I’ve seen this book recommended many times by different people. I ended up getting the audiobook on Audible and backed it up with a Kindle version. The eBook is the Dover Thrift Edition - a modernized version of the George Long translation. I’m not entirely sure which translation is used in the audiobook. The narrator is pretty good but I found the density of the prose in the book required a level of concentration not typical when listening to audiobooks. There are a lot of ideas presented in the book requiring contemplation, but if you even briefly get distracted by your contemplations the audiobook has moved on. I think this why I generally prefer listen to fiction on audiobook rather than non-fiction, though I find history also seems to work well on audiobook.
As to Meditations, I understand now why so many have recommended this book. Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor who ascended to the throne in 161 AD. This book contains his reflections on life and how to live it, based on the precepts of Stoicism, of which Aurelius was a disciple. Meditations is actually made of up 12 books. The first book is a list of people who have influenced his life and what he learnt from each. I found this to be very profound - the idea that there is something to be learnt from everyone that you interact with. It certainly got me thinking about the people who have influenced me and what I learnt from them - something I would like to put in to writing at some point in my life. The rest of the books are a series of meditations on various aspects of life. On first study, I couldn’t easily discern specific themes for each book though. This is a book to return to multiple times. I have read that the 2002 translation by Gregory Hays is more easily digestible, others recommend the 1964 transation by Maxwell Staniforth . There definitely seems to be a lot of variability between translations. I really liked the Stoic philosophy as presented in Meditations - I find a lot of congruence between it and the fundamental teachings of Islam, with one or two basic differences. The Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.
could easily be a succinct encapsulation of the philosophy presented in Meditations.
A random quote from Meditations - Book VII, line 54:
Everywhere and at all times it is in your power piously to acquiesce in your present condition, and to behave justly to those around you, and to exert your skill upon your present thoughts, that nothing shall steal into them without being well examined.