Philosopher's Notes

This is my fourth Note on one of Will Durant's books. We're systematically walking through the five books of his I read in a week after I first discovered him five decades into my life. Durant was a national treasure, a philosopher turned historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for The Story of Civilization, which he wrote with his wife, Ariel, to whom he was married for SIXTY-EIGHT years. This book celebrates the mountain peaks of human greatness, from his list of the ten greatest thinkers to his hundred best books for an education. (Out of those 100 books, I've read a measly FIVE. Hah.) If you want to study the best of humanity so you can activate the best within YOU, I highly recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include Heroes, The Greatest Thinkers, An Hour a Day, Progress, and It's Day 1.

This is the third Note I've created on one of Will Durant's books. Somehow I didn't read Durant for the first 50 years of my life, but when I found him, I fell in love and read five of his books in a week. This one was written with his beloved wife, Ariel, and I'm not sure whether I love Will's writing more or the fact that they were married for NEARLY SEVENTY YEARS! In this brilliant little book, the Durants compress 5,000 years of history into timeless lessons on the nature, conduct, and prospects of humanity. The first lesson? Modesty. If you want a cosmic perspective on your daily challenges and a reminder that it's our greatest challenges that bring out the best in us, I highly recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include The Earth and History, Heroes of History, Morals and History, Clarity of Mind, and Progress.

I've loved Dan Millman for as long as I've been on this path. The Way of the Peaceful Warrior was the second self-development book I ever read, and it changed my life. A copy of this one's original edition sat in my Santa Monica apartment nearly 20 years ago on my very first date with my now-wife Alexandra, when we wound up reading each other's Life-Purpose System sections out loud. I spotted it on our bookshelf yesterday, smiled, and re-read the whole thing. It's FANTASTIC. This is the fourth Note I've created on one of Dan's books, and his wisdom on climbing the mountain of your life and putting your purpose into action is as profound as ever. If you want a map for your life purpose, I highly recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include Our Life as a Journey, My Birth Numbers, The Law of Flexibility, The Law of Expectations, and The Law of Action.

This is the eleventh Note I've created on one of Ryan Holiday's books, and at this point I'll just say it: Ryan might be my favorite author. His writing is chef's kiss fantastic, his wisdom is profound, and his commitment to practicing his philosophy is inspiring. In Lives of the Stoics, Ryan and Stephen Hanselman bring 26 Stoic philosophers to life, from Zeno, who founded Stoicism on the other side of a shipwreck (the best expression of antifragility I know), to Epictetus, my all-time favorite teacher whose Heroic portrait stares at me as I type this. It's a beautiful reminder that philosophy exists for one reason, to help us become better people, moving from theory to practice to mastery, living with areté all day, every day, especially TODAY. If you love Stoicism, I highly recommend this one. Big Ideas we explore include Why Study Philosophy?, Zeno, Musonius Rufus, Epictetus, and Your Role.

I haven't had a TV in over twenty years, so I'd never heard of Oz Pearlman until this book landed in my hands. If you're a fan of America's Got Talent you already know him as the world's preeminent mentalist, and after reading this I loved watching a few of his jaw-dropping mind-reading performances with my kids. What I didn't expect was that Oz is ALSO an ultramarathoner who has run a 2:23 marathon and holds the world record for the most laps around Central Park in a single day. This book is PACKED with both inspiring stories from his own Heroic quest and practical wisdom we can put to work TODAY, from rewiring how we hear rejection to making our fear of failure magically disappear. If you want to master the most powerful weapon you have, your own mind, I highly recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include No vs. Not Yet, Failing Up, Fast Forward, Stack the Deck, and Decide to Be Happy.

I've admired Bob Bowman for years, but I didn't know he had a book until I was invited to join a roundtable podcast discussion with him and George Mumford, hosted by Ryan Sweeney. That conversation was AWESOME, and so is this book. Bob is the legendary coach who saw Michael Phelps' potential before he was a teenager and then spent decades helping him actualize his Heroic potential. In these pages he walks us through The Method and its 10 Golden Rules for finding world-class excellence in your life and work, all PACKED with wisdom on dreaming big, building a Game Plan, and chasing excellence rather than medals. If you want to close the gap between who you are capable of being and who you are actually being, I highly recommend this book. Big Ideas we explore include The Method, Dream Big, The Game Plan, Decide What's Next, and I See Heroes.

Abraham Maslow is one of my heroes. His Heroic portrait hangs in a frame on the wall in my office, and I got this book after reading Scott Barry Kaufman's brilliant Transcend, which extends Maslow's work into the modern era. We've already created Notes on his classics Motivation and Personality and Toward a Psychology of Being, plus the lesser-known Future Visions, and this biography by Edward Hoffman brings the whole man to life. It's packed with inspiring stories of the challenges Maslow faced and overcame, and packed with wisdom on self-actualization, human potential, and the courage to become who we are capable of becoming. If you want to close the gap between who you are and who you could be, and then give your greatest gifts in service of something bigger than yourself, I highly recommend this one. Big Ideas we explore include The Hero, An Iconoclast, Complexity, Don't Try to Escape, and The Heroic Self-Actualizer.

Jim Collins has been my favorite business strategist for a long time, so when this book arrived from Amazon, I opened the box mid-walk with Emerson and was struck by Jim's Soul Force radiating off the cover. It's AT LEAST tied for first as my all-time favorite. I read it while making big decisions about Heroic and my role within it, and it became one of my guides. Jim spent a decade researching paired remarkable lives, then two more years writing, to answer one Big Question: what to make of a life. He shows how to come into frame by discovering your encodings, flipping the arrow of money, and focusing your inner fire, then navigate the cliffs and fog we all face. If you want deeper self-knowledge and clarity on your path, I highly recommend this book. Big Ideas we explore include Your Heroic Guide, One Big Thing, A Constellation, Take the Next Best Step, and Catalytic Questions.

Brandon Guyer is one of my favorite people on the planet, a dear friend, a big Heroic investor, and a Heroic Coach with whom I've traded Oura scores nearly every morning for years. I was honored to write a testimonial for the back cover, and I read the whole thing at a chess tournament the day after I got it. It's a super-quick read at only 88 pages, but it's PACKED with immediately applicable practical wisdom on raising confident, happy athletes. Brandon spent seven years in Major League Baseball, and this isn't a book about turning your kid into a star, it's about helping them become whole while chasing big dreams. And it's not just for sports parents. If you have a kid who competes in anything, chess like mine, marching band, debate, or drama, I highly recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include The Ultimate Game, The Fun Factor, The Pressure Paradox, You're a Signal, and Win or Win!

This is the ninth (!) Note I've created on Ryan Holiday's great books, following The Obstacle Is the Way, The Daily Stoic, Stillness Is the Key, Ego Is the Enemy, Discipline Is Destiny, Courage Is Calling, Right Thing Right Now, Wisdom Takes Work, and What You're Made For. As I've said in every one of those Notes, I'm astonished by Ryan, the depth of his wisdom, the quality of his writing, and the fierceness with which he practices his philosophy. I read this one during a parenting-book binge last year, and it was at least tied for first as the best parenting book I've ever read. It's 366 meditations structured as a daily ritual, a fantastic kick in the butt to practice our philosophy in the most important and most challenging domain of our lives, how we show up for our kids. Dads: read this book. Big Ideas we explore include A Little Fellow Follows You, Character Is Fate, Always Be a Fan, Struggle and Emerge, and Time Flies.