Philosophers category: 1861 books

“An Experiment in Autobiography” was first published in 1934. Within it, Wells recounts his childhood, school days, struggle to make money, his eventual literary success, and latter occupation as a prophet of socialism. A fascinating and unique look into the life and mind of this seminal author,...

Pioneering biblical critic, theorist of democracy, and legendary conflater of God and nature, Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was excommunicated by the Sephardic Jews of Amsterdam in 1656 for his "horrible heresies" and "monstrous deeds." Yet, over the past three centuries, Spinoza's...

Interest abounds in the work of the Transcendentalists, such as Emerson, Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott. Each year, tens of thousands of readers rediscover Transcendental thought in books and articles, and in visits to historic sites, such as Walden Pond. But few appreciate the truly mystical and contemplative...

Do What Thou Wilt: An exploration into the life and works of a modern mystic, occultist, poet, mountaineer, and bisexual adventurer known to his contemporaries as "The Great Beast" Aleister Crowley was a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural...

"Written with brio, warmth, and historical understanding, this is the best biography of one of the most attractive inhabitants of Victorian England, Marx's friend, partner, and political heir."—Eric Hobsbawm Friedrich Engels is one of the most intriguing and contradictory figures...

The founder of the Arya Samaj. The great sage who sought to restore to Hinduism its natural radiance and wisdom. A fearless reformer. He saved the man who poisoned him - so boundless was his goodness.

In his mind-body-spirit autobiography John Hendry trawls his seventy years and comes up with significant experiences that trigger insights and reflections. Alongside these are wondrous illustrations illuminating his travels in Libya under Gaddafi and India, epigrams that are occasionally Wildean –...

Dr. Walter Evans-Wentz spent his life in the study of religion. His passion led him to Stanford, where he earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in the field. Well-known for his work in Tibetan Buddhism and Celtic folklore, he also explored the link between Native American spirituality and Tibetan mysticism. His...

Waiting for a Visa is a autobiographical life story of B. R. Ambedkar written in the period of 1935–36. It consists of reminiscences drawn by Ambedkar, related to his experiences with untouchability, in his own handwriting.The book is used as a textbook in Columbia University. The book consists...

Kathleen B. Jones brings a scholar's insights and a lyrical voice to this philosophical memoir about her thirty-year fascination with Hannah Arendt, one of the 20th century's most controversial thinkers. With Arendt as her guide, Jones recounts stories from her own life interwoven with Arendt's life...

The close of the Nazi death camps was a beginning rather than an end for  those who  survived.  Told through the eyes of a child of Holocaust survivors, The Gift  lets us  feel the pain and the courage that reaches into the decades beyond the war. Compelling and insightful. A memorable read. –Barb Lundy, poet

Gershom Scholem is celebrated as the twentieth century’s most profound student of the Jewish mystical tradition; Walter Benjamin, as a master thinker whose extraordinary essays mix the revolutionary, the revelatory, and the esoteric. Scholem was a precocious teenager when he met Benjamin, who became...

A prominent intellectual of the Weimar era, Heinrich Mann was a leading authority on Nietzsche. This volume consists of Mann's selections of highlights from the philosopher's works, along with an introduction that explains their significance to modern readers.Key excerpts from Nietzsche's books include...

The epic wisdom contained in a lost library helps the author turn his life around John Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher...