User Profile

avatar for Jullan

Jullan

Jullan@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 9 months ago

I'm a Northern Sami guy living in Norway. M. Sc. in Applied Physics and Mathematics at NTNU. I am particularly interested in Stoicism and greco-roman philosophy in general.

You can also find me on Mastodon

Follow on Fediverse

This link opens in a pop-up window

Jullan's books

To Read (View all 18)

Bessel van der Kolk, Bessel A. Van Der Kolk: The Body Keeps the Score (2014, Viking)
Cal Newport: Deep Work (Paperback, 2016, Little, Brown Book Group)
Albert Camus: The Stranger (Paperback, 1989, Vintage)

Currently Reading (View all 5)

Titus Lucretius Carus, Richard Jenkyns, A. E. Stallings, Coralie Bickford-Smith, Lucretius, A. E. Stallings, Richard Jenkyns, Coralie Bickford-Smith: The Nature of Things (Hardcover, 2015, Penguin Classics)
Donald Robertson, Zé Nuno Fraga: Verissimus (Hardcover, 2022, St. Martin's Press)
Adam Shatz: Prophets Outcast (Paperback, 2004, Nation Books)

Read (View all 27)

Cicero, James Edward King: Tusculan Disputations (Hardcover, 1927, MA: Harvard University Press)
Epictetus, William Abbott Oldfather: Discourses, Books 1-2 (Hardcover, 1924, Harvard University Press)
No cover

Benjamin Jowett, Plato: Apology (2019, Independently Published)

2024 Reading Goal

6% complete! Jullan has read 1 of 15 books.

User Activity

RSS feed Back

reviewed Beyond the Individual by Will Johncock

Will Johncock: Beyond the Individual (Hardcover, 2023, Pickwick Publications) 5 stars

Do you believe you think independently? Do you alone control your actions? Stoic philosophy asserts …

"It is high time now for you to understand the universe of which you are a part"

5 stars

A very welcome book in an age where most popular Stoicism-oriented self-help books heavily lean only into an egoistic improvement of the individual and "life hacks", while ignoring the crucially social and universal foundation of the philosophy. It also manages to be both academically relevant and accessible in its language. Would recommend for anyone who has had modest exposure to ancient Stoic texts.

reviewed How to Tell a Joke by Cicero (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers, #16)

Cicero, Michael Fontaine, Quintilian: How to Tell a Joke (Hardcover, 2021, Princeton University Press) 4 stars

Timeless advice about how to use humor to win over any audience

Can jokes win …

A good translation and many good jokes and quips

4 stars

I liked this one. It includes translations of segments from Cicero's work "On the Ideal Orator" and Quintilian's "The Education of the Orator". The overall theme is the question of whether humor be taught or is it a skill one is born with. Both texts strive at great lengths to categorize jokes and helpfully provide examples with them.

An excellent quality of this work, as if often the case with Cicero's works, is the sheer amount of examples provided. There is an unfortunate overlap of themes and jokes in between Cicero's and Quintilian's texts, where the latter often references the former. But I feel like Quintilian goes more in depth into the discussion of the topics than Cicero, even if Cicero does have a good structure in his text.

In regards to the translation Michael Fontaine, the translator/annotator, put it best: "Styles of translation vary. Some are literal, others go …

finished reading Essays by Plutarch (Penguin Classics)

Plutarch, Ian Kidd, Robin Waterfield: Essays (Paperback, 1993, Penguin Classics) No rating

Selections from one of the greatest essayists of the Graeco-Roman world

Plutarch used an encyclopedic …

Great assortment of moral essays by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield. Introductions were done by Ian Kidd. Didn't read every essay, but I'll say I'm finished with this one for now. I'll leave a list of the essays in question here for the sake of bookkeeping: - On Listening - How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend - On Being Aware of Moral Progress - Whether Military or Intellectual Exploits Have Brought Athens More Fame (unread) - On the Avoidance of Anger - On Contentment - On God's Slowness to Punish (unread) - On Socrates' Personal Deity (unread) - In Consolation to his Wife - On the use of Reason by 'Irrational' Animals (unread)

quoted Essays by Plutarch (Penguin Classics)

Plutarch, Ian Kidd, Robin Waterfield: Essays (Paperback, 1993, Penguin Classics) No rating

Selections from one of the greatest essayists of the Graeco-Roman world

Plutarch used an encyclopedic …

Since both the benefits and the dangers inherent in listening are equally great for young people, I am of the opinion that listening ought to be a constant topic of discussion in one's own mind and with other people. This is especially so because it is noticeable that most people go about the matter in the wrong way: they practise speaking before they have got used to listening, and they think that speaking takes study and care, but benefit will accrue from even a careless approach to listening. It may be the case that in ball games learning to throw and learning to catch the ball are simultaneous, but in dealing with speech proper receptivity is prior to delivery, just as conception and pregnancy precede the birth of viable offspring.

— Essays by , , (Penguin Classics) (Page 29)

One reason why I will always enjoy reading ancient hellenistic philosophy is realizing how remarkably relevant their discussions on moral subjects still are today. Our technology may have evolved much further since their time, but our human nature most certainly has not.