Philosophy

A Roman emperor's private journal in which Marcus Aurelius wrestles with anger, mortality, duty, and the difficulty of staying calm while running an empire. The book is a collection of fragmentary reflections organized into twelve short books, each a conversation with himself about not being derailed by other people's frustrations or the fear of death. It reads like a Stoic devotional—repetitive by design, since Marcus was reminding himself of the same truths daily. There is no plot, no system. There is a man trying not to lose himself to the weight of the job.

“Available recommendation signals cluster around Social Sciences, NonFiction, Philosophy, Entrepreneur, Personal Development lists, suggesting this book may fit readers looking for decision-making, behavior, or human motivation. Treat this as discovery context, not a quality guarantee.”

“Available recommendation signals cluster around Social Sciences, ificial, Intelligence, NonFiction, Artificial lists, suggesting this book may fit readers looking for creative discipline, craft, or artistic motivation. Treat this as discovery context, not a quality guarantee.”

Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so...

“Available recommendation signals cluster around Social Sciences, NonFiction, Artificial, Intelligence, Philosophy lists, suggesting this book may fit readers looking for decision-making, behavior, or human motivation. Treat this as discovery context, not a quality guarantee.”

Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his life oscillating between enthusiastic carnivore and occasional vegetarian. Once he started a family, the moral dimensions of food became increasingly important.Faced with the prospect of being unable to explain why we eat some animals and not others, Foer set out to explore the origins of many eating tradition...

“I wrote this book not sure I could follow the road to character, but I wanted at least to know what the road looks like and how other people have trodden it.”—David Brooks With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has consist...

“Available recommendation signals cluster around Sociology, Social Sciences, NonFiction, Philosophy, History lists, suggesting this book may fit readers looking for decision-making, behavior, or human motivation. Treat this as discovery context, not a quality guarantee.”

?A manifesto of sorts for anyone who makes art [and] cares for it.? ?Zadie Smith?The best book I know of for talented but unacknowledged creators. . . . A masterpiece.? ?Margaret Atwood?No one who is invested in any kind of art . . . can read The Gift and remain unchanged.? ?David Foster WallaceBy now a modern classic, The Gift is a brilliantly orc...

The power and wealth which Seneca the Younger (c.4 B.C. A.D. 65) acquired as Nero's minister were in conflict with his Stoic beliefs. Nevertheless he was the outstanding figure of his age. The Stoic philosophy which Seneca professed in his writings, later supported by Marcus Aurelius, provided Rome with a passable bridge to Christianity. Seneca's...

For David Deutsch, a young physicist of unusual originality, quantum theory contains our most fundamental knowledge of the physical world. Taken literally, it implies that there are many universes ?parallel? to the one we see around us. This multiplicity of universes, according to Deutsch, turns out to be the key to achieving a new worldview, one w...

Written in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka’s death, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of ...

Where do ideas come fromIn Catching the Big Fish, internationally acclaimed filmmaker David Lynch provides a rare window into his methods as an artist, his personal working style, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation.Lynch describes the experience of "diving within" and "catching" ideas like fish a...

A NYTimes.com Editor's Choice A Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Finalist ?A jaunty, insightful new book . . . [that] draws from disparate corners of history and science to celebrate our compulsion to storify everything around us.??New York TimesHumans live in landscapes of makebelieve. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even spor...

Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of readers, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves.We are social animals. Our very l...

The Act of Creation begins where this view ceases to be true. Koestler affirms that all creatures have the capacity for creative activity, frequently suppressed by the automatic routines of thought and behavior that dominate their lives. The study of psychology has offered little in the way of an explanation of the creative process, and Koestler su...

"I am neither a theologian, nor a scholar learned in the history of religions, nor an anthropologist. Psychology is the only branch of learning in which I am particularly versed. To the psychologist the religious propensities of man must be at least as interesting as any other of the facts pertaining to his mental constitution. It would seem, there...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.” Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of OriginalsAs concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mindexpanding dive into the mystery of con...

In 1953, in the presence of an investigator, Aldous Huxley took fourtenths of a gramme of mescalin, sat down and waited to see what would happen. Huxley described his experience in 'The Doors of Perception' and its sequel 'Heaven and Hell'....

Introduction by Mary OliverCommentary by Henry James, Robert Frost, Matthew Arnold, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry David Thoreau The definitive collection of Emerson’s major speeches, essays, and poetry, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson chronicles the life’s work of a true “American Scholar.” As one of the architects of the transce...

This book is about the great moral issues underlying many of the headlinemaking political controversies of our times. It is not a comforting book but a book about disturbing and dangerous trends. The Quest for Cosmic Justice shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how confused conceptions of equality end up promoting ...

For the first time in history, eradicating world poverty is within our reach. Yet around the world, a billion people struggle to live each day on less than many of us pay for bottled water. In The Life You Can Save, Peter Singer uses ethical arguments, illuminating examples, and case studies of charitable giving to show that our current response to...

"Nothing less than a fullscale assault on conventional economic wisdom."?NewsweekOne the 100 most influential books published since World War II?The Times Literary SupplementHailed as an "ecobible" by Time magazine, E.F. Schumacher's riveting, richly researched statement on sustainability has become more relevant and vital with each year since it...

The fiftieth Anniversary Edition of the groundbreaking international bestseller that has shown millions of readers how to achieve rich, productive lives by developing their hidden capacities for loveMost people are unable to love on the only level that truly matters: love that is compounded of maturity, selfknowledge, and courage. As with every ar...

What does it mean to devote yourself wholly to helping others In Strangers Drowning, Larissa MacFarquhar seeks out people living lives of extreme ethical commitment and tells their deeply intimate stories; their stubborn integrity and their compromises; their bravery and their recklessness; their joys and defeats and wrenching dilemmas. A couple a...

A ?landmark book? (Robert J. Sternberg, president of the American Psychological Association) by one of the world's preeminent psychologists that proves human behavior is not ?hardwired? but a function of culture.Everyone knows that while different cultures think about the world differently, they use the same equipment for doing their thinking. But...

Students of political theory will welcome the return to print of this brilliant defense of ordered liberty. Impugning John Stuart Mill’s famous treatise, On Liberty, Stephen criticized Mill for turning abstract doctrines of the French Revolution into “the creed of a religion.”Only the constraints of morality and law make liberty possible, warned St...

Do religious experiences come from God, or are they merely the random firing of neurons in the brain Drawing on his own research with Carmelite nuns, neuroscientist Mario Beauregard shows that genuine, lifechanging spiritual events can be documented. He offers compelling evidence that religious experiences have a nonmaterial origin, making a conv...

The Bhagavad Gita tells the story of how Arjuna, the great warrior, is seated in his chariot about to engage in battle, when he sees his own kinsmen and his revered teacher arrayed in battle against him, and feels that he cannot fight. It is then that Krishna, the Cosmic Lord, comes to counsel him. Arjuna represents the human soul seated in the cha...

Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme—but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity ...

In this modern spiritual classic, the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa highlights a common pitfall to which every aspirant on the spiritual path falls prey: what he calls spiritual materialism. The universal human tendency, he shows, is to see spirituality as a process of selfimprovement?the impulse to develop and refine the ego when the ...

The Age of Reason represents the results of years of study and reflection by Thomas Paine on the place of religion in society.Paine wrote: "Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue u...

A Radical History of Plants, Drugs & Human EvolutionFor the first time in paperback, the counterculture manifesto on mindaltering drugs & hallucinogens. Illustrated. A Radical History of Plants, Drugs & Human EvolutionFor the first time in paperback, the counterculture manifesto on mindaltering drugs & hallucinogens. Illustrated. ...more...

By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear that the Allies would win the Second World War. Around the same time, it also became increasingly clear to many Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic that the soontobevictorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. A war won by technological superiority...

The Conquest of Happiness is Bertrand Russell's recipe for good living. First published in 1930, it predates the current obsession with selfhelp by decades. Leading the reader step by step through the causes of unhappiness and the personal choices, compromises and sacrifices that (may) lead to the final, affirmative conclusion of 'The Happy Man',...

Infinite in All Directions is a popularized science at its best. In Dyson's view, science and religion are two windows through which we can look out at the world around us. The book is a revised version of a series of the Gifford Lectures under the title "In Praise of Diversity" given at Aberdeen, Scotland. They allowed Dyson the license to express...

"We can place this book on the shelf that holds the writings of Thoreau and John Muir." San Francisco ChronicleThese astonishing portraits of the natural world explore the breathtaking diversity of the unspoiled American landscape the mountains and the prairies, the deserts and the coastlines. A stunning tribute to our land and a bold challenge ...

A fascinating discussion on sex, gender, and human instincts, as relevant today as ever.In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. From their conversation emerges a series of subtle reflections on gender roles, sex in society and the sublimation of basic human instincts. The discus...

Modern love is never easy. Society is obsessed with stories of romance, but what comes after happily ever afterThis is a love story with a difference. From dating to marriage, from having kids to having affairs, it follows the progress of a single ordinary relationship: tender, messy, hilarious, painful, and entirely unRomantic. It is a love stor...

Whether regarded as a science, an art, or a skill?and it can properly be regarded as all three?logic is the basis of our ability to think, analyze, argue, and communicate. Indeed, logic goes to the very core of what we mean by human intelligence. In this concise, crisply readable book, distinguished professor D. Q. McInerny offers an indispensable ...

While few soldiers may have read the works of Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius, it is undoubtedly true that the ancient philosophy known as Stoicism guides the actions of many in the military. Soldiers and seamen learn early in their training "to suck it up," to endure, to put aside their feelings and to get on with the mission. Stoic Warriors is the f...

Tantra Illuminated takes the reader on a fascinating journey to the very heart of Tantra: its key teachings, foundational lineages, and transformative practices. Since the West s discovery of Tantra 100 years ago, there has been considerable fascination, speculation, and more than a little misinformation about this spiritual movement. Now, for the ...

Since its publication in 1987, "Being Peace" has become a classic of contemporary religious literature. In his simple and readable style, Thich Nhat Hanh shows how our state of mind and body can make the world a peaceful place. We learn to transform the very situations that pressure and antagonize us into opportunities for practicing mindfulness......

Now in paperback, "The Philosophy Book" explores the history and concepts of philosophy, and demystifies what can often be daunting subject matter.Are the ideas of Rene Descartes, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes still relevant today "The Philosophy Book" unpacks the writings and ideas of more than 100 of history's biggest thinke...

Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found here.In this brilliant work, the most influential philosopher since Sartre suggests that such vaunted reforms as the abolition of torture and the emergence of the modern penitentiary have merely shifted the focus of punishment from the prisoner?s body to his soul. Librarian note: an a...

The Last Days of Socrates, written by legendary author Plato, is widely considered to be one of the greatest classic texts of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, The Last Days of Socrates is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeles...

On Wall Street, in the culture of high tech, in American government: Libertarianism the simple but radical idea that the only purpose of government is to protect its citizens and their property against direct violence and threat has become an extremely influential strain of thought. But while many books talk about libertarian ideas, none unti...

?A big, bold, brilliantly crafted pageturner with HUGE ideas that challenge every last view about how the world works. This is both a primer to understand the law of attraction and the essential book of our age.? ? Jack Canfield, author of The Success Principles(TM) and featured teacher on The Secret(TM)?One of the most powerful and enlightening ...