# How to Have a Life: An Ancient Guide to Using Our Time Wisely - Hardcover

by **Seneca** (Author), **James S. Romm** (Editor)

**A vibrant new translation of Seneca's "On the Shortness of Life," a pointed reminder to make the most of our time**

Who doesn't worry sometimes that smart phones, the Internet, and TV are robbing us of time and preventing us from having a life? How can we make the most of our time on earth? In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger offered one of the most famous answers to that question in his essay "On the Shortness of Life"--a work that has more to teach us today than ever before. In _How to Have a Life_, James Romm presents a vibrant new translation of Seneca's brilliant essay, plus two Senecan letters on the same theme, complete with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction.

With devastating satiric wit, skillfully captured in this translation, Seneca lampoons the ways we squander our time and fail to realize how precious it is. We don't allow people to steal our money, yet we allow them to plunder our time, or else we give it away ourselves in useless, idle pursuits. Seneca also describes how we can make better use of our brief days and years. In the process, he argues, we can make our lives longer, or even everlasting, because to live a _real_ life is to attain a kind of immortality.

A counterweight to the time-sucking distractions of the modern world, _How to Have a Life_ offers priceless wisdom about making our time--and our lives--count.

### Author Biography

**James S. Romm** is an author, a book reviewer, and the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College. He is the editor and translator of Seneca's _How to Give, How to Keep Your Cool_, and _How to Die_ (all Princeton), and the author of _Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero_. His reviews and essays have appeared in the _Wall Street Journal_, the _London Review of Books_, the _Daily Beast_, and other publications. He lives in Barrytown, New York.

**Number of Pages:** 200

**Dimensions:** 0.8 x 6.9 x 4.6 IN

**Publication Date:** October 18, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 18.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 18.95 USD | In stock |

## Images

- How to Have a Life: An Ancient Guide to Using Our Time Wisely - Hardcover

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