Why I bought it

Okay, the truth on this one is that I was listening to a podcast and they were discussing books to read after breakups. And of the two they suggested this was the one I chose. There really isn’t much more to it than that I knew of the book but it kind of gave me the push I needed to purchase it.

My thoughts

The book goes through many areas of our lives in which stoic philosophy can be utilised. There are multiple examples of historic figures using such philosophy to be incredibly successful and go on to have immense political careers in which they were highly successful. We’re talking about Marcus Aurelius, we’re talking about Seneca, we’re talking individuals who were seen as some of the greatest philosophers. Every single one of them realised that the only way to progress develop grow was to look at the obstacles in front of you and work out a way around them, to see them as something which meant that you had to utilise your own intelligence to be better than you were. There are texts within this book that you can utilise in your everyday life. There isn’t too much to say about the book because I would say you have to read it to truly understand it however one thing that I would say is that what we’re all very good at is dishing out advice but we aren’t very good at taking our own advice. This book exaggerates that fact but not just exaggerates it it makes us understand it. How I like to look at things now due to reading this is when I find an obstacle in my way to kind of sit above myself or as some people would say take that helicopter and look down on yourself and say what advice would you give somebody in your position before moving forward.

Everyone has obstacles in their lives even knows who you see is ridiculously successful who think they haven’t got anything sat in front of him stopping him from moving further but if reality is we all do. The obstacle is the way tells us this is the case but explains it in a manner that is easy to understand and I found it incredibly entertaining to read half the book in 2 to 3 hours maybe.

Who this is for?

The book is for everyone it’s incredibly interesting and it will lead you to read other books it’s easy to read is easy to understand again I can’t say too much because I just feel you have to read it to get your own view on the book. This in itself is pretty clever because it just means more book sales. But really there are so many good examples there’s so much inspiration and it will change the way you think. So in short everyone should buy it or at least borrow it from a friend or take it from a library, one of them.

Where to buy

Any good bookshop, or online store, will stock The Obstacle is The Way. It’s published by Profile Books ISBN 978-1781251492

Links

For more books, check out the Elusive Book List on Amazon but it will shortly be on our new website. We will of course, review more of these in time, but any questions feel free to drop us an email at bookclub@elusivegroup.co.uk or ask it directly on our Book Group.

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