"To quietly persevere in storing up what is learned, to continuestudying without respite, to instruct others without growingweary--is this not me?" --Confucius Confucius is recognized as China's first and greatest teacher, andhis ideas have been the fertile soil in which the Chinese culturaltradition has flourished. Now, here is a translation of therecorded thoughts and deeds that best remember Confucius--informedfor the first time by the manu* version found at Dingzhou in1973, a partial text dating to 55 BCE and only made available tothe scholarly world in 1997. The earliest Analects yet discovered,this work provides us with a new perspective on the centralcanonical text that has defined Chinese culture--and clearlyilluminates the spirit and values of Confucius. Confucius (551-479 BCE) was born in the ancient state of Lu into anera of unrelenting, escalating violence as seven of the strongeststates in the proto-Chinese world warred for supremacy. Thelandscape was not only fierce politically but also intel
More than two thousand years ago, Aristotle established uniquestandards of philosophic inquiry, observation, and judgment. Thisbook offers a contemporary reevaluation of the philosophy of themaster of Western thought, and shows his vital, continuinginfluence in our modern world.
Paul McAuley is one of the most exciting new talents to emerge in science fiction over the last several years, acclaimed for his richly imagined scientific concepts as well as for his clear and stylish storytelling. Now McAuley enters the twenty-first century with a vivid and prescient novel in which science, politics, greed, and terrorism compete for nothing less than THE SEC RET OF LIFE. 2026: Something is growing in the Pacific Ocean, a strange fungus-like organism that may ultimately threaten Earth's entire food chain. Christened "the slick," the bizarre phenomenon is soon the subject of intense, top-secret scientific analysis, which rapidly discovers that the slick contains unique DNA unlike any other lifeform on the planet. Where has the slick come from? A Chinese-manned mission to Mars is rumored to have discovered life deep beneath the Martian icecap, but the Chinese aren't talking. Could this mysterious discovery have something to do with the possibly extraterrestrial organism spreading throu
Written during the golden age of Chinese philosophy, andcomposed partly in prose and partly in verse, the Tao TeChing is surely the most terse and economical of the world’sgreat religious texts. In a series of short, profound chapters itelucidates the idea of the Tao, or the Way–an idea that in itsethical, practical, and spiritual dimensions has become essentialto the life of China’s enormously powerful civilization. In theprocess of this elucidation, Lao-tzu both clarifies and deepensthose central religious mysteries around which our life on earthrevolves.
Augustine's fourth-century spiritual autobiography not only is amajor document in the history of Christianity, a classic of RomanAfrica, and the unchallenged model through the ages for theautobiographical record of the journey to self-knowledge, it alsomarks a vital moment in the history of Western culture. AsAugustine explains how, when, and why he became the man he is, heprobes the great themes that others were to explore afterhimCfaith, time, truth, identity, and self-understanding--with arichness of detail unmatched in ancient literature. Dense withvivid portrayals of friends, family, colleagues, and enemies, The Confessions chronicles the passage from a life ofsensuality and superstition to a genuine spiritual awakening--in apowerful narrative of one man's inner education that continues toshape the way we think and act today.
Did Newton "unweave the rainbow" by reducing it to itsprismatic colors, as Keats contended? Did he, in other words,diminish beauty? Far from it, says acclaimed scientist RichardDawkins; Newton's unweaving is the key to much of modern astronomyand to the breathtaking poetry of modern cosmology. Mysteries don'tlose their poetry because they are solved: the solution often ismore beautiful than the puzzle, uncovering deeper mysteries. Withthe wit, insight, and spellbinding prose that have made him abest-selling author, Dawkins takes up the most important andcompelling topics in modern science, from astronomy and genetics tolanguage and virtual reality, combining them in a landmarkstatement of the human appetite for wonder. This is the bookRichard Dawkins was meant to write: a brilliant assessment of whatscience is (and isn't), a tribute to science not because it isuseful but because it is uplifting.
