Other Non-fiction I Recommend
Explore my top non-fiction book recommendations across various genres. Discover must-read titles for knowledge, inspiration, and personal growth in this curated collection.
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Genesis
by Ephraim Avigdor Speiser
The Anchor Bible Commentary is the collaborative effort of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish scholars from around the world.
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Confucius
Â
Translation of Ta hseueh, Chung yung, and Lun yeu, with original stone texts from rubbings of the first two works.
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é垡çť
by Lao Tsu
For nearly two generations, Gia-fu Feng and Jane English's translation of theTao Te Chinghas been the standard for those seeking access to the wisdom of Taoist thought. Now Jane English and her long-time editor, Toinette Lippe, have revised and refreshed the translation so that it more faithfully reflects the Classical Chinese in which it was first written, taking into account changes in our own language and eliminating any lingering infelicities. They have retained the simple clarity of the original rendering of a sometimes seemingly obtuse spiritual text, a clarity that has made this version a classic in itself, selling over a million copies. Written most probably in the sixth century B.C. by Lao Tsu, this esoteric but infintely practical book has been translated into English more frequently than any other work except the Bible. Gia-fu Feng and Jane English's superb translationâthe most accessible and authoritative modern English translationâoffers the essence of each word and makes Lao Tsu's teaching immediate and alive. This edition includes an introduction and notes by the well-known writer and scholar of philosophy and comparative religion, Jacob Needleman.
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Plato's Theory of Knowledge
by Plato
This edition of two masterpieces of Plato's later period features extensive ongoing commentaries by Cornford that provide helpful background information and valuable insights. The Theaetetus offers a systematic treatment of the question "What is knowledge?" The Sophist follows Socrates' cross-examination of a self-proclaimed true philosopher.
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Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art
by Samuel Henry Butcher
Best translation of one of the most influential books in all history. Greek and English on facing pages, plus Butcher's famed 300-page exposition and interpretation of Aristotle's ideas. Seminal discussions of art and morality, poetic truth, much more.
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The Gnostic Gospels
by Elaine Pagels
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ⢠NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER ⢠NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE WINNER ⢠SELECTED BY THE MODERN LIBRARY AS ONE OF THE 100 BEST NONFICTION BOOKS ⢠The landmark study exploring alternative perspectives of early Christianity as revealed through the Nag Hammadi texts that could have shaped the religion differently if included in the Christian canon ⢠"[Pagels] is always readable, always deeply informed, always richly suggestive of pathways her readers may wish to follow out for themselves."âHarold Bloom, The Washington Post â[Pagels] writes with the instincts of a novelist, the skill of a scholar, and the ability to sort out significances that many writers lack.ââChicago Tribune ⢠âAn intellectually elegant, concise study . . . The economy with which [Pagels] evokes the world of early Christianity is a marvel.ââThe New Yorker The Gnostic Gospels is a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence. It is now widely recognized as one of the most brilliant and accessible histories of early Christian spirituality published in our time. In 1945 an Egyptian peasant unearthed what proved to be the Gnostic Gospels, thirteen papyrus volumes that expounded a radically different view of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ from that of the New Testament. In this spellbinding book, renowned religious scholar Elaine Pagels elucidates the mysteries and meanings of these sacred texts both in the world of the first Christians and in the context of Christianity today. With insight and passion, Pagels explores a remarkable range of recently discovered gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, to show how a variety of âChristianitiesâ emerged at a time of extraordinary spiritual upheaval. Some Christians questioned the need for clergy and church doctrine, and taught that the divine could be discovered through spiritual search. Many others, like Buddhists and Hindus, sought enlightenmentâand access to Godâwithin. Such explorations raised questions: Was the resurrection to be understood symbolically and not literally? Was God to be envisioned only in masculine form, or feminine as well? Was martyrdom a necessaryâor worthyâexpression of faith? These early Christians dared to ask questions that orthodox Christians later suppressedâand their explorations led to profoundly different visions of Jesus and his message. Brilliant and stunning in its implications, The Gnostic Gospels is a radical, eloquent reconsideration of the origins of the Christian faith.
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The Classical Tradition
by Gilbert Highet
Traces the literary influence of Greek and Roman culture from the Dark Ages to the twentieth century
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An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
by David Hume
Oxford Philosophical Texts Series Editor: John Cottingham The Oxford Philosophical Texts series consists of authoritative teaching editions of canonical texts in the history of philosophy from the ancient world down to modern times. Each volume provides a clear, well laid out text together with a comprehensive introduction by a leading specialist, givingthe student detailed critical guidance on the intellectual context of the work and the structure and philosophical importance of the main arguments. Endnotes are supplied which provide further commentary on the arguments and explain unfamiliar references and terminology, and a full bibliography andindex are also included. The series aims to build up a definitive corpus of key texts in the Western philosophical tradition, which will form a reliable and enduring resource for students and teachers alike. David Hume's aim in writing An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1748) was to introduce his philosophy to a European culture in which many educated people read original works of philosophy. He gives an elegant and accessible presentation of strikingly original and challenging views about thelimited powers of human understanding, the attractions of scepticism, the compatibility of free will and determinism, and weaknesses in the foundations of religion. Hume's philosophy was highly controversial in the eighteenth century and remains so today. The text printed in this edition is that of the Clarendon critical edition of Hume's works. A substantial introduction by the editor explains the intellectual background to the work and surveys its main themes. The volume also includes detailed explanatory notes on the text, a glossary of terms, afull list of references, and a section of supplementary readings.
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ABC's of Quantum Mechanics
by V. J. Rydnik
At the turn of the 20th century, physics entered into a new world, the invisible silent world of atoms, atomic nuclei and elementary particles. Our twentieth century then produced the theory that has been serving physicists so faithfully for over sixty years -- quantum mechanics. The landscape of the new world is quire unlike our own. So different that phsyicists frequently lack words to describe it. Quantum mechanics had to create new conceptions for the world of the ultrasmall, bizarre conceptions beyond the scope of pictorial imagery. Customary physical laws cease to operate in the new world. Particles lose their dimensions and acquire the properties of waves. Electrons and the other building stones of matter can pass through impenetrable barriers, or they can vanish altogether leaving only photons in their place. Those are the things quantum mechanics dealt with. This book will tell you about the origin and development of quantum mechanics, about its new concepts. It will describe how the new theory deciphered the secrets of the structure of atoms, molecules, crystals, atomic nulei, and how quantum mechanics is dealing with the problem of the most fundamental of all properties of matter --the interaction of particles and the relationships between fields and matter.
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GÂdel's Proof
by Ernest Nagel
Godel was at last recognized by his peers and presented with the first Albert Einstein Award in 1951 for achievement in the natural sciences - the highest honor of its kind in the United States. The award committee, which included Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, described his work as "one of the greatest contributions to the sciences in recent times."".
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Love and Death in the American Novel
by Leslie A. Fiedler
"No other study of the American novel has such fascinating and on the whole right things to say." Washington Post
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The Economy of Cities
by Jane Jacobs
In this book, Jane Jacobs, building on the work of her debut, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, investigates the delicate way cities balance the interplay between the domestic production of goods and the ever-changing tide of imports. Using case studies of developing cities in the ancient, pre-agricultural world, and contemporary cities on the decline, like the financially irresponsible New York City of the mid-sixties, Jacobs identifies the main drivers of urban prosperity and growth, often via counterintuitive and revelatory lessons.
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Microcosmos
by Lynn Margulis
BACK IN PRINT WITH A REVISED PREFACE Microcosmos brings together the remarkable discoveries of microbiology of the past two decades and the pioneering research of Dr. Margulis to create a vivid new picture of the world that is crucial to our understanding of the future of the planet. Addressed to general readers, the book provides a beautifully written view of evolution as a process based on interdependency and thei nterconnectedness of all life on the planet.
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The Tribe of Tiger
by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
The author who revealed the secret lives of dogs in the best-selling The Hidden Life of Dogs offers a journey into the hidden life of cats and reports that cats, surprisingly, are not solitary beings. Reissue.
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Sexual Personae
by Camille Paglia
The fiery, provocative, and unparalleled work of feminist art criticism that launched the exceptional career of one of our most important public intellectualsâ"a remarkable book, at once outrageous and compelling, fanatical and brilliant.... One must be awed by [Paglia's] vast energy, erudition and wit" (The Washington Post). Is Emily Dickinson âthe female Sadeâ? Is Donatelloâs David a bit of pedophile pornography? What is the secret kinship between Byron and Elvis Presley, between Medusa and Madonna? How do liberals and feministsâas well as conservativesâfatally misread human nature? This audacious and omnivorously learned work of guerrilla scholarship offers nothing less than a unified-field theory of Western culture, high and low, since Egyptians invented beautyâmaking a persuasive case for all art as a pagan battleground between male and female, form and chaos, civilization and daemonic nature. With 47 photographs.
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Lucretius: The Way Things Are
by Titus Lucretius Carus
Verse translation of Lucretius's epic Latin poem explaining the universe, within the framework of Epicurean philosophy.
