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 The Kama Sutra Vatsyayana http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622 urn:isbn:0375759247 en 400 Non-Fiction Philosophy Sexuality The Kama Sutra, is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Vatsyayana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sex. Kāma means sensual or sexual pleasure, and sūtra are the guidlines of yoga, the word itself means thread in Sanskrit. The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra). Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.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 The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94 urn:isbn:0553212788 en 1513 Non-Fiction Philosophy War Politics Il Principe (The Prince) is a political treatise by the Florentine public servant and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. Originally called De Principatibus (About Principalities), it was written in 1513, but not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. The treatise is not representative of the work published during his lifetime, but it is the most remembered, and the work responsible for bringing "Machiavellian" into wide usage as a pejorative term. It has also been suggested by some critics that the piece is, in fact, a satire. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.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 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 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 Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche http://www.feedbooks.com/book/172 urn:isbn:1845882423 en 1885 Non-Fiction Philosophy Thus Spoke Zarathustra (German: Also sprach Zarathustra, sometimes translated Thus Spake Zarathustra), subtitled A Book for All and None (Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen), is a written work by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885. Much of the work deals with ideas such as the "eternal recurrence of the same", the parable on the "death of God", and the "prophecy" of the Overman, which were first introduced in The Gay Science. Described by Nietzsche himself as "the deepest ever written", the book is a dense and esoteric treatise on philosophy and morality, featuring as protagonist a fictionalized Zarathustra. A central irony of the text is that the style of the Bible is used by Nietzsche to present ideas of his which fundamentally oppose Judaeo-Christian morality and tradition. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/172.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/172.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/172.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/172.mobi Utopia Thomas More http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198 urn:isbn:0393961451 en 1515 Non-Fiction Philosophy De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (translated On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia) or more simply Utopia is a 1516 book by Sir (Saint) Thomas More. The book, written in Latin, is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. The name of the place is derived from the Greek words οὐ u ("not") and τόπος tópos ("place"), with the topographical suffix -εία eía, hence Οὐτοπεία outopeía (Latinized as Utopia), “no-place land.” It also contains a pun, however, because “Utopia” could also be the Latinization of Εὐτοπεία eutopeía, “good-place land,” which uses the Greek prefix ευ eu, “good,” instead of οὐ. One interpretation holds that this suggests that while Utopia might be some sort of perfected society, it is ultimately unreachable. Despite modern connotations of the word "utopia," it is widely accepted that the society More describes in this work was not actually his own "perfect society." Rather he wished to use the contrast between the imaginary land's unusual political ideas and the chaotic politics of his own day as a platform from which to discuss social issues in Europe. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/198.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 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 Book of Tea Kakuzo Okakura http://www.feedbooks.com/book/991 urn:isbn:1933330171 en 1906 Non-Fiction Philosophy The Book of Tea was written by Okakura Kakuzo in the early 20th century. It was first published in 1906, and has since been republished many times. In the book, Kakuzo introduces the term Teaism and how Tea has affected nearly every aspect of Japanese culture, thought, and life. The book is accessibile to Western audiences because Kakuzo was taught at a young age to speak English; and spoke it all his life, becoming proficient at communicating his thoughts to the Western Mind. In his book, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of Tea and Japanese life. The book emphasises how Teaism taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity. Kakuzo argues that this tea-induced simplicity affected art and architecture, and he was a long-time student of the visual arts. He ends the book with a chapter on Tea Masters, and spends some time talking about Sen no Rikyu and his contribution to the Japanese Tea Ceremony. According to Tomonobu Imamichi, Heidegger's concept of Dasein in Sein und Zeit was inspired — although Heidegger remains silent on this — by Okakura Kakuzo's concept of das-in-dem-Welt-sein (to be in the being of the world) expressed in The Book of Tea to describe Zhuangzi's philosophy, which Imamichi's teacher had offerred to Heidegger in 1919, after having followed lessons with him the year before. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/991.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/991.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/991.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/991.mobi Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Edwin Abbott Abbott http://feedbooks.com/book/1596 urn:isbn:048627263X en 1884 Novels Philosophy Science Humor/Satire Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 science fiction novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. As a satire, Flatland offered pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions; in a foreword to one of the many publications of the novella, noted science writer Isaac Asimov described Flatland as "The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions." As such, the novella is still popular amongst mathematics, physics and computer science students. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/1596.png http://feedbooks.com/book/1596.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/1596.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/1596.mobi Discourse on the Method René Descartes http://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://feedbooks.com/book/677.png http://feedbooks.com/book/677.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/677.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/677.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 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 Symposium Plato http://www.feedbooks.com/book/714 urn:isbn:0226042758 en -400 Philosophy The Symposium (Ancient Greek: Συμπόσιον) is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC. It is a discussion on the nature of love, taking the form of a group of speeches, both satirical and serious, given by a group of men at a symposium or a wine drinking gathering at the house of the tragedian Agathon at Athens. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/714.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/714.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/714.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/714.mobi The Republic Plato http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4104 urn:isbn:0199535760 en -380 Philosophy The Republic is a Socratic dialogue by Plato, written in approximately 380 BC. It is one of the most influential works of philosophy and political theory, and Plato's best known work. In Plato's fictional dialogues the characters of Socrates as well as various Athenians and foreigners discuss the meaning of justice and examine whether the just man is happier than the unjust man by imagining a society ruled by philosopher-kings and the guardians. The dialogue also discusses the role of the philosopher, Plato's Theory of Forms, the place of poetry, and the immortality of the soul. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4104.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4104.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4104.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4104.mobi The Age of Reason Thomas Paine http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3781 en 1807 Non-Fiction Philosophy Essay Religion The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, a deistic treatise written by eighteenth-century British radical and American revolutionary Thomas Paine, critiques institutionalized religion and challenges the inerrancy of the Bible. Published in three parts in 1794, 1795, and 1807, it was a bestseller in America, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. British audiences, however, fearing increased political radicalism as a result of the French revolution, received it with more hostility. The Age of Reason presents common deistic arguments; for example, it highlights the corruption of the Christian Church and criticizes its efforts to acquire political power. Paine advocates reason in the place of revelation, leading him to reject miracles and to view the Bible as an ordinary piece of literature rather than as a divinely inspired text. The Age of Reason is not atheistic, but deistic: it promotes natural religion and argues for a creator-God. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3781.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3781.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3781.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3781.mobi Crito Plato http://www.feedbooks.com/book/681 urn:isbn:0674990404 en -400 Philosophy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/681.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/681.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/681.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/681.mobi