A rant about a self-help book

You've always liked philosophy. In another life you would've attended it at university, if you didn't go for a "safer path". So you keep that passion alive by reading books and stuff on your own. How much you understand of all of that is another topic, but hey, you're happy with it. Then, sometimes, you find one of these books in the self-help section at the airport: it's about "philosophy", it's supposed to improve your live before you even finish the introduction and everyone online is raving about it. That already sends alarms to your bullshit-detector, but you decide to see what all the craze is about. So you buy one copy of Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday and you start reading. You get to page 19. Then you read this: "[Eisenhower's] greatness, like all true greatness, was not rooted in aggression or ego or his appetites or a vast fortune, but in simplicity and restraint — in how he commanded himself, which in turn made him worthy of commanding others. Contrast him with the…