing. The result is a surprisingly simple strategy for dealing with life’s unpleasant and unexpected challenges - from minor setbacks like being caught in a traffic jam or having a flight cancelled to major setbacks like those experienced by physicist Stephen Hawking, who slowly lost the ability to move, and writer Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered from locked-in syndrome.

The Stoics discovered that thinking of challenges as tests of character can dramatically alter our emotional response to them. Irvine’s updated “Stoic test strategy” teaches us how to transform life’s stumbling blocks into opportunities for becoming calmer, tougher, and more resilient. Not only can we overcome everyday obstacles - we can benefit from them, too.

©2019 William B. Irvine (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Greek & Roman History Movements Personal Success Psychology Stoicism Inspiring Resilience Wisdom Zen Buddhism
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Guide to the Good Life cover art
The Beginner's Guide to Stoicism cover art
Becoming Bulletproof cover art
Rip It Up cover art
Superforecasting cover art
Sleep Smarter cover art
Write It All Down cover art
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor cover art
Breakfast with Seneca cover art
Power, Freedom, and Grace cover art
Modern Man in Search of a Soul cover art
The Mood Elevator cover art
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius cover art
Beat Fear cover art
The Simple Path to Wealth cover art
Authentic Happiness in Seven Emails cover art

What listeners say about The Stoic Challenge

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    249
  • 4 Stars
    119
  • 3 Stars
    55
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    219
  • 4 Stars
    90
  • 3 Stars
    47
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    208
  • 4 Stars
    96
  • 3 Stars
    39
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    7

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent.

A great expansion of the ideas and principles described in The Good Life, in particular how to deal more effectively with setbacks. Very relevant in current circumstances.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant insights into stoic practice.

I listened to this in particularly stressful times and found that it both stripped me of some illusions of control and gave me the best tools for acceptance, calmness mind and preparedness.
Well-written, well-read, thorough, easy to follow and easy to implement in your own life.
Highly recommended!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent and easy to follow

really enjoyed this audio book. the narrative was clearly read and set out in an easily digestible way. well done to both the author and narrator for a great piece of work.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Life changing

This book has the power to adjust your quality of life without changing your circumstances or material possessions. It is humorous, practical and uplifting. Thank you to the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great principles to live by

A really interesting listen. It presents an alternative way of dealing with all the mishaps that happen in ordinary life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting and useful

My only criticism is that some of the content overlaps with some of Irvine's other books. Despite that, I took lots of value from this and strongly recommend it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Might be a life changing book for you

As author mentions stoicism might not be best fir for everybody and I fully agree on this point. However (depending on where you are at your life) this might open your horizons towards more balanced (and hopelly happier) way of living. It has done so for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good

I'm a millennial, I thought the chapter about millennials was on point. Even if anything in the book was deliberately inflamatory (which it isn’t) having your feathers ruffled by it would be an indication that more stoic practice and reason was needed.

Very practical book. Useful psychological tricks, especially in the ending chapters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

An interesting take on Stoicism

This is a really interesting book, but it is not for beginners, or people new to Stoicism. It doesn’t clearly state that it is, or it isn’t, so I’d like to make it clear. If you’re looking for a good introduction at a basic level I highly recommend The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism by Matthew Van Natta. I listened to that on Audible and found it most informative and fascinating. A good history lesson to boot.
This book seems more a practical tool suggestion, as how to put the Stoic learning into practice, without properly explaining what Stoicism is. I agree with some other reviewers, there are some points where language and stance are questionable, but not enough to erase the points trying to be made. This is a good follow up for folks who maybe already know a bit about Stoicism and just want more examples for them to follow/hear about.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

When it is explained like this it is all easy to understand. Do listen to this book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!