Books with category 💭 Philosophy
Displaying books 1-48 of 468 in total

Nuntă în cer

2038

by Mircea Eliade

Neîndoielnic, scriind această carte, autorul ei evadează: în trecut, în imaginaţie, în mit. Nuntă în Cer nu este, desigur, un roman fantastic, deşi misterul nu lipseşte, dar este, cu siguranţă, un roman realist-simbolic, axat pe un mit al iubirii.

Un roman de idei, mai puţin livresc decât celelalte, şi un roman liric. Cadrul întâmplărilor descrise rămâne unul modern, citadin, în vreme ce relatările lor au loc într-un cadru montan, izolat. Avem de-a face, aşadar, cu o perspectivă „de sus” asupra trecutului personajelor şi cu o transfigurare a acestuia prin iubire şi prin suferinţa despărţirii.

Prin Nuntă în Cer, Eliade se reconciliază de fapt cu melancolica Belle Époque a copilăriei sale, vehement respinsă de „adolescentul miop” şi de tânărul macho „apologet al virilităţii”. Este însă ceva mai mult decât atât, căci dacă Mavrodin şi Hasnaş reprezintă două variante de om modern, îndrăgostit de necunoscut şi atras de schimbare, Ileana încarnează un principiu tradiţional de stabilitate.

تصوف: منقذو الآلهة

تصوف هو المخطط الأولي لمسيرة الاكتشافات الموعودة، وهو البذرة التي نبتت في مؤلفاته الروائية والشعرية اللاحقة. لذلك يمكن اعتبار هذا الكتاب دليلاً يقود القارئ عبر عوالم كزانتزاكيس الروائية، وفي الوقت نفسه يمكن النظر إليه كمحطة أساسية لقياس تطوره اللاحق.

Gitanjali

Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore is a timeless collection of 103 poems that express a profound spiritual journey. Written in Bengali and later translated into English by Tagore himself, Gitanjali earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, making him the first non-European laureate.

In this collection, Tagore explores themes of devotion, the relationship between the divine and the human, and the beauty of nature. Each poem resonates with simplicity yet carries deep philosophical undertones, inviting readers to connect with the infinite in their everyday lives.

This edition, enriched with insightful commentary and a glossary by संस्कृतम् Publication, aims to provide readers with a deeper understanding of Tagore’s spiritual and philosophical musings. The poems are presented with clarity and thoughtfulness, appealing to modern readers who seek inspiration and contemplation in a rapidly changing world.

Perfect for lovers of poetry, philosophy, and spirituality, Gitanjali continues to inspire readers across generations with its universal themes of love, devotion, and the search for inner peace.

Here One Moment

2024

by Liane Moriarty

If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.

Two Step Devil

2024

by Jamie Quatro

Two Step Devil is an enigmatic tale that remains shrouded in mystery. As of now, the whispers about its pages suggest a dance with danger, where characters might waltz with shadows and flirt with fate. Will you dare to join the dance and discover the secrets that Jamie Quatro has artfully penned? Stay tuned for a story that promises to entwine suspense, mystery, and perhaps, a touch of the supernatural.

Fear and Trembling

Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and religious author interested in human psychology. He is regarded as a leading pioneer of existentialism and one of the greatest philosophers of the 19th Century.

In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard, writing under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio, wanted to understand the anxiety that must have been present in Abraham when God commanded him to offer his son as a human sacrifice. Abraham had a choice to complete the task or to forget it. He resigned himself to the loss of his son, acting according to his faith. In other words, one must be willing to give up all his or her earthly possessions in infinite resignation and must also be willing to give up whatever it is that he or she loves more than God.

Abraham had passed the test -- his love for God proved greater than anything else in him. And because a good and just Creator would not want a father to kill his son, God intervened at the last moment to prevent the sacrifice.

All Things Are Too Small

2024

by Becca Rothfeld

All Things Are Too Small is brilliant cultural critic Becca Rothfeld's soul cry for derangement: imbalance, obsession, gluttony, ravishment, ugliness, and unbound truth in aesthetics, whether we're talking about literature, criticism, or design. In a healthy culture, Rothfeld argues, economic security allows for wild aesthetic experimentation and excess; alas, in the contemporary Anglophone West, we've got it flipped.

The gap between rich and poor, privileged and oppressed, yawns hideously wide, while we stagnate in a cultural equality that imposes restraint. This collection of essays ranges from topics such as Sally Rooney, sadomasochism, and women who wait, making a glorious call to throw off restraint and balance in culture in favor of excess, abandon, and disproportion.

Who's Afraid Of Gender?

2024

by Judith Butler

From a global icon, a bold, essential account of how a fear of gender is fueling reactionary politics around the world.

Judith Butler, the groundbreaking thinker whose iconic book Gender Trouble redefined how we think about gender and sexuality, confronts the attacks on “gender” that have become central to right-wing movements today.

The aim of Who’s Afraid of Gender? is not to offer a new theory of gender but to examine how “gender” has become a phantasm for emerging authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, and transexclusionary feminists. In their vital, courageous new book, Butler illuminates the concrete ways that this phantasm of “gender” collects and displaces anxieties and fears of destruction. Operating in tandem with deceptive accounts of “critical race theory” and xenophobic panics about migration, the anti-gender movement demonizes struggles for equality, fuels aggressive nationalism, and leaves millions of people vulnerable to subjugation.

An essential intervention into one of the most fraught issues of our moment, Who’s Afraid of Gender? is a bold call to refuse the alliance with authoritarian movements and to make a broad coalition with all those whose struggle for equality is linked with fighting injustice. Imagining new possibilities for both freedom and solidarity, Butler offers us a hopeful work of social and political analysis that is both timely and timeless.

On Extinction: Beginning Again At The End

2024

by Benjamin Ware

How to think about the end of the world and what we must do to rebuild beyond that final moment, for readers of The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing and Extinction: A Radical History by Ashley Dawson. What are we to think as we face the sixth extinction moment? Kant's invitation to imagine an 'end of all things' no longer feels like just a thought experiment.

Philosopher Ben Ware argues that we must accept this without looking away. In fact, extinction is the very lens through which we see our current reality. He argues that in order to map the catastrophic present, we will first need to take a tiger's leap into the past in order to construct a new 'dialectics of extinctions'.

On Extinction takes us on a breath-taking philosophical journey. Bringing dialectical thought to bear on one of the most pressing issues of our times, Ware argues that radical politics today should not be concerned with merely averting the worst, but rather with beginning again at the end: bringing to completion a mode of political and economic life which tethers us all–the yet to be born–to a sick but undying present. To think about the future in this way is itself a form of liberation that might incubate the necessary radical solutions we need.

Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth

2024

by Ingrid Robeyns

Ingrid Robeyns, a world-leading philosopher and economist, presents a powerful case for limitarianism—the idea that there should be a maximum limit on individual wealth. In Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth, she explores the ethical and democratic implications of wealth accumulation and its impact on society at large.

Robeyns provides a compelling argument for why extreme wealth is problematic, citing that it:

  • perpetuates poverty and inequality
  • is often linked to 'dirty money'
  • undermines democracy
  • contributes to climate change
  • exceeds what one can justifiably deserve

The book suggests that there are more constructive uses for excess money and that even the wealthy would benefit from a wealth cap. Through a radical reimagining of our economic systems, Robeyns ignites an urgent debate about wealth and challenges the foundations of capitalism and neoliberalism.

Orbital

2023

by Samantha Harvey

The earth, from here, is like heaven. It flows with colour. A burst of hopeful colour.

A book of wonder, Orbital is nature writing from space and an unexpected and profound love letter to life on Earth.

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments, and test the limits of the human body. But mostly, they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.

Yet although separated from the world, they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?

The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys

2023

by Bahá'u'lláh

The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys is a mystical account of the odyssey of the human soul. This profound work by Bahá'u'lláh offers an exploration into the spiritual journey that one embarks upon in pursuit of truth and enlightenment.

Within these pages, Bahá'u'lláh guides the reader through the symbolic valleys, each representing a stage in the soul's quest towards divine understanding and closeness to the Creator. It is a timeless piece that resonates with seekers of all ages, encouraging introspection and spiritual awakening.

As you delve into the text, you will encounter wisdom and insights that challenge and inspire, providing a beacon of light on the path of self-discovery and spiritual fulfillment.

Doppelganger

2023

by Naomi Klein

From the award-winning, bestselling author of No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein presents a revelatory analysis of the collapsed meanings, blurred identities, and uncertain realities of the mirror world.

Naomi Klein takes a more personal turn, braiding together elements of tragicomic memoir, chilling political reportage, and cobweb-clearing cultural analysis, as she dives deep into what she calls the Mirror World—our destabilized present rife with doubles and confusion, where far right movements playact solidarity with the working class, AI-generated content blurs the line between genuine and spurious, New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers further scramble our familiar political allegiances, and so many of us project our own carefully curated digital doubles out into the social media sphere.

Klein begins this richly nuanced intellectual adventure story by grappling with her own doppelganger—a fellow author and public intellectual whose views are antithetical to Klein’s own, but whose name and public persona are sufficiently similar that many people have confused the two over the years. From there, she turns her gaze both inward to our psychic landscapes—drawing on the work of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks—and outward, to our intersecting economic, environmental, medical, and political crises.

Ultimately seeking to escape the Mirror World and chart a path beyond confusion and despair, Klein delivers a treatment of the way many of us think and feel now, offering an intellectual adventure story for our times.

Saving Time

2023

by Jenny Odell

In her first book, How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell wrote about the importance of disconnecting from the "attention economy" to spend time in quiet contemplation. But what if you don't have time to spend? In order to answer this seemingly simple question, Odell took a deep dive into the fundamental structure of our society and found that the clock we live by was built for profit, not people. This is why our lives, even in leisure, have come to seem like a series of moments to be bought, sold, and processed ever more efficiently.

Odell shows us how our painful relationship to time is inextricably connected not only to persisting social inequities but to the climate crisis, existential dread, and a lethal fatalism. This dazzling, subversive, and deeply hopeful book offers us different ways to experience time—inspired by pre-industrial cultures, ecological cues, and geological timescales—that can bring within reach a more humane, responsive way of living. As planet-bound animals, we live inside shortening and lengthening days alongside gardens growing, birds migrating, and cliffs eroding; the stretchy quality of waiting and desire; the way the present may suddenly feel marbled with childhood memory; the slow but sure procession of a pregnancy; the time it takes to heal from injuries.

Odell urges us to become stewards of these different rhythms of life in which time is not reducible to standardized units and instead forms the very medium of possibility. Saving Time tugs at the seams of reality as we know it—the way we experience time itself—and rearranges it, imagining a world not centered on work, the office clock, or the profit motive. If we can "save" time by imagining a life, identity, and source of meaning outside these things, time might also save us.

On the Shortness of Life

The Stoic writings of the philosopher Seneca offer powerful insights into the art of living, the importance of reason and morality, and continue to provide profound guidance to many through their eloquence, lucidity, and timeless wisdom.

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war, and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked, and comforted. They have enriched lives—and destroyed them.

This selection of Seneca's works was taken from the Penguin Classics edition of Dialogues and Letters, translated by C.D.N. Costa, and includes the essays On the Shortness of Life, Consolation to Helvia, and On Tranquility of Mind.

عدالة وفن

2023

by Tawfiq Al-Hakim

هذا الكتاب هو إحدى مجموعات توفيق الحكيم القصصية الشهيرة.

The Future of an Illusion

2022

by Sigmund Freud

In the manner of the eighteenth-century philosopher, Freud argued that religion and science were mortal enemies. Early in the century, he began to think about religion psychoanalytically and to discuss it in his writings. The Future of an Illusion (1927), Freud's best known and most emphatic psychoanalytic exploration of religion, is the culmination of a lifelong pattern of thinking.

Freud uses his understanding of psychology to examine the roots of both civilization and religion. This takes the form of a comprehensive essay, with Freud forming an argument throughout its chapters about the history of religion and the part it should play in society's future.

Stay True

2022

by Hua Hsu

Stay True is a gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art, by New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu. In the eyes of eighteen-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Ken—with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternity—is that he is exactly like everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, who makes 'zines and haunts Bay Area record shops, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to.

The only thing Hua and Ken have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn't seem to have a place for either of them. But despite his first impressions, Hua and Ken become friends, a friendship built on late-night conversations over cigarettes, long drives along the California coast, and the successes and humiliations of everyday college life. And then violently, senselessly, Ken is gone, killed in a carjacking, not even three years after the day they first meet.

Determined to hold on to all that was left off one of his closest friends—his memories—Hua turned to writing. Stay True is the book he's been working on ever since. A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.

The Quiet Before

2022

by Gal Beckerman

The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas is an exploration of the formation of social movements through history and the role of technology in shaping them. Gal Beckerman, an editor at The New York Times Book Review, presents a narrative that spans from the 1600s to the present, examining how the quiet conception of revolutionary ideas in small, private groups has led to significant social changes, from the scientific revolution to the suffrage movement, and from feminism to modern-day epidemiology.

This book delves into the correspondence that ignited the scientific revolution, the petitions that won voting rights in 1830s Britain, the zines that expressed women's rage in the early 1990s, and the messaging apps utilized by epidemiologists during a pandemic. Beckerman highlights the importance of secluded spaces where radical ideas can incubate before reaching a wider audience and cautions that the prevalence of social media may be undermining these productive environments. By examining the successes and failures of movements like the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter, The Quiet Before offers insights into what current social media platforms lack and proposes ways to foster the growth of radical ideas in the future.

How to Be Perfect

2022

by Michael Schur

From the creator of The Good Place and the cocreator of Parks and Recreation, a hilarious, thought-provoking guide to living an ethical life, drawing on 2,400 years of deep thinking from around the world.

Most people think of themselves as “good,” but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad”—especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more so we can sound cool at parties and become better people. 

Schur starts off with easy ethical questions like “Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?” (No.) and works his way up to the most complex moral issues we all face. Such as: Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people? How much money should I give to charity? Why bother being good at all when there are no consequences for being bad? And much more. By the time the book is done, we’ll know exactly how to act in every conceivable situation, so as to produce a verifiably maximal amount of moral good. We will be perfect, and all our friends will be jealous. OK, not quite. Instead, we’ll gain fresh, funny, inspiring wisdom on the toughest issues we face every day.

What's Wrong with the World

2022

by G.K. Chesterton

What's Wrong With the World is an aptly titled treatise by one of the twentieth century's most memorable and prolific writers, G.K. Chesterton. In this work, Chesterton tackles a wide range of topics including education, government, big business, feminism, and more.

A steadfast champion of the working man, family, and faith, Chesterton eloquently opposes materialism, snobbery, and hypocrisy, along with any adversary of freedom and simplicity in modern society.

Culled from the thousands of essays he contributed to newspapers and periodicals over his lifetime, these critical works pulse with Chesterton's unique brand of clever commentary. As readable and rewarding today as when they were written over a century ago, these pieces offer his unparalleled analysis of contemporary ideals, incisive critique of modern efficiency, and humorous but heartfelt defense of the common man against trendsetting social assaults.

El regreso de Quetzalcóatl

Ésta es la profecía de Quetzalcóatl, su revelación, nuestro destino. El 13 de agosto de 1521 cayó Tenochtitlán en manos de decenas de miles de guerreros de diversos pueblos y ciudades del Anáhuac. Los herederos de los toltecas se liberaron del terrible yugo de los hijos de Huitzilopochtli, con el inesperado pero indispensable apoyo de un puñado de aventureros castellanos. Una era llegó a su fin y, como siempre ocurre en la historia humana, una nueva comenzó a nacer. Descendió la noche sobre el Pueblo del Sol e inició el amanecer de un México que no ha sabido salir de las tinieblas.

El regreso de Quetzalcóatl es un recorrido que abarca a toda la humanidad, y que pasa de la historia a la filosofía, de la psicología a la religión, y de ahí al misticismo para volver a la historia. Va de Teotihuacán a Roma, del mundo maya al valle del Nilo, de Mesoamérica a la India, de la toltequidad a la filosofía griega, y ante todo del pasado que debemos superar al presente en el que tenemos una última oportunidad para tratar de vislumbrar el futuro. Si descifras a Quetzalcóatl podrás salvar a México de hundirse en su inframundo.

The Anatomy of Melancholy

2021

by Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy is one of the major documents of modern European civilization. Robert Burton's astounding compendium is a survey of melancholy in all its myriad forms. Since its publication in the seventeenth century, it has invited nothing but superlatives.

Lewellyn Powys called it the greatest work of prose of the greatest period of English prose-writing, while the celebrated surgeon William Osler declared it the greatest of medical treatises. Dr. Johnson, as Boswell reports, said it was the only book that he rose early in the morning to read with pleasure.

In this surprisingly compact and elegant new edition, Burton's spectacular verbal labyrinth is sure to delight, instruct, and divert today's readers as much as it has those of the past four centuries.

How Do You Live?

How Do You Live? is a profound literary work that explores the intricacies of life, morality, and human connection. Through the story of a young boy and his uncle, the book delves into philosophical discussions that are as relevant today as they were when the book was first published in Japan. It is a coming-of-age tale that invites readers to reflect on their own lives and the choices they make. The narrative is complemented by thoughtful commentary that encourages a deeper understanding of one's purpose and the impact of one's actions on the world.

Rationality

2021

by Steven Pinker

Can reading a book make you more rational? Can it help us understand why there is so much irrationality in the world? Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now, answers these questions in Rationality. In the 21st century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding--and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing?

Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply irrational--cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies, and illusions. Instead, he explains that we think in ways that are sensible in the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning our best thinkers have discovered over the millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation and causation, and optimal ways to update beliefs and commit to choices individually and with others.

These tools are not a standard part of our educational curricula and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book--until now. Rationality also explores its opposite: how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity, and uplifting mythology by individuals can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Collective rationality depends on norms that are explicitly designed to promote objectivity and truth.

Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humor, Rationality will enlighten, inspire, and empower.

When We Cease to Understand the World

When We Cease to Understand the World is a fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining.

This book explores the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger—these are some of the luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut thrusts the reader. They grapple with the most profound questions of existence, experiencing strokes of unparalleled genius, alienating friends and lovers, and descending into isolation and insanity.

Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better, while others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear. At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.

Being and Nothingness

Being & Nothingness is without doubt one of the most significant philosophical books of the 20th century. This central work by one of the century's most influential thinkers, Jean-Paul Sartre, altered the course of western philosophy. Its revolutionary approach challenged all previous assumptions about the individual's relationship with the world.

Known as 'the Bible of existentialism', its impact on culture and literature was immediate and was felt worldwide, from the absurdist drama of Samuel Beckett to the soul-searching cries of the Beat poets. Being & Nothingness is one of those rare books whose influence has affected the mindset of subsequent generations.

Seventy years after its first publication, its message remains as potent as ever—challenging readers to confront the fundamental dilemmas of human freedom, choice, responsibility, and action.

How to Talk to a Science Denier

2021

by Lee McIntyre

Can we change the minds of science deniers? Encounters with flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, coronavirus truthers, and others who defy reason are the focus of this work. In a world where many citizens reject scientific expertise in favor of ideology and conspiracy theories, Lee McIntyre's book, How to Talk to a Science Denier, offers a poignant exploration into the culture of science denialism.

McIntyre, drawing on his own experiences, such as attending a Flat Earth convention, along with academic research, seeks to understand the common themes of science denialism. These themes are evident in misinformation campaigns that have persisted over decades, ranging from tobacco companies denying the link between smoking and lung cancer to the current day anti-vaxxer movement.

In his quest to communicate the truth and values of science, McIntyre shares personal anecdotes, such as engaging discussions with coal miners and a scientist friend about genetically modified organisms. He presents tools and techniques for effective communication, emphasizing the importance of calm, respectful conversations and face-to-face engagement with science deniers.

Through this book, McIntyre not only shares insights into the psychology of denial but also provides a hopeful message: it is possible to make a difference by standing up against science denial, which can have life-or-death consequences.

Four Thousand Weeks

2021

by Oliver Burkeman

The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn't enough time. We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we're deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and "life hacks" to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon.

Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on "getting everything done," Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we've come to think about time aren't inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we've made as individuals and as a society--and that we could do things differently.

Wages, Price and Profit

2021

by Karl Marx

How are wages and prices determined? What is the difference between labor and labor power? How do capitalists make a profit?

Are the struggles of workers to raise wages and reduce working hours in vain? Is the demand for "fair wages" meaningful? Can workers limit themselves to wage struggles alone?

In the 1850s and 60s, while preparing for Capital, Karl Marx presented these questions to the leaders of the First International in 1865, two years before the first volume of Capital was published. Many topics and concepts deeply explored in Capital were addressed in this presentation in a way that even those not well-versed in economics could understand. In other words, Wages, Price and Profit can also be read as an introduction to Capital.

Originally written in English and published after the deaths of Marx and his co-founders of Marxism, this work offers a comprehensive insight into the economic struggles of the working class.

Noise

From the Nobel Prize-winning author of Thinking, Fast and Slow and the coauthor of Nudge, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment is a revolutionary exploration of why people make bad judgments and how to make better ones. Imagine that two doctors in the same city give different diagnoses to identical patients, or that two judges in the same courthouse give markedly different sentences to people who have committed the same crime. Suppose that different interviewers at the same firm make different decisions about indistinguishable job applicants, or that when a company is handling customer complaints, the resolution depends on who happens to answer the phone. Now imagine that the same doctor, the same judge, the same interviewer, or the same customer service agent makes different decisions depending on whether it is morning or afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday. These are examples of noise: variability in judgments that should be identical.

In Noise, Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein show the detrimental effects of noise in many fields, including medicine, law, economic forecasting, forensic science, bail, child protection, strategy, performance reviews, and personnel selection. Wherever there is judgment, there is noise. Yet, most of the time, individuals and organizations alike are unaware of it. They neglect noise. With a few simple remedies, people can reduce both noise and bias, and so make far better decisions.

Packed with original ideas, and offering the same kinds of research-based insights that made Thinking, Fast and Slow and Nudge groundbreaking New York Times bestsellers, Noise explains how and why humans are so susceptible to noise in judgment—and what we can do about it.

The Anthropocene Reviewed

2021

by John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.

Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection.

The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.

The Schopenhauer Cure

2020

by Irvin D. Yalom

Suddenly confronted with his own mortality after a routine checkup, eminent psychotherapist Julius Hertzfeld is forced to reexamine his life and work. He seeks out Philip Slate, a sex addict whom he failed to help some twenty years earlier. Yet Philip claims to be cured, miraculously transformed by the pessimistic teachings of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, and is, himself, a philosophical counselor in training.

Philip's dour, misanthropic stance compels Julius to invite him to join his intensive therapy group in exchange for tutoring on Schopenhauer. But with mere months left, life may be far too short to help Philip or to compete with him for the hearts and minds of the group members. And then again, it might be just long enough.

Orthodoxy

2020

by G.K. Chesterton

This book is meant to be a companion to Heretics, and to put the positive side in addition to the negative. Many critics complained of the book because it merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy. This book is an attempt to answer the challenge. It is the purpose of the writer to attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian Faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it.

The book is therefore arranged upon the positive principle of a riddle and its answer. It deals first with all the writer's own solitary and sincere speculations and then with the startling style in which they were all suddenly satisfied by the Christian Theology. The writer regards it as amounting to a convincing creed. But if it is not that it is at least a repeated and surprising coincidence.

Piranesi

2020

by Susanna Clarke

From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke delivers an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality with Piranesi.

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls, an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house--a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy

2020

by René Descartes

Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy presents René Descartes’s two most important philosophical works. The Discourse offers a concise presentation and defense of Descartes’s method of intellectual inquiry—a method that greatly influenced both philosophical and scientific reasoning in the early modern world.


Considered a foundational text in modern philosophy, the Meditations presents numerous compelling arguments that continue to influence debates in epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of religion. Descartes’s timeless writing strikes a unique balance of novelty and familiarity, offering arguments concerning knowledge, science, and metaphysics (including the famous “I think, therefore I am”) that are as influential today as they were in the seventeenth century.


This edition, featuring Ian Johnston’s translations, is modern, clear, and thoroughly annotated, making it ideal for readers unfamiliar with Descartes’s intellectual context. An approachable introduction engages both the historical and philosophical aspects of the text, helping the reader understand the concepts and arguments contained therein.

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

If humans are benevolent by nature, how do societies become corrupt? And how do governments founded upon the defense of individual rights degenerate into tyranny? These are the questions addressed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, a strikingly original inquiry into much-explored issues of 18th-century (and subsequent) philosophy: human nature and the best form of government.

Rousseau takes an innovative approach by introducing a "hypothetical history" that presents a theoretical view of people in a pre-social condition and the ensuing effects of civilization. In his sweeping account of humanity's social and political development, the author develops a theory of human evolution that prefigures Darwinian thought and encompasses aspects of ethics, sociology, and epistemology. He concludes that people are inevitably corrupt as a result of both natural (or physical) inequalities and moral (or political) inequalities.

One of the most influential works of the Enlightenment, the Discourse on the Origin of Inequality offers a thought-provoking account of society's origins and a keen criticism of unequal modern political institutions.

The Gay Science

The Gay Science, often considered the most personal of all Nietzsche's works, presents a rich tapestry of philosophical reflections and poetic expressions. In this book, Nietzsche proclaims the death of God and introduces readers to his doctrine of eternal recurrence.

Walter Kaufmann's commentary, enriched with many quotations from previously untranslated letters, brings to life Nietzsche as a human being and illuminates his philosophy. This work contains some of Nietzsche's most sustained discussions on art and morality, knowledge and truth, the intellectual conscience, and the origin of logic.

Written just before Thus Spoke Zarathustra and finalized five years later, after Beyond Good and Evil, this book captures many of Nietzsche's most interesting philosophical ideas and the largest collection of his poetry that he ever published himself.

Engage with Nietzsche's thought and explore themes of art, science, morality, and human existence with a spirit of joy and inquiry.

Why Fish Don't Exist

2020

by Lulu Miller

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and—possibly—even murder, woven together in a wondrous debut by NPR reporter Lulu Miller.

David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist driven to bring order to the natural world, was on the verge of discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. However, the universe seemed determined to challenge him, as his specimen collections were destroyed by a series of calamities, culminating in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. His life's work in ruins, Jordan stood amidst the wreckage and, spotting the first fish he recognized, began the arduous task of rebuilding his collection. This time, he introduced an innovation to protect his work from chaos.

Lulu Miller's encounter with Jordan's story led her to question her own understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet. Why Fish Don't Exist is not only a biography and a memoir but also a scientific adventure that reads like a fable, offering an inspiring reflection on how to persevere in a world where chaos always seems to prevail.

Déjame que te cuente

2020

by Jorge Bucay

Demián es un muchacho inquieto y curioso que desea saber más sobre sí mismo. Esta búsqueda lo lleva a Jorge, el Gordo, un psicoanalista muy peculiar que le ayuda a enfrentar la vida y encontrar las respuestas que está buscando con un método muy personal: cada día, le cuenta un cuento.

Son cuentos clásicos, modernos o populares, reinventados por el psicoanalista para ayudar a su joven amigo a resolver sus dudas. Historias que a todos nos pueden servir para entendernos mejor a nosotros mismos, nuestras relaciones y nuestros miedos.

Jorge recoge relatos populares y modernos y los reelabora para que de ellos nazca un destello que ilumine nuestro interior. Estos cuentos han sido escritos solo para señalar un lugar o un camino. El trabajo de buscar dentro, en lo profundo de cada relato, el diamante que está escondido... es tarea de cada uno.

Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo

2020

by Plato

Five Dialogues contains the distinguished translations of G. M. A. Grube, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works (Hacket, 1997). This edition includes a number of new or expanded footnotes and updated Suggestions for Further Reading.

Dive into the world of ancient Greek philosophy with Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, and Phaedo. These dialogues explore profound questions of ethics, justice, virtue, and the immortality of the soul.

Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits

Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits is a remarkable collection of almost 1,400 aphorisms penned by the renowned philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. This collection was first published in three installments, with the first volume appearing in 1878, just before Nietzsche left academic life due to health issues. It was later republished in a two-volume edition in 1886.

This work marks a significant shift in Nietzsche's philosophical approach, showcasing his new "positivism" and skepticism. Here, Nietzsche challenges his earlier metaphysical and psychological assumptions with characteristic perceptiveness and honesty, not to mention suspicion and irony.

In this wide-ranging work, Nietzsche first employed his celebrated aphoristic style, perfectly suited to his iconoclastic, penetrating, and multi-faceted thought. Many themes of his later works make their initial appearance here, expressed with unforgettable liveliness and subtlety. This book well deserves its subtitle, "A Book for Free Spirits," and its original dedication to Voltaire, whose project of radical enlightenment found a new champion in Nietzsche.

Niebla

"Niebla" es una de las obras más representativas de Miguel de Unamuno y un ejemplo clásico de la novela moderna. En esta obra, la ficción deja de ser un mero vehículo narrativo para convertirse en un universo textual lleno de sugerencias fecundas.

El título, Niebla, refleja el propósito de desdibujar lo visible y materializar lo impalpable. En este ambiente, encontramos a Augusto Pérez, un hombre esencialmente frustrado, cuya muerte nos obliga a reflexionar profundamente.

Esta edición, facilitada por Germán Gullón, ofrece una pauta de lectura que conduce a una comprensión más profunda de la novela y su importancia en la narrativa española.

Finding Identity

2019

by Silenus Poetry

Finding Identity is a collection of poetry and prose, marking the journeys and sentiments of life. The book starts with the feeling of being lost, the course of wanting to give up, to give in, and the persistence of beliefs. Roads of fire and wounds, attempts to make a stand on the ground, the search for a position in the infinite unknown.

This book records the view upon the city of a delicate soul from a sensitive human; it includes unique perspectives and theories. It ends with the approach of a clearer state in the identity search by gaining emotional independence.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

2019

by Charlie Mackesy

Enter the world of Charlie's four unlikely friends, and discover their story and their most important life lessons. The conversations of the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse have been shared thousands of times online, recreated in school art classes, hung on hospital walls, and even turned into tattoos.

In Charlie's first book, you will find his most-loved illustrations and some new ones too. This book offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times, following the tale of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox, and a wise horse who find themselves together in sometimes difficult terrain, sharing their greatest fears and biggest discoveries about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship, and love.

The shared adventures and important conversations between the four friends are full of life lessons that have connected with readers of all ages.

Stillness Is the Key

2019

by Ryan Holiday

In "The Obstacle Is the Way" and "Ego Is the Enemy," bestselling author Ryan Holiday made ancient wisdom wildly popular with a new generation of leaders in sports, politics, and technology. In his new book, "Stillness Is the Key," Holiday draws on timeless Stoic and Buddhist philosophy to show why slowing down is the secret weapon for those charging ahead.

All great leaders, thinkers, artists, athletes, and visionaries share one indelible quality. It enables them to conquer their tempers, avoid distraction, and discover great insights. To achieve happiness and do the right thing. Ryan Holiday calls it stillness—to be steady while the world spins around you.

In this book, he outlines a path for achieving this ancient, but urgently necessary way of living. Drawing on a wide range of history's greatest thinkers, from Confucius to Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to Thich Nhat Hanh, John Stuart Mill to Nietzsche, he argues that stillness is not mere inactivity, but the doorway to self-mastery, discipline, and focus.

Holiday also examines figures who exemplified the power of stillness: baseball player Sadaharu Oh, whose study of Zen made him the greatest home run hitter of all time; Winston Churchill, who balanced his busy public life with time spent laying bricks and painting at his Chartwell estate; Fred Rogers, who taught generations of children to see what was invisible to the eye; Anne Frank, whose journaling and love of nature guided her through unimaginable adversity.

More than ever, people are overwhelmed. They face obstacles, egos, and competition. Stillness Is the Key offers a simple but inspiring antidote to the stress of 24/7 news and social media. The stillness that we all seek is the path to meaning, contentment, and excellence in a world that needs more of it than ever.

Four Quartets

2019

by T.S. Eliot

The Four Quartets is a series of four poems by T.S. Eliot, published individually from 1936 to 1942, and in book form in 1943. It was considered by Eliot himself to be his finest work.

Each of the quartets has five "movements" and each is titled by a place name:

  • BURNT NORTON (1936)
  • EAST COKER (1940)
  • THE DRY SALVAGES (1941)
  • LITTLE GIDDING (1942)

Eliot's insights into the cyclical nature of life are revealed through themes and images woven throughout the four poems. Spiritual, philosophical, and personal themes emerge through symbolic allusions and literary and religious references from both Eastern and Western thought.

The work addresses the connections of the personal and historical present and past, spiritual renewal, and the very nature of experience. It is considered the poet's clearest exposition of his Christian beliefs.

Humankind

Humankind: A Hopeful History challenges the belief that humans are fundamentally bad—a notion that has been a common thread uniting figures across the ideological spectrum from ancient philosophers to modern thinkers. Rutger Bregman questions this assumption and offers a new perspective on our species, arguing that we are innately kind, cooperative, and trustworthy.

Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology to historical events, such as the real-life story reminiscent of Lord of the Flies and the cooperation seen in the wake of the Blitz, Bregman presents compelling evidence of humanity's capacity for generosity. The book critically examines popular social science experiments, like the Stanford prison experiment, and historical contexts, arguing for a more optimistic view of human nature and its implications for politics and economics.

Using engaging storytelling and an accessible approach, Bregman makes the case that a belief in the better aspects of humanity can create a foundation for societal change. With a balance of wit and frankness, Humankind is not just an analysis of past behavior but a hopeful vision for the future of our species.

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