In this classic text, Aristotle extols a variety of virtues valued by the ancient Greeks and their world. Within, Aristotle gives the reader a schema for understanding both ancient and trans-historical ideas on virtue and relating well to others. His vocabulary and concepts regularly pop up in other works, up to contemporary times; thus, grappling with Nicomachean Ethics makes those other works more understandable. Standing alongside and thinking with Aristotle increases one's ability to discern and decide on right action. As with other philosophical works, be ready to accept befuddlement from time to time, and talk with others about your gleanings as you read (and read again). Also, it is not necessary to agree with all of his conclusions to be aided by his exposition; you may find that you comprehend humans quite a bit better.
About the Author: Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics. Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the zoological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish traditions in the Middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues (Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold"), it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.