The Obstacle Is The Way: The Ancient Art Of Turning Adversity To Advantage By Ryan Holiday

One of the best books I have read, changed my life for the best. Thank you Ryan. I now buy this book as a birthday present or any other tenuous reason for friends to spread the word

Guidance on thriving regardless of what's going on. This book is going to be a must give to anyone I know. I like to buy books and give them out when I believe there's an essential message that can make life better for everyone and anyon. This book is one of them. Easy to read. Not preachy. Practical and well written.This book is like an operating system for a human being in the world. It expresses ideas clearly and guides the individual easily to bettering their experience. The world isn't fair. Life can be overwhelming. Living can be a struggle. This book doesn't sugarcoat reality but it offers tools that help navigate reality. Yes there are other books on stoicism, but this book is so easy to read, never boring, and clarifies the message for practical and immediate application for everyone and anyone. Will it change your experience of life? Maybe. Can you change your experience of life? Absolutely.

I just finished reading this book. I will be reading it again and again, I can tell. The message is so positive and beautifully realistic. This book isn't based on that false positivism that doesn't help you deal with life's many tsunamis. I have recommended it to my best friends. It really gives you a sense of resilience, courage and moving forward. My only critical comment is that it would be so much more inspiring for women to read more stories of women living courageous lives too. Hopefully, this book will see future new editions and that point can be balanced out better.

Ryan Holiday is a good writer with a lot of compelling points in this book. I generally enjoyed reading it.I do think there's a significant mistake made, over and over, which is his tiring usages of poor examples to illustrate points. Some of the people referenced for making the obstacle their way are arguably morally and ethically bad examples, and not people we should admire or emulate wholesale. This isn't considered at all in the book, even when the truth has implications pertaining directly to the book's subject.Similarly, many logical fallacies occur throughout the book, to such a distracting degree that I had to make the decision to finish the book despite that, and to interpret Ryan's words based on intention rather than actual meaning. There are many points which seem driven by appeals to popularity or seemingly narrative-driven "truths".Although I appreciate philosophy a lot - especially stoic philosophy - I feel as though Ryan has fallen short here and not really done justice to the philosophy. It feels very digestible and accessible, but perhaps for the wrong reasons.Despite that, I think the driving message is clear: The obstacle is the way. Maybe his way of explaining why that's true doesn't jive with me, but I believe it's a good message to put out there, and the book is still well written.

If you're too busy to be reading about biographies and books on stoicism, then this will be a delight for you. Ryan Holiday does all the painstaking research with connecting stoicism to different biographies and presenting the information in an extremely practical way. Reading this book, you will come away with so much knowledge on using stoic principles. There is a reason why this book is popular with athletes across different professional league-google The Obstacle Is The Way and Patriots-and you will see that this book will be helpful for whatever your pursuit is.However, I do recommend you read all the stoic books available to truly understand and integrate the stoic principles in your life. But if you're not interested, then Ryan Holiday's books will be perfect for you.Check out my YouTube channel @The Philosophical Tyrant