Becoming Stoic
Season · IV
Week · VII · of · XII
A free Stoic reading club for Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
A passage due every Sunday. An essay every Tuesday. A recorded discussion every Friday. Start mid-season — the archive stays open.
Read deeply. Practice daily. Become stoic.
What this is
Becoming Stoic is a publication and a real reading club, run in public and free. Each season spends twelve weeks on one primary text — Season Four is Meditations — with the source texts kept open alongside the writing.
Most people meet these books as quotations. Reading twenty pages a week, in order, with other people, produces a different relationship to the work than a list of aphorisms does.
How a week works
- Sunday
- ~20 pages of the primary text are due.
- Tuesday
- An essay on the week's passage is published.
- Friday
- A recorded discussion goes up — live call optional.
This week's reading
Due Sunday
Book
IV
§ I–XVII
Meditations · Book IV
The chapter where Marcus stops advising anyone else and starts arguing with himself. Twenty-two pages. Read by Sunday.
Season progress
Late to the season? Start anywhere. Every past week stays open and the recordings don't expire.
“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
Recent essays
All essaysCXLVIII · Book IV · Close reading · Aug 4 · 9 min
CXLVIII
Book IV · Close reading
Marcus Aurelius never meant for you to read this
A private notebook became the most quoted book on leadership. Something was lost in that promotion, and it's the part that makes it worth reading.
Aug 4 · 9 min
Aug 4 9 min
CXLVII · Book III · Practice · Jul 28 · 6 min
CXLVII
Book III · Practice
The discipline of assent, without the jargon
Epictetus asks you to do one thing before you react. The vocabulary is forbidding; the instruction is not.
Jul 28 · 6 min
Jul 28 6 min
CXLVI · Book II · Objections · Jul 21 · 11 min
CXLVI
Book II · Objections
Is Stoicism just emotional suppression in a toga?
The most common criticism is also the most useful one. It is worth taking seriously before answering it.
Jul 21 · 11 min
Jul 21 11 min
Who writes it
The close-reading series and the Friday discussions are led by Daniel Okrent. The objections series is written by Priya Raghunathan, whose job is to argue that the week's essay is wrong.
Common questions
What is Becoming Stoic?
A publication and a real reading club. Each season runs twelve weeks on one primary text — right now Marcus Aurelius's Meditations — with a passage due every Sunday, an essay every Tuesday, and a recorded discussion every Friday.
Is it free? What's the catch?
Nothing to pay. The translations we read most closely are in copyright and we tell you which edition to buy, but every text we publish here is public domain, and every recording stays up.
Do I need prior Stoicism or prior reading?
No. Book I assumes nothing, and every essay gives the context you need to follow the week's passage.
Which Meditations translation?
Hays if you're buying one. Or read Long free in the library.
Can I join mid-season or catch up?
Yes. Start anywhere — every past week stays open and the recordings don't expire. People finish Season One all the time.
Do I have to attend live calls?
Most people never do. Every call is recorded and posted Saturday.
Stoic Book Club vs Becoming Stoic?
Same club. Becoming Stoic is the public name; the older working title was Stoic Book Club.
Every Tuesday
The Tuesday letter
The week's passage, the essay, and one question to sit with.