Reddit mentions of Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor

>Both sides hurled stone and lead slingshot at each other. About eighty of these lead balls have been discovered by archaeologists and many have brief, extremely rude messages scratched on them. Examples include “I seek Fulvia’s clitoris”; “I seek Octavian’s arse”; “Octavian has a limp cock”; “Hi, Octavius, you suck dick”; “Loose Octavius, sit on this”; and, rather more feebly, “Lucius is bald.”

• Anthony Everitt

One thought is that his health was in great decline, so he set things up for a seamless transition of power to his successor. However, he unexpectedly recovered. Rather than put his succession plan at risk, his wife assisted him with his suicide by poisoning his figs.

I’ve always enjoyed that account, even if it’s not necessarily accurate.

EDIT: This is not widely believed to be what had happened. I’m just sharing what I remember (it’s been about eight years since I’ve read it) from Anthony Everitt’s Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor.

>Both sides hurled stone and lead slingshot at each other. About eighty of these lead balls have been discovered by archaeologists and many have brief, extremely rude messages scratched on them. Examples include “I seek Fulvia’s clitoris”; “I seek Octavian’s arse”; “Octavian has a limp cock”; “Hi, Octavius, you suck dick”; “Loose Octavius, sit on this”; and, rather more feebly, “Lucius is bald.”

• Anthony Everitt

Rubicon by Tom Holland is perhaps the most popular of recent histories. It's a very well written history of the fall of the Republic. Holland has a particularly modern style. I recommend it.

Swords Against the Senate covers roughly the same period, but focuses on the influence and actions of the Roman Army during the period. Slightly more "scholarly", but equally interesting, particularly if you have an interest in the Roman military.

Anthony Everritt's much lauded biographies of famous Romans includes the excellent Cicero and Augustus, both of also deal with the autumnal years of the Republic, but obviously in the context of these two great men and the events that they lived through. I think Cicero is perhaps one of the best biographies I've ever read. Everitt also wrote a bio of Hadrain, which I have yet to get to, and the fascinating sounding The Rise of Rome, to be published later this year.

On a more broad scale, there is Robin Lane Fox's best selling The Classical Age, which covers Greek and Roman history from the earliest times to the Fall of the Empire.

Finally, Emperors Don't Die in Bed sounds exactly like what you're looking for. It's not the cheapest book, but it does offer potted biographies of the the most famous Roman Emperors and their down-fall. Fascinating stuff!

More?

Random selection of some of my favorites to help you expand your horizons:

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a great introduction to scientific skepticism.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris is a succinct refutation of Christianity as it's generally practiced in the US employing crystal-clear logic.

Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt is the best biography of one of the most interesting men in history, in my personal opinion.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski is a jaw-dropping book on history, journalism, travel, contemporary events, philosophy.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great tome about... everything. Physics, history, biology, art... Plus he's funny as hell. (Check out his In a Sunburned Country for a side-splitting account of his trip to Australia).

The Annotated Mona Lisa by Carol Strickland is a thorough primer on art history. Get it before going to any major museum (Met, Louvre, Tate Modern, Prado, etc).

Not the Impossible Faith by Richard Carrier is a detailed refutation of the whole 'Christianity could not have survived the early years if it weren't for god's providence' argument.

Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman are six of the easier chapters from his '63 Lectures on Physics delivered at CalTech. If you like it and really want to be mind-fucked with science, his QED is a great book on quantum electrodynamics direct from the master.

Lucy's Legacy by Donald Johanson will give you a really great understanding of our family history (homo, australopithecus, ardipithecus, etc). Equally good are Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade and Mapping Human History by Steve Olson, though I personally enjoyed Before the Dawn slightly more.

Memory and the Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel gives you context for all the Bible stories by detailing contemporaneous events from the Levant, Italy, Greece, Egypt, etc.

After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton is an awesome read if you don't know much about Islam and its early history.

Happy reading!

edit: Also, check out the Reasonable Doubts podcast.

http://www.amazon.com/Augustus-Life-Romes-First-Emperor/dp/0812970586/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320917363&sr=1-1

Highly recommended, a little embellished at times but an excellent read

Augustus by Anthony Everrit is a great place to start for the life of Augustus.

Tom Holland's Dynasty is amazing as well and covers all of the Julio Claudian dynasty.

For original source material, Plutarch's Lives and The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius.

It's already been mentioned here, but I'll mention it again: The History of Rome podcast by Mike Duncan is an easy way to digest this stuff. The production quality in the beginning is very poor, but that gets so much better as it goes on.

He published a book last year called The Storm Before The Storm, which is about how the Republic got to the point where men like Julius Caesar were able to come onto the stage and do what they did. There are some really disturbing parallels to our own times. While it's always a bit silly to compare America to Rome, the similarities are fairly stark. The paper back comes out later this month.

Duncan is also currently producing a podcast called Revolutions, in which he does narrative histories of the English, American, French, Haitian, South American, and Mexican revolutions, as well as the French Revolution of 1830, the pan-European revolutions of 1848, and the Paris Commune. I know this is off topic, but Duncan really is amazing and I never miss a chance to plug his work.

Edit: here are the two episodes of The History of Rome that deal with Augustus's style of rule. Caesar Augustus and Reigning Supreme.

Have you read any Anthony Everitt? his work is amazing.

https://www.amazon.com/Augustus-Life-Romes-First-Emperor/dp/0812970586/

and also his other bio on Cicero really opened my eyes.

While I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, I can firmly recommend anything by Anthony Everitt.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812970586/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1364655433&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

A book about Augustus.

Amazon Link

I'm reading Elon Musk's biography right now and think it might be helpful if you're talking about career success. The dude seems like a jerk but has an incredible work ethic and drive to succeed.

You can say pretty much the same exact thing about Augustus' biography.

Outliers really helped me a lot, because it made me realize talent wasn't nearly important as skill/effort. You put in the time and effort and you will develop your skills.

If you're an introvert like me these books helped me "fake it till I make it" or just want to be more socially capable: Charisma Myth, anything by Leil Lowndes, Make People Like You in 90 Seconds. Not a book but the Ted Talk about body language by Amy Cuddy

A book on leadership I always hear good things about but haven't read yet is Start With Why.

I like biographies of famous people a lot.

Augustus, by Anthony Everitt: I find Augustus fascinating because his rise to power was one of the very very few examples in history where a Trio of teenagers defeated their enemies against overwhelming odds and succeeded creating an order lasting for more than two centuries. (The Principate stopped working after Septimius Severus took power in 193AD)

FDR, by Jean Edward Smith: FDR is simply my favorite US president.

Titan, The Life of John D. Rockefeller, by Ron Chernow: Rockefeller was born in a very poor family, never had an university education, and became a billionaire by the end of 19th century. Regardless how you view him today, his rise made an excellent story.

Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson: He was a jerk, but also a genius. His love/hate relationship with Bill Gates is story for the ages. This book also shines some good insight into the tech industry. I have to say this book helped me making lots of money in stocks.

I read two history books this year that were excellently written and very-well researched. One is "Augustus: The life of Rome's First Emperor" by Anthony Everitt and The First Crusade: A New History: The Roots of Conflict between Christianity and Islam. Both great books and they'll keep you engaged the whole time. I truly recommend them.

1. In primele 20 de secunde cand foloseste moneda ca argument nu zice asta.
   
   
2. Nu gasesc pe internet acum, dar o sa mai caut. Sursele mele sunt aceste doua carti foarte bune: http://www.amazon.com/Augustus-Revolutionary-Emperor-Adrian-Goldsworthy/dp/0297864254
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Augustus-Life-Romes-First-Emperor/dp/0812970586
   
   EDIT: Gata, daca textul la care face referie e asta:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclogue_4. Pe wikipedia zice doar ca se crede ca se face referie la copilul lui Antoniu cu Octavia, dar in cartile de mai sus se spune ca era vorba si de copilul lui Augustus cu Scriboia. Ambele cupluri asteptau un copil, iar Virgil se astepta ca Augustus sa aiba un baiat, iar cand Scribonia a nascut-o pe Iulia, propagandistilor Augutieni le era frica, daca Antoniu, marele inamic a lui Augustus ar fi avut un baiat. Din fericire pentru Virgil si Octavia a nascut o fata.
   
   
3. Zice: "And by the time that Jesus died, an expanded Judea was under the rule of Herod Antipater" cand el "conducea" ce e cu roz!, nu e prea expanded
   
   Sincer nu stiu ce sa zic la ...
   
   Nu m-am bagat in seama ca sa imi dovedesc superioritatea, nu aveam de ce. Am inceput prin a zice ca faza cu moneda nu are sens si ca videoclipul are niste greseli. Tu m-ai intrebat care, iar eu am raspuns.
   
   Nu am discutat teologie, doar istorie. De ce ai crede ca sunt chiar asa de religios?:)
   
   

I see a lot of great books already listed. I'll offer a few lesser-known books that haven't been mentioned yet.

Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe series is brilliant for general readers of almost any age.

I see William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has been mentioned, but I find his book on France - The Collapse of the Third Republic - equally compelling.

For those who love Barb Tuchmann's Guns of August,
Dreadnought by Robert Massie and The Lions of July by William Jannen are excellent additions in covering the lead up to WWI.

For Roman History, I'd recommend Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar: Life of a Colossus and Anthony Everitt's Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor