The Art of Happiness (Penguin Classics)

Thank you pewdiepie for recommending this

Used book arrived in very good shape. This translation is pretty good for the layman unfamiliar with philosophical prose. The forward is long, well written, and easy to understand.

This is Penguin Classics's re-issue of "The Philosophy of Epicurus: Letters, Doctrines, and Parallel Passages from Lucretius" published in 1963. The Art of Happiness (Penguin Classics) has a new foreword by Daniel Klein, author of the very good related book Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life. The foreword is excellent and the translation by George Strodach is very readable and clear.Professor Strodach also provides an extensive Introduction and learned Notes that make up the bulk of the book. Most of the actual writings of Epicurus and his students have to do with epistemology and metaphysics rather than the art of happiness, the putative subject of the book. This material is interesting - it covers such things as his theory of atoms, sensation, knowledge, and religion (with a wonderful excursion into theories of meteorology). The actual writings on how to live a good life, what we might refer to as his ethics, is a very small portion of the book.However Strodach's Introduction and Notes are scholarly and eccentrically entertaining. He offers a condemnation of religion that is very miuch like the writings of what are characterized as The New Atheism - writers such as Dawkins and Hitchens - and concludes that religion's net effect on humanity is negative. He also offers an unexpected defense of UFO's.If you are interested in the Epicurean approach to the good life, I recommend reading Klein's book instead of this one. If you are interested in reading the original source material on Epicurus for an insight into ancient Greek thought, this is an excellent textbook.

A collection of Epicurus' surviving works. Known best for his therapeutic approach to anxiety and death, the Epicurean school developed tools for the hedonistic acquisition of pleasure. A beautiful, sharp metaphysics of atomism, a materialism of contingency and difference, Epicurus demolishes the self and sends you into a charming swirl of pleasures and dispositions.

I received the book when I was supposed to, and it was exactly what I expected it to be.

I had to read this for an undergraduate course at Georgetown University. I ended up buying additional copies to give as gifts.This is one text for school I have actually re-read on my own time, and I get something new out of it each reading.Highly recommend.

First off, I would like to say that I began looking for reading material that will facilitate ideas about how best to re-frame the mind into a consistent positive outlook on everyday life. With that said, I found some intrigue into reading about epicurean philosophy and simply going with the "flow" of life, all good but this book has little of it, if you're looking to gain some enlightening insight, there are better books out there. As others have mentioned, it delves more into how atoms and/or molecules might have a basis for our actions and decisions we make on a day to day. I personally liked some ideas presented here but does not have sufficient content to quench the mind for knowledge. Real shame that, from what I perceive, is that there might have been far more elaboration into Epicurus philosophy about attaining what he called: Ataraxia(serene calmness). For those interested, its a fine book to read but if you want something more practical, you're better off looking elsewhere. My advice is look into other philosophers dealing with stoicism.

Lots of preface and introduction, it’s like half the book..