Person
Every book Donald Robertson recommended on podcasts
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Donald Robertson appears on, in one place — not just one.
Donald Robertson’s most recommended books
- Meditations by Aurelius Marcus
- On Anger by Aubrey Stewart
- The Manuscript Tradition of the Historia Augusta by Susan Helen Ballou
- Plato's Apology by Πλάτων
- Prisoners Of Hate by Aaron T. Beck
- Socrates in Love by Armand D'Angour
- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
- On Clemency by Roger L'Estrange
- On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
- The Death of Socrates by Emily R. Wilson
Donald Robertson is an author, CBT cognitive therapist, and classicist. On various podcasts, he shared his admiration for specific literary works and philosophical texts. He recommended Plato's Apology, describing it as a masterpiece that everyone should read because it takes only a couple of hours to read. Donald Robertson also discussed Armand D'Angour's Socrates in Love, noting that it provides a speculative biography offering alternative perspectives on Socrates's appearance. When discussing anger, he highlighted Aaron T. Beck's book Prisoners of Hate, written by the founder of cognitive therapy. Additionally, he mentioned Seneca's On Clemency and On Anger, comparing ancient philosophical literature with modern psychological research and discussing how Seneca attempted to improve the character of Nero. Furthermore, he touched upon Emily R. Wilson's The Case Against Socrates and I. F. Stone's The Trial of Socrates while talking about historical views of Socrates, and he referenced Jordan B. Peterson's 12 Rules for Life to contrast formulaic rules with Socratic flexibility.
Books recommended by Donald Robertson
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Meditations
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a timeless collection of personal reflections and Stoic philosophy written by the Roman emperor.
Discussed“and like in the letters to lasilius for example and his other writings you know you wouldn't really imagine that he was a Nero's right-hand man”
Where to get it
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On Anger
On Anger by Seneca is a foundational Stoic treatise that examines the psychological destruction caused by unbridled rage and offers philosophical therapy for maintaining emotional equilibrium.
Discussed“senica has an entire book called on anger you know and it's we can easily compare all of that ancient philosophical literature to what some of the psychological research says today”
Where to get it
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The Manuscript Tradition of the Historia Augusta
Discussed“we're told that there's this weird phrase that kind of bugs me up in the history Augusta that says Marcus was brought up the Therma uses in in Latin literally means in the bosom of Hadrian”
Where to get it
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Plato's Apology
Plato's Apology by Πλάτων records the philosophical defense offered by Socrates during his trial in ancient Athens.
Recommended“and you know I seldom recommend books to people funnily enough unless I know them very well but my one exception to that is that I think everybody should read Plato's apology because I think it's a Masterpiece and it only takes a couple of hours to read as an a say”
Where to get it
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Prisoners Of Hate
Prisoners Of Hate by Aaron T.
Recommended“Aaron Beck, the founder of cognitive therapy, he wrote a book called Prisoners of Hate. It's a really good book about anger.”
Where to get it
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Socrates in Love
Socrates in Love is a speculative biography exploring the life and romantic relationships of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates.
Recommended“there's a really cool book that came out recently by Armand dangu a classicist um who wrote a book called Socrates and love that I really like that's kind of speculative biography of Socrates and he claims that soes was probably not as ugly as he's made out to be”
Where to get it
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12 Rules for Life
Jordan B.
Discussed“weirdly it reminded me of something that is Maybe one of the bestselling modern self-help books which does the complet because it does the complete opposite right Jordan Peterson's 12 roles right literally consists of a set of formulaic roles yeah and not only that the forward to it valorizes the whole concept of having rigid formulaic roles to follow”
Where to get it
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On Clemency
Discussed“we have a couple of examples of those like we have on clemency for example which is this letter to nero that probably made public that kind of puts nero in something of a pedestal also tries to improve his character and teach him more clemency or mercy”
Where to get it
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On the Shortness of Life
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca is a foundational Stoic philosophical essay that examines the perception of time, mortality, and the importance of mindful attention to make every minute count.
Discussed“and uh seneca has uh we've got a stupid satire that seneca wrote called the pumpkinification of claudius that still survives today”
Where to get it
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The Death of Socrates
Discussed“So I was reading Emily Wilson's book, The Case Against Socrates, which I thought was interesting because she famously has this biography of Seneca, and they're both pretty negative.”
Where to get it
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The Discourses of Epictetus
The Discourses of Epictetus by Epictetus is an enduring classical text of Stoic philosophy that preserves the teachings and lectures of the Greek philosopher.
Discussed“the person that marx early is quotes most often is epictetus but he clearly loves epictetus and he says at the beginning that one of the biggest moments in his life was when junice rusticus gave him a copy from his personal library of the discourses of epictetus”
Where to get it
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The Trial of Socrates
Discussed“It was interesting to read a kind of Steelman case against Socrates, which is what I felt she was doing there in Stone's book, The Trial of Socrates, or something like that.”
Where to get it
Books Donald Robertson wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I think I put four times as much work into this book as I put into the proceeding like how to think like a Roman Emperor is it”
“and you know i wrote a teach yourself self-help book called stoicism in the art of of happiness like i've written a bunch of books”
“i wrote a teach yourself self-help book called stoicism in the art of of happiness”