{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Book","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/","name":"Ego Is the Enemy","shortTitle":"Ego Is the Enemy","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Holiday"},"isbn":"9781591847816","numberOfPages":9,"wordCount":4123,"timeRequired":"PT16.5M","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","publisher":{"@id":"https://readstacks.com/#organization","@type":"Organization","name":"Read Stacks"},"workExample":[{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-1-aspire/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-1-aspire/","name":"Aspire","position":1,"wordCount":425,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"Holiday opens with a confrontation. Ego, in his framing, is not self-confidence or healthy ambition — it is the belief that you are already what you want to become before you have done the work.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-2-become-a-student/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-2-become-a-student/","name":"Become a Student","position":2,"wordCount":512,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"If aspiration is the starting condition, the next discipline is becoming a student — actively, deliberately, for the rest of your career. Holiday frames this not as a posture you take while young and shed after success, but as a permanent stance.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-3-dont-be-passionate/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-3-dont-be-passionate/","name":"Don't Be Passionate","position":3,"wordCount":428,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"The chapter takes on one of the modern era's most reflexive pieces of advice. Passion is sold as the secret ingredient of any meaningful project — find your passion, follow your passion, pursue your passion.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-4-success-and-the-trap/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-4-success-and-the-trap/","name":"Success and the Trap","position":4,"wordCount":429,"timeRequired":"PT1.5M","abstract":"The Success section opens with a structural warning: the moment a project starts working is the moment ego is most dangerous, not least. Success removes the constraints that previously kept ego in check. While the project was failing or uncertain, you had to listen to…","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-5-always-stay-a-student/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-5-always-stay-a-student/","name":"Always Stay a Student","position":5,"wordCount":444,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"If chapter 2 made the case for becoming a student at the start, chapter 5 makes the case for staying a student through success. The two are different disciplines because the friction shifts. At the start, no one expects you to know everything, so asking questions is socially licensed.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-6-managing-yourself/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-6-managing-yourself/","name":"Managing Yourself","position":6,"wordCount":465,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"Chapter 6 turns from external relationships to internal management. Success doesn't only expose the operator to external flattery and reduced feedback — it also expands what the operator has to coordinate inside themselves. Decisions multiply.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-7-failure/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-7-failure/","name":"Failure","position":7,"wordCount":441,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"The Failure section starts here and runs to the end of the book. Holiday's framing is that everyone fails, and that ego's response to failure is more dangerous than the failure itself. The failure removes external rewards.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-8-alive-time-or-dead-time/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-8-alive-time-or-dead-time/","name":"Alive Time or Dead Time","position":8,"wordCount":490,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"Chapter 8 introduces a phrase from Robert Greene that gives the book one of its most usable concepts. Every period in a career has time in it — time you can either fill with activity that compounds or time you can let pass without using.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"},{"@type":"Chapter","@id":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-9-effort-is-enough/","url":"https://readstacks.com/books/ego-is-the-enemy-ryan-holiday/chapter-9-effort-is-enough/","name":"Effort Is Enough","position":9,"wordCount":489,"timeRequired":"PT2M","abstract":"The book closes on the discipline Holiday returns to most often across his Stoicism writing: the work is its own justification. Ego wants every action to produce external rewards proportional to the effort — recognition, money, status, legacy.","datePublished":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-05-16T19:00:00Z"}]}