Comments on: 60 in 60: #1 – Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life (Penguin’s Great Ideas)

By: Miguel Mayher

Miguel Mayher — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:55:15 +0000

Great post Jeff, first time reader and not last time.

I find amazing how relatable Seneca is to these days, regardless of a couple of millenia that seperate him from us. The reason why his writings are still as alive as when he first wrote them is the atemporality of his themes, and how he digs them to its core.

Thanks for your succint summary and relevant comments.

Life is indeed neither long nor short, for what measure stick to compare could you use?

You are given what you are given. And that should be enough to be grateful for.

By: Lucius Seneca Advises the Earnest « What’s Going On Between 1 and 0?

Lucius Seneca Advises the Earnest « What’s Going On Between 1 and 0? — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:29:53 +0000

[...] with credit to Jeff VanderMeer and his 60 books in 60 days project] Posted by alphabitomega Filed in [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:34:07 +0000

I love this series and Seneca is one of my favs from it.

By: Jim Bullock

Jim Bullock — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:31:08 +0000

“If alive today, Seneca would not have wasted time googling himself.”

That’s gold. And “wasted your life”, has two answers. I’ve done a lot of dumb stuff in hindsight. In the moment, nearly all the time I’m doing the best I know how to do at that time. So, any “waste” is ignorance vs. intention, incomplete information about the world vs. disengagement with it or myself.

Seneca I suspect would get that distinction.

By: Ranking the Classics: Week One of the 60 in 60, with Seneca in the Lead | Appml

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:45:36 +0000

[...] – Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life: Succinct, readable, still relevant, and often profound. Available in the Great Ideas edition or [...]

By: Bill Ectric

Bill Ectric — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:49:06 +0000

Sir Tessa, I see on your blog that you’re a “writer wannabe.”
Take the advice of a grizzled old codger . . .

well, I shouldn’t talk about Jeff that way . . .

hehehe

By: Sir Tessa

Sir Tessa — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:41:56 +0000

I think I’m still too young to have had a chance to properly waste my life. There are plenty of things I wish I could say I’ve done, and when I compare the events of my life to others my age I occasionally get the moment of “I am a saaaaad panda”…but then, I’m not living their life, I’m living mine, and the only person who has any right to judge whether or not my time is wasted is me, and I don’t feel wasted.

I like “validation of individual sovereignty”. I suspect I’m guilty of pursuing it.

Later, I may judge my life wasted. There are some areas of time I consider wasted, but then I look at the person I was then, where my head was at, and I understand that that was all I could do then, and that can’t be changed – I’m the product of past decisions, be they waste or meaningful. There is no wrong or right way to live, however, and when I’m dead there will be no consciousness left to indulge in regret.

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:01:40 +0000

This is true, Magess. Two posts I did last year led to book deals, oddly enough. Both were kinda throw-aways at the time. But I know what you mean, because I’ve met so many creators and possible collaborators through this medium.

By: Magess

Magess — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:25:00 +0000

Jeff: If that means making the most of what you have and trying to improve upon it for the sake of mastery, then I guess I could count myself successful, which is an interesting thought.

The Internet is made for squandering time. But that doesn’t always mean nothing comes of it.

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:17:09 +0000

I’ll do my best. Should have more time in a few days, as the semester ends on Friday. Some of the works I’m familiar with, others I’m not at all. Seneca is an author I know only via excerpts and others’ commentaries, alas. Would buy the entire set if it were affordable.