Sadler's Honest Book Reviews

reading recommendations that go into depth and detail (and a few disrecommendations as well)

One video series I started producing in response to viewers’ consistent requests, and publishers and authors sending me their books, is called “Sadler’s Honest Book Reviews”.

I tend to focus on relatively recently published books, and works falling within the scope of practical philosophy — in a very broad sense of that term. So you’ll notice titles that are by philosophers and are works of philosophy, delving into matters like ethics and moral philosophy, philosophy as a way of life, human nature, and personal identity. There are a lot of connected fields that make an appearance as well in these books, including psychology, history, religion, sociology, and literature. Some of the works focus on leadership, organizations, relationships, personal development, or self-help. So there’s a pretty wide ambit covered by the series.

The most important term in the series title, of course, is “honest.” After putting in enough time reading and rereading, I aim to tell other readers precisely what I think about the book. The good, the bad, the ugly, and whatever else needs to be said about it. (Authors are sometimes not entirely happy with what I end up saying.)

If you’ve got a book that you would like to send my way for review, and you think it fits into the scope of the series, feel free to contact me about how to send a copy — I don’t review digital copies, only physical books I can hold in my hand and read.

As I produce more of these reviews, I’ll add them here. For each of the books I’ve reviewed, you’ll find them listed below, along with links that will take you straight to the video reviews, as well as to the Amazon pages for those books. (Full disclosure: those are affiliate links, so I earn a little bit if you get yourself a copy of the book through them).

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Christopher Gill and Brittany Polat, Stoic Ethics: The Basics (Routledge, 2024)— watch the video review | get the book

The Essential Stoic: The Most Influential Writings From The Masters foreward by Mark Tuitert (St. Martin’s Press. 2024) — watch the video review | get the book (disrecommendation)

Vittorio Bufacchi, Why Cicero Matters (Bloomsbury Academic. 2023) — watch the video review | get the book

David Fideler, Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living (W. W. Norton & Company 2022)— watch the video review | get the book

Tim Iverson, Calm and Curious: Mindfulness, Stoicism, and Philosophy (Ivermind Press. 2022) — watch the video review | get the book

Carneades (pseudonym) Are All Lives Equal?: Why Cost Benefit Analysis Values Rich Lives More and How Philosophy Can Fix It (Carneades.org. 2022) — watch the video review | get the book

Donald Robertson, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (St. Martin’s Press, 2022) — watch the video review | get the book

Karen Armstrong, Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond With The Natural (Knopf, 2022)— watch the video review | get the book

Julian Baggini, The Great Guide: What David Hume Can Teach Us About Being Human And Living Well. (Princeton University Press, 2021) — watch the video review | get the book

Phil Van Treuren, The Stock Horse and the Stable Cat (Stoic Simple Press. 2021) — watch the video review | get the book

Cicero and Quintilian, How To Tell A Joke: An Ancient Guide To The Art of Humor, translated by Michael Fontaine (Princeton University Press, 2021) — watch the video review | get the book

Massimo Pigliucci, A Field Guide to a Happy Life: 53 Brief Lessons for Living (Basic Books, 2021) — watch the video review | get the book

Kai Whiting and Leonidas Konstantakos, Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In (New World Library, 2021) — watch the video review | get the book

Eliot Rosenstock, The Ego And Its Hyperstate: A Psychoanalytically Informed Dialectical Analysis of Self-Interest (Zero Books, 2021) — watch the video review | get the book

Simon Drew, The Poet and the Sage: A Journey Beyond The Distant Hills (Imago Printing International Limited, 2021) — watch the video review | get the book

Ansgar Allen, Cynicism (MIT Press. 2020) — watch the video review | get the book

The Selected Writings of Pierre Hadot: Philosophy As Practice, translated by Matthew Sharpe and Federico Testa (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020) — watch the video review | get the book

John Sellars, The Pocket Stoic (University of Chicago Press. 2020) — watch the video review | get the book

Barbara H. Rosenwein, Anger: The Conflicted History of An Emotion (Yale University Press: 2020) — watch the video review | get the book

J. David Velleman, On Being Me: A Personal Invitation To Philosophy (Princeton University Press. 2020) — watch the video review | get the book

Matthew Van Natta, The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism: Tools for Emotional Resilience and Positivity & The 5-minute Stoicism Journal: Create Space for Joy, Positivity, and Reflection (2019, Althea Press) — watch the video review | get the book and the other book

Antonia Macaro, More than Happiness: Buddhist and Stoic Wisdom for a Skeptical Age (Icon Books. 2019) — watch the video review | get the book

Piotr Stankiewicz, Does Happiness Write Blank Pages? On Stoicism and Artistic Creativity (Vernon Press, 2019) — watch the video review | get the book

Chris Bateman, The Virtuous Cyborg (Eyewear Publishing, 2018)— watch the video review | get the book

Epictetus, How To Be Free: An Ancient Guide To The Stoic Life, translated and edited by A.A. Long (Princeton University Press: 2018) — watch the video review | get the book

Simon Blackburn, On Truth (Oxford University Press. 2018) — watch the video review | get the book

Marcus Tullius Cicero, How To Be A Friend: An Ancient Guide to True Friendship, translated and edited by Philip Freeman (Princeton University Press, 2018) — watch the video review | get the book

Heidi Grant, Reinforcements: How to Get People to Help You (Harvard Business Review Press. 2018) — watch the video review | get the book

Dariusz Karlowicz, Socrates and Other Saints: Early Christian Understandings of Reason & Philosophy (Kalos. 2017) — watch the video review | get the book

Massimo Pigliucci, How To Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy To Live A Modern Life (Basic Books, 2017) — watch the video review | get the book

Seneca, How To Die: An Ancient Guide To The End Of Life, translated and edited by James S. Romm (Princeton University Press: 2017) — watch the video review | get the book

Pat McGeehan, Stoicism and the Statehouse: An Old Philosophy Serving a New Idea (Wythe-North Publishing, 2017) — watch the video review| get the book

William Ferraiolo, Meditations on Self-Discipline and Failure: Stoic Exercises for Mental Fitness (O Books, 2017) — watch the video review | get the book

George J. Bradley, A Better Human: The Stoic Heart, Mind, and Soul (Bradley Publishing Inc.: 2017) — watch the video review | get the book (disrecommendation)

Ben Irvine, Mindfulness and the Big Questions: Philosophy for Now (Leaping Hare Press 2017) — watch the video review | get the book

Martha Nussbaum, Anger & Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice (Oxford. 2016) — watch the video review | get the book

Kevin Vost, The Porch and the Cross: Ancient Stoic Wisdom for Modern Christian Living (Angelico Press, 2016) — watch the video review | get the book

Chuck Chakrapani, Unshakeable Freedom: Ancient Stoic Secrets Applied to Modern Life (Stoic Gym: 2016) — watch the video review | get the book

Hiram Crespo, Tending The Epicurean Garden (Humanist Press 2014) — watch the video review | get the book

Barbara J. King, How Animals Grieve (University of Chicago Press. 2013) — watch the video review | get the book

John Sellars, The Art of Living: The Stoics on the Nature and Function of Philosophy (Bristol Classical Press. 2009) — watch the video review | get the book