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Books Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Verissimus

Reviews of Verissimus

Our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, was published by St. Martin’s on 12th July. There are lots of early reviews of Verissimus already on Goodreads. This post contains a video review by Greg Sadler and links to various other reviews by bloggers. (If I’ve missed one, post it in the comments section below please!)

  • Casey Douglas: “The imagery brings the life of Marcus, and various elements of Stoic philosophy, into a rich and vibrant level of clarity, and it does this in a way that’s as enjoyable as it is educational.”
  • What is Stoicism?: “The great thing about Verissimus is that it’s accessible to people of all levels of expertise. Not only will it introduce Stoicism to a new audience, but it will also help reinforce key details and concepts for those already familiar.”
  • Enda Harte: “Donald and his small team have crafted a well thought out, thoroughly researched, and cleverly illustrated piece of work for anyone to pick up on any given weekend, and digest to their heart’s content.”
  • Bob Cymber, the Stoic Coach: “I would come to appreciate the Stoic philosophy of Marcus Aurelius even more than I thought possible.”
  • Nancy Famolari: “It is also a delight to read. If you’re interested in Roman history, or Stoic philosophy, I highly recommend this book.”
  • Jamie Ryder at Stoic Athenaeum: “Donald Robertson’s Verissimus is an ideal story for making Stoicism fun for a new generation.”
  • Chuck Chakrapani in the Stoic Gym: “Donald Robertson and Ze Nuno Fraga have done a masterful job of bringing the dead Emperor to life. By interweaving Marcus’s philosophy with his life, they have made Stoicism come alive.”

There was also a more critical review in Publisher’s Weekly: the reviewer thought the story packed in too much history and philosophy.

You may also be interested in this Medium article on How I wrote Verissimus, or the interview I did for The Comic Vault. You can preview a sample 30 pages including artwork from Verissimus on Google Books.

Endorsements from Other Authors

  • “Donald Robertson is one of my favorite writers about Stoicism.” – Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author and founder of The Daily Stoic
  • “A superb graphic novel that provides stunning insights into one of the most interesting figures of antiquity, as well as into the philosophy that guided him throughout his life.” — Massimo Pigliucci, author of How to Be a Stoic
  • “Whether you’re new to Marcus Aurelius or already know him as a friend and guide, this graphic novel will open your eyes… Author and artist have found… a brilliant combination of entertainment and education.” – Robin Waterfield, translator of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus
  • “Verissimus represents the vanguard of the next phase of the ongoing Stoic renaissance.” – William B. Irvine, author of A Guide to the Good Life
  • “A remarkable work that is awesome in its conception and execution.” – Karen Duffy, author of Backbone: Living with Chronic Pain without Turning into One and Wise Up
  • “This is a wonderful and engaging introduction to the life and thought of Marcus Aurelius… It’s the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn more about the man behind the Meditations.” – John Sellars, author of Lessons in Stoicism
  • “Donald Robertson continues to be my teacher when it comes to the depth of Stoicism… Invaluable!” – Mo Gawdat, author of Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy.
Verissimus Cover
Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Verissimus

Out Now – Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

We’re delighted to announce that our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, is now available from all good bookstores! You can read the advance reviews on Goodreads.

Comments from Other Authors

  • “Donald Robertson is one of my favorite writers about Stoicism.” – Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author and founder of The Daily Stoic
  • “A superb graphic novel that provides stunning insights into one of the most interesting figures of antiquity, as well as into the philosophy that guided him throughout his life.” — Massimo Pigliucci, author of How to Be a Stoic
  • “Whether you’re new to Marcus Aurelius or already know him as a friend and guide, this graphic novel will open your eyes… Author and artist have found… a brilliant combination of entertainment and education.” – Robin Waterfield, translator of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus
  • “Verissimus represents the vanguard of the next phase of the ongoing Stoic renaissance.” – William B. Irvine, author of A Guide to the Good Life
  • “A remarkable work that is awesome in its conception and execution.” – Karen Duffy, author of Backbone and Wise Up
  • “This is a wonderful and engaging introduction to the life and thought of Marcus Aurelius… It’s the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn more about the man behind the Meditations.” – John Sellars, author of Lessons in Stoicism
  • “Donald Robertson continues to be my teacher when it comes to the depth of Stoicism… Invaluable!”– Mo Gawdat, author of Solve for Happy
Verissimus Front Cover
Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Verissimus

Out Now: Verissimus the Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

We are delighted to announce that our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, is now available from all good bookstores! It was published on 12th July by Macmillan. You can read lots of advance reviews on Goodreads. You’ll so other reviewers posting their thoughts on social media.

Verissimus was Amazon Editors pick for Best History book in July 2022, and #1 in new releases for Greek and Roman Philosophy. It’s available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, and most other online booksellers.

Verissimus Front Cover

Some comments from other authors…

  • “Donald Robertson is one of my favorite writers about Stoicism.” – Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author and founder of The Daily Stoic
  • “A superb graphic novel that provides stunning insights into one of the most interesting figures of antiquity, as well as into the philosophy that guided him throughout his life.” — Massimo Pigliucci, author of How to Be a Stoic
  • “Whether you’re new to Marcus Aurelius or already know him as a friend and guide, this graphic novel will open your eyes… Author and artist have found… a brilliant combination of entertainment and education.” – Robin Waterfield, translator of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus
  • “Verissimus represents the vanguard of the next phase of the ongoing Stoic renaissance.” – William B. Irvine, author of A Guide to the Good Life
  • “A remarkable work that is awesome in its conception and execution.” – Karen Duffy, author of Backbone: Living with Chronic Pain without Turning into One [and forthcoming book on Epictetus]
  • “This is a wonderful and engaging introduction to the life and thought of Marcus Aurelius… It’s the perfect book for anyone who wants to learn more about the man behind the Meditations.” – John Sellars, author of Lessons in Stoicism
  • “Donald Robertson continues to be my teacher when it comes to the depth of Stoicism… Invaluable!”– Mo Gawdat, author of Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy.
Verissimus Cover
Categories
Marcus Aurelius Stoicism Verissimus

Stoicism and Anger

Ten Practical Tips from Marcus Aurelius

Artwork from Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (2022), copyright Donald J. Robertson

What does Stoic philosophy tell us about how to control our tempers? When we began working on our graphic novel, Verissimus, the illustrator, Zé Nuno Fraga, and I decided to show how colourful and action-packed Marcus Aurelius’ life really was. We also liked the idea, however, of leaving our readers with a good amount of practical advice from Stoicism, which they could take away and use to help themselves and others.

I chose to focus on Stoic advice about anger — the royal road to self-improvement.

I chose to focus on Stoic advice about anger — the royal road to self-improvement. We know that this was a problem for Marcus because he tells us in the Meditations that he struggled, at first, to master his own temper. Later in life, Marcus had a reputation for remaining completely level-headed, even in the face of extreme provocation. So it appears that he succeeded in using Stoicism to master his natural quick temper. He did this by employing Stoic psychological practices, over and over again, on a daily basis. I can see parallels between many of these strategies and those employed in modern cognitive therapy. So I think that, with practice, they may help the rest of us cope with our feelings of anger too.

It was one of the men who provoked Marcus’ temper the most, ironically, who also taught him how to restore calm and rebuild friendships after an argument — his Stoic mentor, Junius Rusticus. We therefore speculated, in our illustrations, that it could have been Rusticus who taught Marcus the ten anger-management strategies he describes using in the Meditations (11.18). Marcus, curiously, refers to these as ten “gifts” from the god Apollo, and his nine Muses. Apollo, Lord of the Muses, was the god of the arts, including the arts of medicine and, in a sense, also philosophy. It’s perhaps fitting, therefore, that Marcus would call these therapeutic strategies, or self-help tips, gifts from the god of healing.

Draft for Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (2022), copyright Donald J. Robertson.

Marcus describes things he should tell himself whenever he noticed he was growing annoyed with someone. I would call these cognitive (thinking) strategies for anger-management. In this article, I’ll discuss each of his ten strategies in turn, adding a few comments, here and there, from my perspective as a cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist.

Read the rest of this article on Medium…

Categories
Marcus Aurelius Podcasts Stoicism Videos

Video: Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom Show

Video of a recent interview I did about Stoicism for Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom podcast.

Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Get our Guide to Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism

Please feel free to download and share with your friends. This unique PDF guide was written by me, Donald Robertson, with stunning artwork by our award-winning illustrator Zé Nuno Fraga and graphic designer Rocio de Torres. It provides the perfect introduction to the world of Marcus Aurelius as depicted in our new graphic novel Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, which you can order now from all good bookstores.


People often ask for a simple introduction to the life and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, so we created one especially for you! This booklet draws on research conducted for several books I’ve written or edited about Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism.

  • How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (St. Martins)
  • Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (St. Martins)
  • Marcus Aurelius: Ancient Lives (Yale)
  • Meditations: The Philosophy Classic (Capstone)

This printable PDF document will give you a good overview of the life of Marcus Aurelius, the times in which he lived and characters who influenced him, as well as the Stoic concepts and practices that shaped his life. As well as key information on Marcus Aurelius and Stoic philosophy, it contains comic book illustrations, genealogical diagrams, study questions, important quotations, and recommended reading.

If you’re a teacher, we’re confident you’ll find this booklet useful as a classroom aid. If you’re just interested in learning more about Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism, it’s a great place to begin before starting to read the classics.

Contents

  1. The Stoic Goal of Life
  2. Three Stoic Practices
  3. Who were the Stoics?
  4. Who was Marcus Aurelius?
  5. The Imperial Succession
  6. Marcus’ Friends
  7. Marcus’ Enemies
  8. Questions, Quotes, and Reading
  9. About the Graphic Novel

If you’re completely new to Stoicism, it’s a good place to start. However, we can’t compress the whole philosophy into a few pages, it’s just a summary, so you will need to read the Stoics to gain a more complete understanding of their concepts and techniques.

If you enjoyed this free guide, please check out our new graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.

Verissimus Front Cover
Categories
Books Marcus Aurelius Philosophy of CBT Stoicism

Japanese Translation of The Philosophy of CBT

I’m honoured to announce that the Japanese translation of my book The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy is now available from Kongo Shuppan. Shota Fuji, the translator, and his colleagues, have worked hard to create this book, under the supervision of Dr. Kaito Towhata. Another of my books, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, is currently available in Japanese, from CCC Media House.

Below is an interview I did with Echan Deravy, who was kind enough to translate the entire thing into Japanese.

The Japanese translation of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, with cover design by manga artist Mari Yamazaki (Twitter).

Japanese_Cover_Roman_Emperor
Categories
Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Stoicism Web Comics

Below you can read three sample web comics about the Stoic philosophy of Marcus Aurelius that I created with award-winning illustrator Zé Nuno Fraga. Each one links a passage in the Meditations with one of Aesop’s Fables. (Marcus mentions the Town Mouse fable in the Meditations.)

These web comics led to a much bigger project, our graphic novel Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, available now from all good bookstores. See our publisher, St. Martin’s website for details of special offers available if you preorder.

Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

You can click on the web comic images to open them in a new window and should then be able to download them or zoom using your browser.

Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Sample Pages from Verissimus

Flipping through the pages of Verissimus

These are photos of the final print version of Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, our graphic novel, which is due for publication by St. Martin’s Press on 14th June in hardback and ebook formats. See the preorder promotion page for special offers if you order now.

Categories
Books Comics Marcus Aurelius Stoicism

Verissimus, the graphic novel

A superb graphic novel that provides stunning insights into one of the most interesting figures of antiquity, as well as into the philosophy that guided him throughout his life.

Massimo Pigliucci, author of How to Be a Stoic
Verissimus Cover Lightning

More info on where to order Verissimus is available from Macmillan, the publisher’s website. Also see listings in Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Comic stores can order Verissimus from the Diamond Previews World catalogue. Follow our Verissimus Facebook and Instagram pages for updates. Please contact us for podcast interviews and media requests.

About the Author

Donald Robertson is one of my favorite writers about Stoicism.

Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author and founder of The Daily Stoic

Donald Robertson is a cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, who lives in Canada and Greece. He is the author of six books on philosophy and psychotherapy. His bestselling self-help book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor has been translated into eighteen languages.

Zé Nuno Fraga, who created the artwork, is an award-winning illustrator from Portugal. Kasey Pierce, who advised on the content, is an award-winning author and comic book editor.

Preorder Promotion

St. Martin’s are currently running a preorder promotion that means anyone buying Verissimus may be eligible for three different prizes.

Marcus and Commodus Verissimus

Sample Articles and Interviews

Donald has appeared on over 100 podcasts.

Japanese cover for How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by award-winning manga artist Mari Yamazaki.