Ask Me Anything (AMA): I am Donald J. Robertson, author of a new biography “Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor”, published by Yale University Press. Looking forward to any and all questions, especially about my favorite topics: Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism.

I'm a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist by profession, rather than a historian, but found my way into writing books about Stoic philosophy and have now published three books in a row about Marcus Aurelius. Here's a little bit more background...

I'm the author of seven books in total. My early books were on evidence-based psychotherapy, and Stoic philosophy (my first degree was in philosophy), but I also wrote a self-help book called How to Think Like a Roman Emperor (St Martins), which combines psychology, philosophy, and historical vignettes about Marcus' life. It became a bestseller, and has now been translated into about 20 languages. I followed it with a graphic novel about the life of Marcus Aurelius called Verissimus (St Martins), and was then asked by Yale University Press to write Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor for their Ancient Lives series, edited by the classicist James Romm. I've also contributed the intro to the Capstone Classics edition of the Meditations and an essay on Marcus Aurelius and psychotherapy to the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, edited by John Sellars.

I've just finished work on my next book, How to Think Like Socrates (St Martins), due out later this year, which is about the life of Socrates and what his philosophy can teach us today, written, again, from my perspective as a psychotherapist with an interest in evidence-based self-help advice.

I'm one of the founding members of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit organization responsible for running the annual Stoic Week event, and the Stoicon international conference. I'm also the founder and president of a nonprofit based in Athens, Greece, called The Plato's Academy Centre, which organizes online events about philosophy with leading academics, and is working to raise funds to create an international conference centre beside the original location of Plato's Academy in Athens.

Thanks to the mods for organizing this AMA. I'm looking forward to reading your questions. Please feel free to ask me anything!