Common Sense Thomas Paine http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850 urn:isbn:0486296024 en 1776 Non-Fiction Essay Politics Enormously popular and widely read pamphlet, first published in January of 1776, clearly and persuasively argues for American separation from Great Britain and paves the way for the Declaration of Independence. This highly influential landmark document attacks the monarchy, cites the evils of government and combines idealism with practical economic concerns. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.mobi The Federalist Papers Publius http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674 urn:isbn:1596052473 en 1787 Non-Fiction History Essay Politics The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788. A compilation of these and eight others, called The Federalist, was published in 1788 by J. and A. McLean. The Federalist Papers serve as a primary source for interpretation of the Constitution, as they outline the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government. The authors of the Federalist Papers wanted to both influence the vote in favor of ratification and shape future interpretations of the Constitution. According to historian Richard B. Morris, they are an "incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.mobi Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675 urn:isbn:B00146LZ1C en 1776 Non-Fiction Essay Politics The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.mobi On the Duty of Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau http://www.feedbooks.com/book/219 urn:isbn:1604244291 en 1849 Non-Fiction Essay Politics Thoreau wrote his famous essay, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, as a protest against an unjust but popular war and the immoral but popular institution of slave-owning. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/219.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/219.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/219.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/219.mobi An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210 urn:isbn:0679783369 en 1776 Non-Fiction Science Politics Adam Smith's masterpiece, first published in 1776, is the foundation of modern economic thought and remains the single most important account of the rise of, and the principles behind, modern capitalism. Written in clear and incisive prose, The Wealth of Nations articulates the concepts indispensable to an understanding of contemporary society. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.mobi The Antichrist Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711 urn:isbn:1420925091 en 1888 Non-Fiction Philosophy Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Antichrist" might be more aptly named "The Antichristian," for it is an unmitigated attack on Christianity that Nietzsche makes within the text instead of an exposition on evil or Satan as the title might suggest. In "The Antichrist," Nietzsche presents a highly controversial view of Christianity as a damaging influence upon western civilization that must come to an end. Regardless of ones religious or philosophical point of view, "The Antichrist" makes for an engaging philosophical discourse. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.mobi Walden Henry David Thoreau http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3914 urn:isbn:0807014257 en 1854 Non-Fiction Philosophy Essay Biography Politics Walden (also known as Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's life for two years and two months in second-growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond, not far from his friends and family in Concord, Massachusetts. Walden was written so that the stay appears to be a year, with expressed seasonal divisions. Thoreau called it an experiment in simple living. Walden is neither a novel nor a true autobiography, but a social critique of the Western World, with each chapter heralding some aspect of humanity that needed to be either renounced or praised. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, and manual for self reliance. (from Wikipedia) http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3914.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3914.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3914.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3914.mobi Apology Plato http://www.feedbooks.com/book/678 urn:isbn:0865163480 en -400 Philosophy (The) Apology (of Socrates) is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he defends himself against the charges of being a man "who corrupted the young, did not believe in the gods, and created new deities". "Apology" here has its earlier meaning (now usually expressed by the word "apologia") of speaking in defense of a cause or of one's beliefs or actions (from the Greek απολογία). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/678.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/678.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/678.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/678.mobi The Einstein Theory of Relativity Hendrik Antoon Lorentz http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3591 en 1920 Essay Science Whether it is true or not that not more than twelve persons in all the world are able to understand Einstein's Theory, it is nevertheless a fact that there is a constant demand for information about this much-debated topic of relativity. The books published on the subject are so technical that only a person trained in pure physics and higher mathematics is able to fully understand them. In order to make a popular explanation of this far-reaching theory available, the present book is published. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3591.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3591.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3591.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3591.mobi Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche http://www.feedbooks.com/book/676 urn:isbn:1604593210 en 1886 Non-Fiction Philosophy Beyond Good and Evil (German: Jenseits von Gut und Böse), subtitled "Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future" (Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft), is a book by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, first published in 1886. It takes up and expands on the ideas of his previous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but approached from a more critical, polemical direction. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche attacks past philosophers for their alleged lack of critical sense and their blind acceptance of Christian premises in their consideration of morality. The work moves into the realm "beyond good and evil" in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favour of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the perspectival nature of knowledge and the perilous condition of the modern individual. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/676.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/676.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/676.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/676.mobi Siddhartha Hermann Hesse http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374 urn:isbn:0553208845 en 1922 Novels Philosophy Religion Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical, style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s. The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language, siddha (gotten) + artha (meaning or wealth). The two words together mean "one who has found meaning (of existence)" or "he who has attained his goals". The Buddha's name, before his renunciation, was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as "Gotama". Source: Wikipedia This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3374.mobi The Art of War Sun Tzu http://www.feedbooks.com/book/168 urn:isbn:0762415983 en -514 Non-Fiction Philosophy War The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. The Art of War is one of the oldest books on military strategy in the world. It is the first and one of the most successful works on strategy and has had a huge influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu was the first to recognize the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in that environment. He taught that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive environment, http://www.feedbooks.com/book/168.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/168.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/168.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/168.mobi Essays in the Art of Writing Robert Louis Stevenson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3706 urn:isbn:1443740500 en 1905 Non-Fiction Essay Collections A collection of essays about writing: "On some technical elements of style in literature", "The morality of the profession of letters", "Books which have influenced me", "A note on realism", "My first book: ‘Treasure Island’", "The genesis of ‘the master of Ballantrae’" & "Preface to ‘the master of Ballantrae’". http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3706.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3706.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3706.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3706.mobi Discourse on the Method René Descartes http://www.feedbooks.com/book/677 urn:isbn:0872204200 en 1637 Non-Fiction Philosophy The Discourse on the Method is a philosophical and mathematical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. Its full name is Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Searching for Truth in the Sciences (French title: Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la verité dans les sciences). The Discourse on Method is best known as the source of the famous quotation "Je pense, donc je suis" ("I think, therefore I am"), which occurs in Part IV of the work. (The similar statement in Latin, Cogito ergo sum, is found in §7 of Principles of Philosophy.) In addition, in one of its appendices, La Géométrie, is contained Descartes' first introduction of the Cartesian coordinate system. The Discourse on the Method is one of the most influential works in the history of modern science. It is a method which gives a solid platform from which all modern natural sciences could evolve. In this work, Descartes tackles the problem of skepticism which had been revived from the ancients such as Sextus Empiricus by authors such as Al-Ghazali and Michel de Montaigne. Descartes modified it to account for a truth that he found to be incontrovertible. Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions. The book was originally published in Leiden in French, together with his works "Dioptrique, Météores et Géométrie". Later, it was translated into Latin and published in 1656 in Amsterdam. Together with Meditations on First Philosophy (Meditationes de Prima Philosophia), Principles of Philosophy (Principia philosophiae) and Rules for the Direction of the Mind (Regulae ad directionem ingenii), it forms the base of the Epistemology known as Cartesianism. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/677.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/677.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/677.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/677.mobi The Elements of Style William Strunk Jr. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3697 urn:isbn:9562916464 en 1918 Non-Fiction The Elements of Style (also known as Strunk & White) is an American English writing style guide. It is one of the most influential and best-known prescriptive treatments of English grammar and usage in the United States. It originally detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, and "a few matters of form" as well as a list of commonly misused words and expressions. Updated editions of the paperback book are often required reading for American high school and college composition classes. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3697.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3697.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3697.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3697.mobi The Book of Five Rings Musashi Miyamoto http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953 urn:isbn:1590302486 en 1644 Non-Fiction Philosophy Essay Biography Miyamoto Musashi's Go Rin no Sho or the book of five rings, is considered a classic treatise on military strategy, much like Sun Tzu's The Art of War and Chanakya's Arthashastra. The five "books" refer to the idea that there are different elements of battle, just as there are different physical elements in life, as described by Buddhism, Shinto, and other Eastern religions. Through the book Musashi defends his thesis: a man who conquers himself is ready to take it on on the world, should need arise. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.mobi Free Culture Lawrence Lessig http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2750 urn:isbn:0143034650 en 2006 Non-Fiction Essay Lawrence Lessig, “the most important thinker on intellectual property in the Internet era” (The New Yorker), masterfully argues that never before in human history has the power to control creative progress been so concentrated in the hands of the powerful few, the so-called Big Media. Never before have the cultural powers- that-be been able to exert such control over what we can and can’t do with the culture around us. Our society defends free markets and free speech; why then does it permit such top-down control? To lose our long tradition of free culture, Lawrence Lessig shows us, is to lose our freedom to create, our freedom to build, and, ultimately, our freedom to imagine. Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2750.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2750.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2750.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2750.mobi Tao Te Ching Laozi http://www.feedbooks.com/book/215 urn:isbn:0679724346 en -600 Non-Fiction Philosophy Religion The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Taoist school of Chinese philosophy and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. This ancient book is also central in Chinese religion, not only for Taoism but Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, aided by hundreds of translations into Western languages. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/215.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/215.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/215.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/215.mobi On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition Charles Darwin http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3015 urn:isbn:0554267381 en 1872 Non-Fiction Science Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, in which he writes of his theories of evolution by natural selection, is one of the most important works of scientific study ever published. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3015.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3015.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3015.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3015.mobi Candide Voltaire http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709 urn:isbn:0553211668 en 1759 Novels Philosophy Candide, ou l'Optimisme (1759) is a French satire by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, English translations of which have been titled Candide: Or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: Or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Or, Optimism (1947). The novella begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply optimism) by his tutor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this existence, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not outright rejecting optimism, advocating an enigmatic precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.mobi