Who doesn’t sometimes worry that our mobile phones, the internet, and television are stealing our time and preventing us from truly living? How can we make the most of our time on Earth?

In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger gave one of the most famous answers to the above question in his work On the Shortness of Life – a work that has more to teach us today than ever before.

In How to Live Truly, James Romm presents this brilliant work of Seneca alongside two more of his letters on the same subject.

With disarming satirical intent, Seneca criticizes the ways in which we squander our time, failing to realize how precious it is. We don’t allow people to steal our money; however, we allow them to plunder our time, or we spend it ourselves on useless, pointless pursuits.

Seneca also describes how we can better utilize the brief time we have at our disposal. And he argues that we can make our lives longer, or even eternal, because living a true life is like achieving a kind of immortality.

A counterbalance to the time-consuming distractions of the modern world, this book explains through ancient wisdom how we can give real value to our time – and our lives.

Life is not short when we acquire it, but we make it short; therefore, our lives are not lacking; we are the ones who waste them.

Just as abundant and royal wealth can be scattered in an instant if it falls into the hands of a bad master, while it increases when used by a good steward, so our lives have sufficient duration for anyone who manages them well.

Find all the books in the series THE ART OF LIVING.