Showing results by narrator "Alan Weyman"

Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes is a brilliant and accessible summary of the six major ethical beliefs of Stoicism. The nature of moral goodness, the possession of virtue, good and bad conduct, the transcendence of wisdom, and the sources of real wealth are all discussed with the author's characteristic intensity and wit. This is the only existing modern translation of this little-known classic, as well as the most detailed study. Translator Quintus Curtius has returned to the original Latin texts to provide a modern, fresh interpretation of these forgotten classics. 

The Sepher Yetzirah or Book of Formation is perhaps the oldest rabbinical treatise of Kabbalistic philosophy which is still extant. This thoroughly re-edited and revised version helps bring this text to life.

The Corpus Hermeticum is a series of short philosophical and religious treatises dating from the beginning of the Common Era. Most of the texts take the form of a dialogue between Hermes Trismegistos and one or more of his disciples. The texts are loosely related but clearly separate tracts seemingly written by many different authors who use the character of Hermes Trismegistos as a prop to express their unique philosophies.

Oedipus the King is the story of a man whose life is destroyed by his own good intentions. When a terrible secret from his past is brought to the light of day, the consequences are chilling - and ineluctable.

These enigmatic treatises caused a seismic shift in European culture, and massive speculation as to their origin and purpose. Even to this day, these unique esoteric tracts are essential listens for any student of the mysteries of life and spirit. Editor Jason Augustus Newcomb has thoroughly rendered the book more comprehendible for modern listeners, as well as added additional notes and commentary.

 If you had discovered a way to become invisible, would it bring you tremendous power? Or tremendous problems? 

This is a heavily revised and updated version of this classic occult text. While the utterances and philosophy expressed in this book represent a concise statement of esoteric philosophy spanning several millennia, the importance of this work lies in part with whom it has influenced. Most if not all of the Golden Dawn initiates were affected by the aphorisms in this short tract. Aleister Crowley quotes from this book almost more than any other.

This collection contains Oscar Wilde's four best-known comedies: The Importance of Being Earnest; Lady Windermere's Fan; An Ideal Husband; and A Woman of No Importance. All of them satirize upper-class English society of the 1890s, dramatizing scandalous secrets, political and marital intrigue, and dandyish bad behavior with Wilde's trademark wit and wisdom.

Shakespeare's King Lear ranks with Sophocles' Oedipus as a tragic hero destroyed by his own good intentions. From the moment when Lear unfolds his darker purpose, we are drawn into an ineluctable chain of events that leads through betrayal, deceit, destructive family conflict, reconciliation, despair, and death. Considered by many to be the most grueling of Shakespeare's tragedies.

Euripides (c. 480-406 B.C.E.) is the author of eighteen extant plays and many more only surviving in fragments. He is the youngest of the three great Athenian tragedians with Aeschylus and Sophocles. Hippolytus, bastard son of Theseus and the Amazon Hippolyta, has sworn chaste allegiance to the goddess Artemis, thus severely offending the goddess Aphrodite by failing to revere her. Aphrodite swears revenge and promises that he will die before the day is done, taking with him Queen Phaedra, wife of Theseus.

Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) was the most controversial dramatist of his age. Most of his work focuses on the ubiquity and inevitably corrupting influence of sexual attraction. His most famous plays are the two that depict the rise, fall, and eventual gruesome death of the vampish Lulu, who, in Wedekind’s presentation, became a ghastly parody of Goethe’s “Eternal Feminine”. The first of the plays is Earth Spirit, in which Lulu marries and survives three husbands, only to face prosecution for the shooting of the third.

Here are 26 tiny classics of English "cruel" humor, in Harry Graham's first book of Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes.

There is always room in the world for more gripping tales about the exploits of the inimitable Sherlock Holmes and the redoubtable Dr. Watson. Here is a collection of five previously unknown cases from the astonishing career of the consulting detective and his ever-loyal partner.

Emma was the last completed novel by Jane Austen. It tells the story of a spirited and opinionated young woman who lives with her widowed father and who has an unfortunate penchant for interfering in the love life of those around her. As others in her small circle gradually find partners, the question which is at the center of all Jane Austen novels remains to be answered: how will Emma find a husband for herself?

Do you ever wonder if there is a gnome living in the hole at the bottom of the old tree in the park? Have you ever felt like you weren't alone while in the woods? Did you know that elves are responsible for many of our day-to-day occurrences? If your mind ever fills with these kinds of questions, then these modern fairy tales are for you!

A weird dream tips Henry Ian Darling into the Shadowlands. What has this to do with Brett? Ms. Peabody has a plan, but will Henry survive his quest?

Henry Ian Darling is a collector of oddities, those that bring him closer to an enigma, one he hopes will be a great thing. But maybe it isn't?

What is the significance of what Henry Ian Darling found in the boot of a car? And how did his wife know of the event? How could anyone be cruel enough to do such a thing? Find out where the discovery leads this collector of oddities and what it may mean for Henry's ultimate quest - finding the enigma, which will save or destroy all dimensions.

Samuel Butler, although an evolutionist (but not of the Darwinian kind), postulated a radical theory about God as both known and unknown, suggesting a kind of creative energy throughout the universe. His ideas are somewhat gnostic, though they don't fall into any one camp. Here is Butler's book, God Known and God Unknown in a new format, with an astute review of Butler's God that was written after Butler's death and published in 1918.

The Life and Death of King John was probably written in the 1590s but not published until the First Folio in 1623. Of Shakespeare's 11 history plays, King John is the one which deals with the story of a monarch most removed from Shakespeare's time. The historical remoteness of this ruler, and also the fact that he had no genealogical links with the Tudor dynasty, enabled Shakespeare to present him in a warts and allà fashion.