Questions
The things people ask
- What is the Stoic Fundamentals series?
- Stoic Fundamentals is a book series that gives one foundational Stoic idea a whole book. Book 1, In Your Control, covers the dichotomy of control. Book 2, Love What Happens, covers amor fati. Book 3, The Time You Have, covers memento mori. Each book establishes the idea, tests it against the cases where it gets hard, and turns it into daily practice. All three are out now on Amazon.
- Where can I buy the books?
- All three books are sold on Amazon, in Kindle ebook, paperback, and hardcover. The ebooks are exclusive to Amazon, so there is no other ebook retailer. The paperback and hardcover editions can also be ordered through bookstores, which find them in the Ingram catalog by ISBN.
- Is In Your Control on Kindle Unlimited?
- Yes. In Your Control is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, so subscribers can read the Kindle edition at no extra cost. Love What Happens and The Time You Have are in Kindle Unlimited too. Without a subscription, each Kindle edition costs $4.99.
- What formats are the books in?
- Each book is available in three formats: a Kindle ebook at $4.99, a paperback at $12.99, and a hardcover at $21.99. There is no audiobook edition.
- When were the books published?
- In Your Control was published on August 3, 2026. Love What Happens and The Time You Have were both published on October 2, 2026.
- Do I need to read the books in order?
- No. Every book stands alone and assumes no philosophy background. If you are starting from scratch, read them in order — In Your Control, then Love What Happens, then The Time You Have — because the ideas build: control, then acceptance, then mortality. If you are dealing with something specific, start with the idea that fits it. Someone in the middle of a setback should start with Love What Happens rather than working up to it.
- How long is each book?
- Each book has 16 chapters in three parts. In Your Control runs 126 pages in paperback and hardcover and 128 pages on Kindle. Love What Happens runs 132 pages in print. The Time You Have runs 130 pages in print. Each can be read in a few evenings, and each chapter also stands on its own.
- Who publishes the series?
- Vitality Press publishes the Stoic Fundamentals series. It also publishes the companion series Stoicism at Work — the same ideas, brought to working life.
- Do I need to have read Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus first?
- No. The books assume no philosophy background and no prior reading. Every quotation is given with its source and explained in plain English on the spot.
- Which translations do the books quote?
- Only public-domain translations, locked one per work: George Long (1862) for the Meditations, Elizabeth Carter (1758) for the Enchiridion, W. A. Oldfather (1925) for the Discourses, and Aubrey Stewart for Seneca's Dialogues. Every quotation is verified against that edition before it is printed. Modern in-copyright translations are never reproduced.
- Why does the translation matter?
- Because most Stoic quotations in circulation are not accurate. The wording people remember usually comes from a modern translation and is often reproduced without a source or a locus, and sometimes without the words the translator actually wrote. A quotation you cannot trace is a quotation you cannot trust.
- How is this different from other popular books on Stoicism?
- Depth per volume rather than breadth. Where a survey gives an idea a chapter, these books give it sixteen — following it into the places where it is hardest to use, and sourcing every quotation to a public-domain edition rather than to anecdote.
- Is this a religious or self-help book?
- Neither, exactly. Stoicism is a philosophy, not a religion, and it makes no supernatural demands. The books are practical rather than academic, but they do not promise transformation or offer life-hacks.