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A Guide to the Good Life

A Guide to the Good Life : the Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
by William B. Irvine
Oxford University Press, 2009
electronic resource (ebook)
Accessible to currently-enrolled SWC students, faculty, and staff

Everybody wants to live “the good life.” However, it often has different meanings to all of us. William B. Irvine explains his understandings of a good life by the help of stoic philosophy.

By the Merriam-Webster dictionary, stoic means, “one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain.”

Now, how does it lead to a good life? In an interview on the Daily Stoic website Irvine said: “…Ideally, a Stoic won’t have many negative emotions to deal with, inasmuch as he will routinely take steps to prevent them from arising in the first place. … On the other hand, a Stoic will embrace positive emotions. Because he engages in negative visualization, he will likely experience many little moments of delight in the course of an ordinary day. He will also likely have an unusual capacity for the experience of joy.”

Irvine gives us background information on the origin and history of stoicism in Greece and Rome, then list some of the psychological tools to practice this way of thinking, for example negative visualizations that is mentioned above.

In the following excerpt from the interview on the Daily stoic website, he talks about his favorite stoic philosophers, and why he reads them when his tranquil life, that is no doubt the result of his stoic living, is in turmoil:

 “I like all the Roman Stoics, but for different reasons. When I am dealing on an ongoing basis with annoying people, I turn to Marcus Aurelius. As Roman emperor, he had lots of experience dealing with annoying people. When I have an important decision to make, I turn to Epictetus and remind myself that there are things I can control and things I can’t. When I find myself lusting for consumer goods, I turn to Musonius Rufus, who managed quite well on being banished to the desolate island of Gyaros. And when I am feeling sorry for myself, I turn to Seneca. He reminds us that no matter how bad things are, they could be much worse."

As far as favorite quotes are concerned, I have a hundred of them. The Roman Stoics are wonderfully quotable. This one comes from Marcus Aurelius: “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”

I hope that after reading this ebook, or books from any of the stoic philosophers, there will be more dancing than wrestling in your future.

Review by Erika Prange, SWC Librarian

Reference Book of the Week

The World Encyclopedia of Flags
by Alfred Znamierowski
Lorenz Books, 2013
Reference Section, Call Number CR 101 Z53 2013

Are you interested in vexillology? Yes? You are in good company. Dr. Sheldon Cooper of Big Bang Theory was fascinated with flags, as well, so much so, that he had a long running blog, Fun with Flags. However, if you are in the library, you can also check out one of our reference books, The World Encyclopedia of Flags by Alfred Znamierowski, Reference Section CR 101 Z53 2013.

The book has two main parts; flags through the ages and the world of flags. The first part gives a brief background of the history of flags, the type of flags, and flag families. There were decorated staffs, field signs, etc before flags, but the first flags possibly appeared in China after silk were invented, then moved through India, Persia then to Rome and to the rest of Europe and the world. The early flags represented rulers, later cities had their own flags then at the 18th century nations started to create their flags. Additionally, the military, navy, the government, and organizations, parties, etc. have their own flags in the modern age. The book gives a thorough examination of the physical characteristics of the different flags. The flag families section gives interesting information about similarities among the world nations' flags, and the connections by history or geography, or interestingly sometimes there are no connections at all.

This is a brief sample of some of the similar flags with no connections, from a blog entry: https://www.newsonaut.com/countries-with-almost-nothing-in-common-but-their-flags.

In the second part of the book, the nations' flags are organized geographically, and a map is provided at the beginning of each sections. The short write ups of the flags are about the colors' meanings, and dates of the adoption of the flags, which gives a short history of the country, as well.

 The book contains a detailed bibliography of vexillological books in several languages, and a list of vexillological journal titles.

You can check your knowledge of flags by doing this fun quiz. If you don't know the answer right away, feel free to look it up in the book!

http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz3838392bf0990.html

Review by Erika Prange, SWC Librarian 

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National Voter Registration Day

Today is National Voter Registration Day!

To register to vote, use these helpful links:

• National Voter Registration Day official site

•  California Voter Registration

Can't remember if you're registered to vote? Maybe you've moved since the last election? Don't be surprised on November 6 -- double check your voter status here:

• California -- Check Your Voter Registration Status 

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The SWC Library on the Chula Vista (Main) campus is open 10 am - 2 pm on Saturdays.

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Website of the Week

Big Future -- College Board College Search

Big Future College Board College Search 
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges

The same College Board that administers the SAT exam and AP exams has compiled a great site to search for colleges. Users can search for a specific college by name. But the cool features of this site appear when users have no idea where they want to go!

Check out the tab “I’m not sure where to start.” A guide will walk users through how they might want to begin their search. If you want to stay within 500 miles of your home, you can search that. If you want to search by majors you are interested in, you can search that.

Anyone can use the site without creating an account (which is free), but the best features come into play when users create a profile. Let’s say you want a college in Arizona or California, and you know you want a degree in business. Now how about if you know your grades are good but maybe not straight A’s? You can ask for colleges that are less selective. How about public or private? Do you want a faith-based institution or not? How about availability of housing? How about diversity on campus? You can create a profile of exactly what you are looking for and the site will pull college profiles that best match your criteria.

The profiles of each college have layer after layer of information. It starts with an “At a Glance” page with basic information like application deadlines, location, size, basic cost information, average financial aid packages, and average time to graduation.

Now head down deeper into the profile to find more information about deadlines, all the programs offered and what percentage of students are in each. The tab for “Campus Life” breaks down the student body by gender, ethnicity, living on campus or not, and whether they are part-time or full-time students. Campus clubs and groups are listed as well. Are you looking for an active LGBTQ organization? Maybe a Women’s Center, Veteran’s services, even on campus child-care, these and other resources are listed.

For students looking to transfer in there is a tab just for information specific to transfers. This page tells what the average GPA admitted is, what is required with the application, as well any special requirements for transfers. Each profile also has a link directly to the official college website.

Those who have created an account can “Add to My Colleges” and create a list of profiles that will be saved. Users can create side-by-side comparisons of colleges on their saved lists.

Big Future is a great place to start a college search. But it especially shines at getting users more specific information to narrow a college search to a perfect match for them.

Review by Sarah Way, SWC Librarian