Book Information

Book ID Asin: 0691177198
Book Title: How to Be a Friend: An Ancient Guide to True Friendship (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers)
Book Author: Marcus Tullius Cicero,Philip Freeman
Book Format and Price:
Book Format Name: Kindle
Book Format Price: $9.99
Book Format Name: Audiobook
Book Format Price: $0.00
Book Format Name: Hardcover
Book Format Price: $16.95
Book Format Name: AudioCD
Book Format Price: $19.99
Book Price: $16.95
Book Category: Books, Self-Help, Relationships and unknown
Book Rating: 101 ratings

Book Product Detail

• Best Sellers Rank: #101,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Social Philosophy
  • #196 in Greek & Roman Philosophy (Books)
  • #367 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality

• Customer Reviews:
  4.5 out of 5 stars 101 ratings

Book Review

Name: Ryan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Philosophical and Psychological Wise Words
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 7, 2018
Review: This is the first book that I have of Cicero's, and I purchased this book during a time in my life when I want to consider contemplate friendship in itself and pursue the good of healthy friendships with others. If you have have a similar intention, I don't think that you would regret reading this book.
Book Material: This hardcover book feels solid, and the font used on the pages is large enough and easy to read. On the the pages on the left of the book is the original Latin, and on the right is the English translation. I have not found any serious flaws either in the editing of the book or in the book's physical construction.
Contents: Cicero comes across as very wise and articulate. His principles of friendship and his description of his own friendship treat both the philosophical dimensions of the good of friendship and its value for the good life, as well as the psychological dimensions of what constitutes a good friendship. Cicero describes how his own good friendship became an affection, healthy friendship--as well as how other friendships that he has observed have become so--and he also describes how other friendships have gone awry. He offers advice for both situations.
For someone, like myself, who finds the social nuances of friendship somewhat unintuitive--or someone who wishes that there was an instruction manual for various important topics in life that rendered clarity on some of life's confusion--I would strongly recommend this book. I now have both this hardcover of the book and the Audible version, each of which I recommend. I will read this book more than once to absorb as much wisdom from its pages as I can.

Name: Doug F.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Still Resonates
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2020
Review: This book still speaks deeply to our need for friends and what friendship looks like. This work influenced Augustine and Aelred of Rievaulx, and both men are worthy follow ups to this work.

Name: ptw
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: It's OK
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 27, 2019
Review: It's nice to know that classical writers also would write and publish superficial self-help stuff too!

Name: M. Ahluwalia
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The best
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 30, 2019
Review: A short great read

Name: John Amador
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Virtue and Friendship
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 18, 2021
Review: This is an excellent translation Cicero's discourse upon the types of friendship, virtue and character as the foundation of true friendship and the moral obligations and the limits of the same. This classical work serves as an excellent measure by which to gage our choice and types of friendship and their respective value to us. Friendship is an excellent cornerstone upon which to build the estate of our lives and serves as a bulwark against the sea of inconstancy that we must navigate as much today as in ancient times.

Name: Mia
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Timeless advice written over 2,000 years ago
Date: Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 4, 2019
Review: "Suppose a god carried you far away to a place where you were granted an abundance of every material good nature could wish for, but denied the possibility of ever seeing a human being. Wouldn’t you have to be hard as iron to endure that sort of life? Wouldn’t you, utterly alone, lose every capacity for joy and pleasure?...If someone were to ascend into the heavens and gaze at the nature of the universe and the beauty of the stars, that very wonder would be bitter for him, which would be the most delightful of all if he had someone to tell. Nature loves nothing that is solitary, but always inclines toward some sort of support. And the sweetest support is a very dear friend."

How To Be A Friend is a remarkable, timeless treatise on the nature and value of friendship written by Marcus Tullius Cicero over 2,000 years ago. It is a heartfelt exploration of the relationships that sustain us and that we can sustain. The message here is of universal value, and I will return to it time and time again for inspiration, guidance, and reassurance.

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