Gates of Fire
by Steven Pressfield
A novel of Thermopylae told by the sole Spartan survivor: training, fear, the opposite of fear, and the three hundred's last stand. Taught at West Point and Quantico. It is the best fiction about courage and the group that produces it.
Read it if…
you want to feel what discipline and brotherhood are for.
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Skip it if…
you dislike battlefield violence; there is much.
Try instead: Graceful →
Three things you will actually use
- The opposite of fear is love.
- Training is for the moment training ends.
- Courage is for the man beside you.
Do this first
Read Dienekes on the opposite of fear.
Our verdict
The best fiction about courage.
See the book →
Compare with other Character books
Being Mortal
Atul Gawande · Character
Humane and important; a book about the end that improves the middle.
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