Review: Meditations

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Meditations is often pitched as a serious work of philosophy. It is not. It is a collection of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, books of developing thoughts that are not necessarily meant as a clear philosophical treatise. As such, while I was disappointed in this book, I think this does have some value as a book of quotes or references, perhaps as a piece of writing with historical significance.

As a philosophical work though, I found Meditations lacking. Fundamentally, it is simply not a coherent work. It lacks clear theses, is missing motivating statements or arguments for a number of its claims, and is too quickly content to let things stand as self-evident.

In terms of the actual writing, it is repetitive and drab. Aurelius says the same thing over and over. While there are some great bits of advice, their power is weakened by the fact that I had to encounter each of them so many times with only minor changes in flavour (if that). Since this is not a structured work, the advice is difficult to classify or work with. It's just not enjoyable to read beyond certain diamond needles hidden in a giant haystack.

I did not enjoy the experience of reading this. It was dull and dragged on. I felt relief when I turned to the last page. I think the advice here is worth at least considering, but it's probably better to read a summary of it from someone who has put in the work to edit this into something with a more defined shape.

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