According to Wikipedia: "Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson ( 1850 - 1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. He was the man who "seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins", as G. K. Chesterton put it. He was also greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov, and J. M. Barrie. Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their definition of modernism. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the canon."

First published in 1651, a classic of political science. According to Wikipedia: "Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) was an English philosopher, remembered today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of social contract theory. Hobbes also contributed to a diverse array of fields, including history, geometry, physics of gases, theology, ethics, general philosophy, and political science. His account of human nature as self-interested cooperation has proved to be an enduring theory in the field of philosophical anthropology."

According to Wikipedia: "Jacob Abbott (November 14, 1803 – October 31, 1879) was an American writer of children's books. Abbott was born at Hallowell, Maine to Jacob and Betsey Abbott. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820; studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, 1822, and 1824; was tutor in 1824-1825, and from 1825 to 1829 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College; was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826; founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829, and was principal of it in 1829-1833; was pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded), at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834-1835; and was, with his brothers, a founder, and in 1843-1851 a principal of Abbott's Institute, and in 1845-1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City. He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He died in Farmington, Maine, where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School."

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Cousin Betty by Honoré de Balzac - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Collected Works of Honoré de Balzac’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Balzac includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Cousin Betty by Honoré de Balzac - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Balzac’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the text Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

The prequel to the American Revolution. This struggle for political and religious freedom inspired America's Founding Fathers. Schiller tells the tale with a novelist's insight into character. According to Wikipedia: "Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759 – 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. During the last few years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Goethe, with whom he greatly discussed issues concerning aesthetics, encouraging Goethe to finish works he left merely as sketches; this thereby gave way to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism."

The Introduction begins: "The father of Daniel Defoe was a butcher in the paris h of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, London. In this parish, probably, Daniel Defoe was born in 1661, the year after the restoration of Charles II. The boy's parents wished him to become a dissenting minister, and so intrusted his education to a Mr. Morton who kept an academy for the training of nonconformist divines. How long Defoe staid at this school is not known. He seems to think himself that he staid there long enough to become a good scholar; for he declares that the pupils were "made masters of the English tongue, and more of them excelled in that particular than of any school at that time." If this statement be true, we can only say that the other schools must have been very bad indeed. Defoe never acquired a really good style, and can in no true sense be called a "master of the English tongue."

According to Wikipedia: "Mary Baker Eddy (born Mary Morse Baker July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was the founder of the Christian Science movement. Deeply religious, she advocated Christian Science as a spiritual practical solution to health and moral issues. She wrote Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, founded The First Church of Christ, Scientist of Boston in 1879, and several periodicals including The Christian Science Monitor. She took the name Mary Baker Glover from her first marriage and was also known as Mary Baker Glover Eddy or Mary Baker G. Eddy from her third marriage. She did much spiritual teaching, lecturing, and instantaneous healing. Her influence continues to grow through her writings."

Chapters cover: Talmud, Midrashim, Kabbala, Rabinical Ana, Proverbial Saying and Traditions, and Fasts and Festivals. The Introduction begins: "AMONG the absurd notions as to what the Talmud was, given credence in the Middle Ages, one was that it was a man! The medieval priest or peasant was perhaps wiser than he knew. Almost, might we say, the Talmud was Man, for it is a record of the doings, the beliefs, the usages, the hopes, the sufferings, the patience, the humor, the mentality, and the morality of the Jewish people for half a millennium."

According to Wikipedia: "In the idiosyncratic Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, Bergson develops a theory not of laughter itself, but of how laughter can be provoked (see his objection to Delage, published in the 23rd edition of the essay). He describes the process of laughter (refusing to give a conceptual definition which would not approach its reality), used in particular by comics and clowns, as the caricature of the mechanism nature of humans (habits, automatic acts, etc.), one of the two tendencies of life (degradation towards inert matter and mechanism, and continual creation of new forms). However, Bergson warns us that laughter’s criterion of what should be laughed at is not a moral criterion and that it can in fact cause serious damage to a person’s self-esteem.This essay made his opposition to the Cartesian theory of the animal-machine obvious."

According to Wikipedia: "Aristotle's Poetics (c. 335 BCE) is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. In it, Aristotle offers an account of what he calls "poetry" (a term which in Greek literally means "making" and in this context includes drama—comedy, tragedy, and the satyr play—as well as lyric poetry and epic poetry)... Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics."

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a hugely influential story written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female Academy and an active abolitionist. Stowe featured the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of other characters revolve. The sentimental novel depicts the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings.

What is the meaning and purpose of life?’ ?This is, perhaps, the most important question that has ever been asked.? Throughout the ages, philosophers have considered it to be the most fundamental question.? Scientists, historians, philosophers, writers, psychologists and the common man all wrestle with the question at some point in their lives.? ‘Why do we eat?’ ?‘Why do we sleep?’ ?‘Why do we work?’ ?The answers we would get to these questions would be similar.? ‘I eat to live.’ ?‘I sleep to rest.’ ?‘I work to support myself and my family.’ ?But when it comes to what the purpose of life is, people are confused.? We see their confusion by the type of answers we receive.? Youths may say, "I live for booze and bikinis."? The middle aged professional might say, "I live to save enough for a comfortable retirement."? The old man would probably say, "I’ve been asking why I’m here most of my life.? If there’s a purpose, I don’t care anymore." ?And perhaps the most common answer will be, "I really don’t know!" How, then, do you discover the purpose of life? ?We basically have two options.? The first is to let ‘human reason’ - the celebrated achievement of the Enlightenment - guide us.? After all, the Enlightenment gave us modern science based on careful observation of the natural world.? But have post-Enlightenment philosophers figured it out? ?Camus described life as "absurd"; Sartre spoke of "anguish, abandonment and despair." ?To these Existentialists, life has no meaning. Islam is the response to humanity’s search for meaning.? The purpose of creation for all men and women for all times has been one: to know and worship God. The Quran teaches us that every human being is born conscious of God, "(Remember) when your Lord extracted from the loins of Adam’s children their descendants and made them testify [saying]: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ ?They said: ‘Yes, we testify to it.’ ?(This was) in case you say on the Day of Judgment: ‘We were unaware of this.’ ?Or you say: ‘It was our ancestors who worshipped others besides God and we are only their descendants.? Will you then destroy us for what those liars did?’"(Quran 7:172-173) The Prophet of Islam teaches us that God created this primordial need in human nature at the time Adam was made.? God took a covenant from Adam when He created him.? God extracted all of Adam’s descendants who were yet to be born, generation after generation, spread them out, and took a covenant from them.? He addressed their souls directly, making them bear witness that He was their Lord.? Since God made all human beings swear to His Lordship when He created Adam, this oath is imprinted on the human soul even before it enters the fetus, and so a child is born with a natural belief in the Oneness of God.? This natural belief is called fitra in Arabic.

A profoundly influential figure in American psychology, William James (1842–1910) was also a philosopher of note, who used Charles S. Peirce's theories of pragmatism as a basis for his own conception of that influential philosophy. For James, this meant an emphasis on "radical empiricism" and the concept that the meaning of any idea — philosophical, political, social, or otherwise — has validity only in terms of its experiential and practical consequences. James propounded his theories of pragmatism in this book, one of the most important in American philosophy. In a sense, he wished to test competing systems of thought in the "marketplace of actual experience" to determine their validity, i.e. whether adopting a particular philosophical theory or way of looking at the world makes an actual difference in individual conduct or in how we perceive and react to the varieties of experience. In these pages, James not only makes a strong case for his own ideas, but mounts a powerful attack against the transcendental and rationalist tradition. For anyone interested in William James or the history of American philosophical thought, Pragmatism is an essential and thought provoking reference. In this handy, inexpensive edition, it will challenge and stimulate any thinking person.

Essays in Radical Empiricism

Essays Towards a Theory of Knowledge

All instruction given or received by way of argument proceeds from pre-existent knowledge. This becomes evident upon a survey of all the species of such instruction. The mathematical sciences and all other speculative disciplines are acquired in this way, and so are the two forms of dialectical reasoning, syllogistic and inductive; for each of these latter make use of old knowledge to impart new, the syllogism assuming an audience that accepts its premisses, induction exhibiting the universal as implicit in the clearly known particular. Again, the persuasion exerted by rhetorical arguments is in principle the same, since they use either example, a kind of induction, or enthymeme, a form of syllogism.

As to the divination which takes place in sleep, and is said to be based on dreams, we cannot lightly either dismiss it with contempt or give it implicit confidence. The fact that all persons, or many, suppose dreams to possess a special significance, tends to inspire us with belief in it, as founded on the testimony of experience; and indeed that divination in dreams should, as regards some subjects, be genuine, is not incredible, for it has a show of reason; from which one might form a like opinion also respecting all other dreams.

Having now definitely considered the soul, by itself, and its several faculties, we must next make a survey of animals and all living things, in order to ascertain what functions are peculiar, and what functions are common, to them. What has been already determined respecting the soul must be assumed throughout. The remaining parts of our subject must be now dealt with, and we may begin with those that come first.

Let us now discuss sophistic refutations, i.e. what appear to be refutations but are really fallacies instead. Some reasonings are genuine, while others seem to be so but are not, is evident. This happens with arguments, as also elsewhere, through a certain likeness between the genuine and the sham.

We must now treat of youth and old age and life and death. We must probably also at the same time state the causes of respiration as well, since in some cases living and the reverse depend on this.

Jenny Rosenstrach, and her husband, Andy, regularly, some might say pathologically, cook dinner for their family every night.?Even when they work long days. Even when their kids' schedules pull them in eighteen different directions. They are not superhuman.?They are not from another planet. With simple strategies and common sense, Jenny figured out how to break down dinner—the food, the timing, the anxiety, from prep to cleanup—so that her family could enjoy good food, time to unwind, and simply be together.Using the same straight-up, inspiring voice that readers of her award-winning blog, Dinner: A Love Story,?have come to count on, Jenny never judges and never preaches. Every meal she dishes up?is a real meal, one that has been cooked and eaten and enjoyed at least a half dozen times by someone in Jenny's house. With inspiration and game plans for any home cook at any level, Dinner: A Love Story is as much for the novice who doesn't know where to start as it is for the gourmand who doesn't know how to start over when she finds herself feeding an intractable toddler or for the person who never thought about home-cooked meals until he or she became a parent.?This book is, in fact, for anyone interested in learning how to?make a meal to be shared with someone they love, and about how so many good, happy things?happen when we do.