Russell McNeil

Russell McNeil was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and is a Research Associate at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia where he also teaches fitness and yoga in his spare time. His book, "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained" offers a radical and contemporary interpretation of Stoicism through the lens of modern science. This book is designed as a practical handbook on Stoicism. The material is structured to show the reader what Stoic meditation involves, and how to reason like a Stoic. The three step method of Stoicism is further used to show how we can address personal, political, and environmental challenges of the 21st century. Practical challenges in the book include the applications of Stoicism to war, climate change, mental health (anxiety and depression), anger management, aging, illness, death, and addiction (sexual, drug and alcohol). Detailed explanations of the Meditations not included in the book are being added to his extensive Great Books blog - Logos (since 1995) - which is available here as an RSS feed.

Russell McNeil was educated as a physicist and has taught both Physics and Liberal Studies at universities in Canada and the US for over 20 years. A Lidar (laser radar) application he helped pioneer in 1972 as a PhD student at York University, has been tweaked and fine-tuned into the modern day technology on board NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander which successfully completed its mission on the Martian surface in 2009. He has also worked as a television producer and writer in Canada and for PBS in the US where he produced the 1978 documentary "Nevada Fallout: The Hot Years" examining the impacts of Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing on the residents of Nevada and Utah.