Essays

Britain's most authentically prophetic voice - The Daily Telegraph'The choice with which humankind is faced is between the idea of power and the power of ideas.'From his appointment as Chief Rabbi in 1991, through to his death in November 2020, Rabbi...

Discover this profound account of Huxley's famous experimentation with mescalin that has influenced writers and artists for decades. ...

*THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*'This book might just change your life' Sunday Times'Wise, wonderful, moving and brilliant... will leave your heart in a much better place' StylistAfter years of feeling that love was always out of reach, journalist...

'Their icy blasts are refreshing and restorative. They tell you the worst. And having heard the worst, you feel less bad' Blake MorrisonWritten in Greek by the only Roman emperor who was also a philosopher, without any intention of publication, the...

'Really made me think about how I think' - Mohsin Hamid, author of Exit WestTough times don't last. Tough people do. In The Black Swan, Taleb showed us that highly improbable and unpredictable events underlie almost everything about our world. Here Taleb...

Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2011. Life is on the up. We are wealthier, healthier, happier, kinder, cleaner, more peaceful, more equal and longer-lived than any previous generation. Thanks to the...

'It is philosophy that has the duty of protecting us ... without it no one can lead a life free of fear or worry'For several years of his turbulent life, in which he was dogged by ill health, exile and danger, Seneca was the guiding hand of the Roman...

An intimate reflection on Japanese art and architecture from one of the country's greatest novelists.This is an enchanting essay on aesthetics by one of the greatest Japanese novelists. Tanizaki's eye ranges over architecture, jade, food, toilets, and...

The Discourses/Fragments/Enchiridion'I must die. But must I die bawling?'Epictetus, a Greek Stoic and freed slave, ran a thriving philosophy school in Nicopolis in the early second century AD. His animated discussions were celebrated for their rhetorical...

Originally written only for his personal consumption, Marcus Aurelius's Meditations has become a key text in the understanding of Roman Stoic philosophy. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with notes by Martin Hammond and an introduction by...

DEBUTED AT NO.1 ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LISTNO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SOCIAL ANIMALAre you on your first or second mountain? Is life about you - or others? About success - or something deeper? The world tells us that we should pursue our...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. No man can live a happy life, or even a supportable life, without the study of wisdom Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-AD 65) is one of the most...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Our life is what our thoughts make it The extraordinary writings of Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180), the only Roman emperor to have also been a...

The companion book to Beyond Good and Evil, the three essays included here offer vital insights into Nietzsche's theories of morality and human psychology.Nietzsche claimed that the purpose of The Genealogy of Morals was to call attention to his previous...

A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don't have the words to express, until now-from the creator of the popular online project of the same name.Have you ever...

'No Logo' was a book that defined a generation when it was first published in 1999. For its 10th anniversay Naomi Klein has updated this iconic book. By the time you're twenty-one, you'll have seen or heard a million advertisements. But you...

In these two devastating late works, Nietzsche offers a powerful attack on the morality and the beliefs of his timeNietzsche's Twilight of the Idols is a 'grand declaration of war' on reason, psychology and theology, which combines highly charged...

'Not to be born is undoubtedly the best plan of all. Unfortunately it is within no one's reach.'In The Trouble With Being Born, E. M. Cioran grapples with the major questions of human existence: birth, death, God, the passing of time, how to relate to...

'Who since Weber, or perhaps even Hobbes, has done as much to show why power is such a profound, elusive and treacherous presence throughout our experience?' The Times Higher EducationThe third and final volume of the Essential Works of Foucault series,...

The latest work from B.K.S. Iyengar, the world's most respected yoga teacher. Foreword from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. B.K.S. Iyengar has devoted his life to the practice and study of yoga. It was B.K.S. Iyengar's unique teaching...

How does one keep from going through their comfortable, prosperous adult life unconsciously? How do we get ourselves out of the foreground of our thoughts and achieve compassion? The speech captures Wallace's electric intellect as well as his grace in...

Sam Harris's first book, The End of Faith, ignited a worldwide debate about the validity of religion. In the aftermath, Harris discovered that most people - from religious fundamentalists to nonbelieving scientists - agree on one point: science has...

'Enigmatic, vatic, emphatic, passionate . . . Nietzsche's works together make a unique statement in the literature of European ideas' A. C. GraylingNietzsche was one of the most revolutionary thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra...

In November 2019, Paul B. Preciado was invited to speak in front of 3,500 psychoanalysts at the Ecole de la Cause Freudienne's annual conference in Paris. Standing up in front of the profession for whom he is a 'mentally ill person' suffering from...

'Imaginative, illuminating and innovative' The New York Times Book ReviewThe grisly spectacle of public executions and torture of centuries ago has been replaced by the penal system in western society - but has anything really changed?In his...

The Joyous Science is a liberating voyage of discovery as Nietzsche's realization that 'God is dead' and his critique of morality, the arts and modernity give way to an exhilarating doctrine of self-emancipation and the concept of eternal recurrence...

Kant's profound and challenging investigation into the nature of human reason is the central text of modern philosophyIn his landmark work Kant argues that reason is the seat of certain concepts that precede experience and make it possible, but we are...

A brilliant and addictive collection of brand-new essays on modern culture - from 'the pre-eminent and most widely read critic of her generation' The Times Included as a 2024 highlight in the Observer, Stylist, the Skinny, BBC Online and the Independent...

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...

Bruce Lee's daughter illuminates her father's most powerful life philosophies, and how we can apply his teachings to our daily lives'Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless like water'Bruce Lee is a cultural icon, world renowned for his martial arts and...

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BLACKWELL'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 Essential lessons on the world we live in, from one of our greatest young thinkers - a guide to what everybody is talking about today 'Unparalleled and extraordinary . . . A bracing...

Timeless advice on the art of living well, from the celebrated Penguin Great Ideas seriesThe writings of the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca offer powerful insights into stoicism, morality and the importance of reason, and continue to provide profound...

Selected from the Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, Seneca's Letters from a Stoic are a set of 'essays in disguise' from one of the most insightful philosophers of the Silver Age of Roman literature. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the...

The new bestseller from one of Britain's most pre-eminent philosophers and arguably the best known, A.C. GraylingEveryone wishes to live a life that is satisfying and fulfilling, in which there is achievement and pleasure, and which has the respect of...

Illuminations contains the most celebrated work of Walter Benjamin, one of the most original and influential thinkers of the 20th Century: 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction', 'The Task of the Translator' and 'Theses on the Philosophy...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780679783220Author Ralph Waldo EmersonFormat PaperbackPage Count 880Imprint Modern Library IncPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 612gDimensions(mm)...

'Yes, what is Dionysian? - This book provides an answer - "a man who knows" speaks in it, the initiate and disciple of his god.' The Birth of Tragedy (1872) is a book about the origins of Greek tragedy and its relevance to the German culture of its...

Walter Benjamin is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic intellectual figures of this century. Not only was he a thinker who made an enormous impact with his critical and philosophical writings, he shattered disciplinary and stylistic conventions...

'What exactly is knowledge?' The Theaetetus is a seminal text in the philosophy of knowledge, and is acknowledged as one of Plato's finest works. Cast as a conversation between Socrates and a clever but modest student, Theaetetus, it explores one of...

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...