I thought this might inspire me to some worthwhile New Year's resolutions, but "don't be repetitive to the point of enormous tedium" probably isn't going to make my list to be honest.

There are several hundred meditations here, but I wonder whether Marcus Aurelius had late-stage Alzheimer's or something, because actually there are only about 8 different thoughts, which are repeated in one form or another ad nauseum. And even among those, a couple are of no use to an atheist, and a couple more are of no use to someone living in the present day (it might have made sense to talk about focusing on the work one was intended for way back in AD 15th of April, or whatever, when everyone was either an emperor or a scholar or a craftsman of some kind, but in today's world of office jobs and menial labour the idea doesn't really appeal).

I have to wonder why on earth this made number 2 on Penguin's list of Great Ideas. My recommendation to you is: put it much, much further down your list of "must reads".

Favorite quote: a man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.