Breakfast with Seneca: A Stoic Guide to the Art of Living

You’ll feel as if you’re joining David Fideler to breakfast with Seneca while discussing his philosophical letters. It’s a great introduction to both Seneca and Stoicism, and will even help those already familiar with these writings to gain more benefit from them.

— Donald Robertson, author of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor

This book is the perfect antidote to the commercialism and superficial values of modern times. Although Seneca was living two thousand years ago, he speaks directly to us today. David Fideler breaks Seneca’s teachings down into easily comprehensible chunks and is concerned throughout to stress the practical, therapeutic aspects: how to deal with grief; how to be in the present moment; how to live a good life whatever the circumstances. He channels Seneca without distortion and makes him accessible to the twenty-first-century reader.

— Robin Waterfield, translator of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus

What the world needs now, more than ever, is fellow feeling, authentic community, and artful living. But how to achieve this tall order? David Fideler applies the wisdom of Seneca to show us the way. A feast for the soul and spirit, those who absorb the lessons in Breakfast with Seneca will embark on a life more worth living, liberating their minds and hearts and setting an inspirational stage for generations to come.

— Christopher Phillips, PhD, author of Socrates Café

I have lately noticed that when I find myself in a tight spot, I take a philosophical short-cut and simply ask, “What would Seneca do?” David Fideler’s wonderful Breakfast with Seneca will come in handy in such situations. Besides being an accessible introduction to Stoic practice and to the Stoic philosophy in general, the book is full of advice from Seneca, often in his own words, on how to cope with life’s challenges.

— William B. Irvine, author of A Guide to the Good LIfe and The Stoic Challenge

This is a fine guide to Seneca, Stoicism, and what it means to live a Stoic life. As David Fideler unquestionably shows, Seneca’s advice is a relevant and useful today as it was when it was first written almost two thousand years ago. Highly readable, Breakfast with Seneca not only explains key Stoic ideas but also shows how to incorporate them into one’s own life.

— John Sellars, author of Lessons in Stoicism

What can we possibly learn from a sickly, two-thousand-year-old Roman philosopher? Quite a lot, it turns out, as David Fideler demonstrates so convincingly in Breakfast with Seneca. Seneca is the Stoic philosopher everyone has heard of, sort of, but few really know. Fideler enlightens us, and in a wonderfully simple and honest style that mirrors that of his subject. This is a rare gem of a book: simultaneously comforting and challenging, edifying and entertaining. Reading Breakfast with Seneca is like sitting down for a good cup of coffee with a wise and compassionate friend.

— Eric Weiner, author of The Socrates Express

Ancient Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca was “a profound thinker who possessed a much deeper and more satisfying vision of human life than we are encouraged to hold by society today,” writes David Fideler in this comprehensive guide to the philosopher’s ideas. . . . [He] breaks down the eight core teachings of Stoicism, which include living in agreement with nature and accepting virtue as the only true good, and then digs into Seneca’s approach specifically. . . . Fideler keeps things accessible and offers plenty of real-world examples for applying philosophy to one’s life, making for a great crash course.

— Publishers Weekly