{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "kind": "BooksRedditRecommendationReceipt",
  "id": "booksreddit:recommendation-receipt:meditations-marcus-aurelius",
  "book": {
    "slug": "meditations-marcus-aurelius",
    "title": "Meditations",
    "author": "Marcus Aurelius",
    "authors": [
      "Marcus Aurelius"
    ],
    "first_published": 180
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://booksreddit.com/book/meditations-marcus-aurelius/",
  "receipt_anchor_url": "https://booksreddit.com/book/meditations-marcus-aurelius/#recommendation-receipt",
  "evidence_urls": {
    "json": "https://booksreddit.com/evidence/meditations-marcus-aurelius.json",
    "markdown": "https://booksreddit.com/evidence/meditations-marcus-aurelius.md"
  },
  "consensus": "1,223 mentions across six subreddits, 916 unique commenters. r/Stoicism carries 1,000 of them, which tells you where this book lives and who its audience actually is. The sentiment is broadly positive overall, though the sub breakdown reveals a gap: r/selfimprovement runs warm (57 mentions), r/askphilosophy stays neutral (78 mentions), r/philosophy sits measured at 60.",
  "read_if": "Read it if you want philosophy that was never meant to be philosophy — Marcus wrote it to himself, which is why it doesn't perform. r/Stoicism's 1,000 mentions over seven years make it effectively required in that community; if you're already in those threads, you've been told to read it. The CBT lineage documented in r/philosophy makes it worth the time even for readers skeptical of ancient sources.",
  "skip_if": "r/askphilosophy's 78 mentions carry neutral sentiment — academic readers find it philosophically thin next to Seneca's Letters and the Discourses.",
  "strongest_evidence": {
    "subreddit": "philosophy",
    "excerpt": "In Book 12 of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius states, \"It never ceases to amaze me: We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.\"",
    "score": 836,
    "sentiment": 0.4,
    "published_at": "2023-05-08T12:16:30+00:00",
    "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/13bmusi/shame_used_to_function_as_a_signal_of_moral/jjbsbqa/"
  },
  "dissent": {
    "editorial_caveat": "r/askphilosophy's 78 mentions carry neutral sentiment — academic readers find it philosophically thin next to Seneca's Letters and the Discourses.",
    "negative_source_excerpt": null
  },
  "sample": {
    "total_mentions": 1223,
    "unique_commenters": 916,
    "published_quote_count": 8,
    "average_sentiment": 0.34,
    "subreddits": [
      {
        "name": "Stoicism",
        "mentions": 1000,
        "average_sentiment": 0.23,
        "last_seen": "2026-03-25"
      },
      {
        "name": "askphilosophy",
        "mentions": 78,
        "average_sentiment": 0,
        "last_seen": "2026-03-29"
      },
      {
        "name": "philosophy",
        "mentions": 60,
        "average_sentiment": 0.2,
        "last_seen": "2026-01-23"
      },
      {
        "name": "selfimprovement",
        "mentions": 57,
        "average_sentiment": 0.7,
        "last_seen": "2025-12-03"
      },
      {
        "name": "getdisciplined",
        "mentions": 21,
        "average_sentiment": 0,
        "last_seen": "2025-04-01"
      },
      {
        "name": "productivity",
        "mentions": 7,
        "average_sentiment": 0,
        "last_seen": "2025-05-25"
      }
    ]
  },
  "updated_at": "2026-06-06T00:00:00.000Z",
  "sources": [
    {
      "subreddit": "philosophy",
      "excerpt": "In Book 12 of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius states, \"It never ceases to amaze me: We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.\"",
      "score": 836,
      "sentiment": 0.4,
      "published_at": "2023-05-08T12:16:30+00:00",
      "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/13bmusi/shame_used_to_function_as_a_signal_of_moral/jjbsbqa/"
    },
    {
      "subreddit": "Stoicism",
      "excerpt": "Totally cool if you don't agree with me, but I think you are projecting something onto me that is actually rooted in Seneca's tendency to talk in somewhat overlapping or even contradictory terms. In Letter 33, he does talk about the futility of maxims but in Letters 94 and 95, he talks of the import…",
      "score": 635,
      "sentiment": 0,
      "published_at": "2021-11-17T16:27:49+00:00",
      "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/comments/qw0ufb/a_stark_example_of_how_ryan_holiday_misrepresents/hl05eyb/"
    },
    {
      "subreddit": "selfimprovement",
      "excerpt": "Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. You'll walk away with an idea of what the point of life is, and it will inspire you to reach your potential. My outlook on life has improved infinitely since reading it.",
      "score": 575,
      "sentiment": 1,
      "published_at": "2024-04-04T20:00:36+00:00",
      "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/selfimprovement/comments/1bvv74y/whats_the_selfhelp_book_that_changed_your_life/ky2bklw/"
    },
    {
      "subreddit": "Stoicism",
      "excerpt": "I find it funny reading “meditations” because Marcus Aurelius always speaks about how no one will remember him and he will be forgotten. But here I am a few 100 years later, reading about him",
      "score": 485,
      "sentiment": 0.5,
      "published_at": "2021-06-25T01:48:48+00:00",
      "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/comments/o7dqdm/in_3_generations_you_will_be_forgotten_live_a/h2y4vuc/"
    }
  ],
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  "limitations": [
    "Mention counts describe the tracked Reddit sample, not every Reddit comment or every reader.",
    "Average sentiment summarizes sampled discussion and is not a star rating.",
    "Editorial consensus, reader fit, and caveats are derived from the existing sourced book synthesis."
  ]
}