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A discussion of stoicism on the free speech thread reminded me of one of my favorite books, A Man in Full, by Tom Wolfe. There are many scenes that have stayed burned into my memory, and the novel turns on the theme of stoicism and what it means to be a man. It has prison, horse stud mating, bankers, hunting, power, rape, Atlanta's black and white social castes. It's easy to read, and has a nice exploration of stoicism as a philosophy and as applied in extreme situations in life.

Wolfe is one of my favorite writers too. Ambush at Fort Bragg and The Right Stuff were great too. I reread Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers about once a year. All very readable.

A Man In Full is on my Kindle but I haven't read it yet because it seemed like it might cause me to think. I'll have to take a tentative bite in 2013.

I've been wanting to read this for years now. Gonna try to get to it soon.

Hebrew Hammer wrote:A discussion of stoicism on the free speech thread reminded me of one of my favorite books, A Man in Full, by Tom Wolfe. There are many scenes that have stayed burned into my memory, and the novel turns on the theme of stoicism and what it means to be a man. It has prison, horse stud mating, bankers, hunting, power, rape, Atlanta's black and white social castes. It's easy to read, and has a nice exploration of stoicism as a philosophy and as applied in extreme situations in life.

This is where he went totally off the rails for me. I loved Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff, but beginning with this book I think he started mailing it in. It was like a "Classic Comics" overview of stoicism.

lasalle wrote:

Hebrew Hammer wrote:A discussion of stoicism on the free speech thread reminded me of one of my favorite books, A Man in Full, by Tom Wolfe. There are many scenes that have stayed burned into my memory, and the novel turns on the theme of stoicism and what it means to be a man. It has prison, horse stud mating, bankers, hunting, power, rape, Atlanta's black and white social castes. It's easy to read, and has a nice exploration of stoicism as a philosophy and as applied in extreme situations in life.

This is where he went totally off the rails for me. I loved Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff, but beginning with this book I think he started mailing it in. It was like a "Classic Comics" overview of stoicism.

It was, but I thought it was pretty cool to see how it graphically plays out in the main character's life - what happens if you really want to be a man in full - what's the price and what's the gain? And it led to the whole prison scenes, which I think I'll never forget.

May have to read it. Thanks for the heads up. I loved Admiral Stockdale's writings on Stoicism - was wonderful, but I haven't read anything else on the subject, yet.

DrDonkeyLove wrote:A Man In Full is on my Kindle but I haven't read it yet because it seemed like it might cause me to think. I'll have to take a tentative bite in 2013.

Save some time. Easily one of the more forgettable books I've read.

BucketHead wrote:May have to read it. Thanks for the heads up. I loved Admiral Stockdale's writings on Stoicism - was wonderful, but I haven't read anything else on the subject, yet.

Here's a free pfd http://www.mises.ch/library/Hazlitt_Wis ... Stoics.pdf