Very important work. You may well recognize yourself and people you care about in this book, and find yourself seeing self and others from a new perspective.

I think this book is particularly important for anyone parenting or working with children, as this book provides practical advice on how to help children develop a "growth mindset", which equips children to become resilient and self-motivated.

I highly recommend.

A very accessible introduction to Stoicism. The author is clearly enthused but to his credit he also allows that others may find another approach to a personal 'philosophy of life' a better fit for themselves.

I find the stoic exhortation to be careful about goals and to accept for one self the goal of doing one's best rather than a particular achievement in the world to fit quite well with Carol Dweck's psychology of the 'growth mindset'.

It's Irvine's exploration of hedonic adaptation and the value of negative visualization that I find most compelling. This by itself is reason enough to explore this philosophy.

In today's world, some of the questions Irvine raises- What is the most helpful approach to grieving, assistance with emotional expression or unassisted bearing? - should be amenable to experimental trial. There is certainly anough grief in the world and you can make the case that we should become as skilled as possible in managing it.

Recommended.