Reviews and Comments

This is a beautiful modern translation of Epictetus' Enchiridion with the addition of selected Discourses passages. The Enchiridion is one of my most influential books, so I cannot give it a worse rating.

I consider Massimo Pigliucci one of my "spiritual" teachers. His books, in fact, helped me achieve a better grasp of myself and sparked my love for ancient philosophy. Moreover, I am also a paid subscriber of his Substack, so this review may be a bit biased.

However, The Quest for Character is a book that tries to answer a very pressing question: how can we get better leaders?

I am fascinated by politics and, as probably many, I am increasingly worried and depressed by the abysmal level of modern political landscape. This book echoes my feelings and try to use the lens of philosophy to analyze the relationship between ethos and effective leadership.

As I said, it tries. Because, as for all complex problems, there is no unique and easy solution. Somebody, may find frustrating that, in the end, the book shows how each one of us carries an individual responsibility into shaping the next generation of leaders. It may seem discouraging but, after all, our actions and behaviors are ultimately the only thing we can control.

Nevertheless, the book left me with some actionable insight, some new readings and a bit of optimism.