Book · 2016
Ego Is the Enemy
by Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday's case for subordinating ego to craft draws 41 Reddit mentions, most from r/Stoicism, where the book is treated as a gateway to the primary sources.
What does Reddit think of Ego Is the Enemy?
r/Stoicism owns 30 of them — the book's natural home. The community treats it warmly but with caveats: the ↑107 comment that leads the upvote table praises it for pushing the reader toward actual Stoic texts while shrugging at 'some negativity' around Holiday as an author. That is the recurring r/Stoicism pattern — the book earns credit as an on-ramp, not a destination. r/selfimprovement contributes 6 mentions with the warmest sentiment of any sub, and the ↑81 comment there uses it to address a specific pathology: the habit of idealizing yourself rather than doing the work. r/getdisciplined and r/productivity each add a single mention. Sentiment overall is broadly positive. The annual mention curve peaked at 10 in 2023, fell to 5 in 2024, and has essentially gone quiet since. No sub treats this as a rigorous philosophy text, but r/Stoicism has kept it in circulation since 2019 as the most accessible popular introduction to ego-dissolution concepts.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Ego as an obstacle to craft and growth
- · Stoic philosophy applied to modern ambition
- · The distinction between aspiring and doing
- · Subordinating self-image to the work
- · Resilience through self-awareness rather than self-assertion
Common praise
- + The ↑107 r/Stoicism comment credits it for motivating deeper reading in actual Stoic primary sources — Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius.
- + r/selfimprovement's ↑81 commenter used it to break a specific habit of self-idealization, describing a concrete shift in perspective after reading it.
- + The ↑70 r/Stoicism comment on insults and ego applies the book's central argument to a practical social scenario in a way commenters find genuinely useful.
- + Appears consistently in r/selfimprovement reading lists alongside Man's Search for Meaning and The Obstacle Is the Way as the Holiday book that earns its place.
Common criticism
- − The ↑107 r/Stoicism commenter acknowledges 'some negativity' around Holiday as an author without fully accounting for it, suggesting the community knows but doesn't relitigate it in every thread.
- − At 41 mentions total, it generates fewer debates than citations — people name-drop it in reading lists more than they argue about its ideas.
- − r/Stoicism treats it as a gateway, not a destination: readers who stay with Stoicism tend to graduate away from Holiday quickly toward the primary texts.
Who it's for
Come here if you've tried reading Marcus Aurelius and bounced, and you want something that applies the ego-subordination argument to contemporary career scenarios. r/Stoicism has been using it as an entry point for seven years across 30 mentions. If you're already reading Seneca and Epictetus, there's not much here you haven't seen with better sourcing. r/selfimprovement's use case is narrower and more specific: it targets the particular problem of self-idealization as a substitute for work, and the ↑81 commenter describes it landing precisely on that problem.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Ego Is the Enemy?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“I’ve enjoyed his books (specifically trust me I’m lying and ego is the enemy), and he got me interested in learning more about Stoicism so appreciate that it pushed me to read more on it. I don’t 100% understand some of the negativity within him.
“Ego is the enemy - Ryan Holiday On shortness of life - Seneca Meditations - Marcus Aurelious Lao tzu book on taosim ( dont know english translation ) All great books and the next i want to read is " the courage to be disliked " from some japanese philosopher cant think of name rn
“This, I recently read a book called “Ego is the enemy” and it helped me get over this concept of idealising yourself. The sooner you realise absolutely no one even blinks an eyelid at you the sooner you will live happier, well that’s what I’m telling my self now anyway.
“Insults only work when the intended victim has an ego to bruise. Working on losing your ego will help blunt the impact of most, if not nearly all, insults. Not that hard to learn with practice plus, bonus, it infuriates the insulter. I found ‘Ego is the Enemy’ was a good read about this, but unde…
“Wow, I can see my past in this post, haha. Reading "Ego is the enemy" by Ryan Holiday really changed my perspective on these kind of things. I realized I had some form of social anxiety and my ego was coping and protecting itself to not get hurt. Just like these shallow, hypocritical people pro…
“Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday Your Brain on Porn - Gary Wilson Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
“Here's ten books I that are loosely about productivity, from a list I shared a few years ago. Looking at the titles, you'll see that getting stuff done is only the tip of the iceberg. The more I learn about productivity, the more I think of …
“I cannot remember if it was Seneca or Epictitus, but they speak if having a library that is well read vs. Filled with books you will never use. Master each of those books, expect it to take time, and go into the world practicing Stoicism. I have been at it a while, but it shows I still have a ways…
Convinced? Pick up Ego Is the Enemy
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Ego Is the Enemy — counted from the comments, not curated.
The Obstacle Is the Way
Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday repackages Marcus Aurelius for the self-help aisle, and r/Stoicism's 140 mentions say it mostly works as an on-ramp.
The Daily Stoic
Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday turns Stoic passages into a 366-day reading habit, and r/Stoicism's 250 mentions can't decide if that's a gateway or a ceiling.
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
The Roman emperor's private notebook — written to himself in Greek, never meant to be published — became the Stoic canon's most-cited text 1,800 years later.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie
A 1936 salesman's manual on making people like you, still showing up in r/selfimprovement threads 90 years later.
How to Be a Stoic
Massimo Pigliucci
A philosopher uses Epictetus as a conversation partner to translate Stoic practice into a secular, atheism-compatible framework for daily life.
A Guide to the Good Life
William B. Irvine
A philosophy professor stress-tests Stoic practice on his own life and hands you the manual: negative visualization, voluntary discomfort, and the trichotomy of control.
Ego Is the Enemy — frequently asked
Is Ego is the Enemy a Stoicism book or a self-help book?+
Both, and r/Stoicism has made peace with that. 30 of 41 mentions come from that sub. The ↑107 comment praises it for leading readers toward Seneca and Epictetus, which is the community's preferred endpoint. Holiday uses Stoic case studies in a self-help frame — useful if you're new to the concepts, thin if you want the philosophy itself.
What does Reddit think of Ryan Holiday as an author, based on Ego is the Enemy threads?+
Nuanced. The ↑107 r/Stoicism comment — the highest-upvoted in the dataset — explicitly mentions 'some negativity' around Holiday without fully explaining it, suggesting the community knows but doesn't want to litigate it in every thread. The book gets recommended despite the author skepticism. r/selfimprovement has no such ambivalence: the 6 mentions there are straightforwardly positive.
Should I read Ego is the Enemy before or after the Stoic primary sources?+
Before, if you haven't read any Stoicism. The ↑107 r/Stoicism comment describes a typical path: Holiday, then Marcus Aurelius, then deeper. After, if you've already read Meditations and the Letters — at that point you'll notice the simplifications. The r/Stoicism community's view, per the ↑59 thread, is that mastery of fewer books beats a stack of partially read ones.
How does Ego is the Enemy compare to The Obstacle Is the Way on Reddit?+
Both circulate in r/Stoicism, but they address different problems. The Obstacle Is the Way shows up in r/selfimprovement lists alongside Ego is the Enemy as a pair — a ↑67 r/selfimprovement comment names them together explicitly. Ego is the Enemy gets the more specific recommendation: commenters cite it when someone describes a self-idealization problem rather than an obstacle problem. The two books share an author and a shelf but get deployed differently.