Wisdom Reader

Christian Theology — Catholic Thought — Medieval Philosophy — Philosophy of Religion — Faith and Reason — Natural Law — Scholastic Wisdom — Thomas Aquinas for Beginners What if one of the greatest minds of the Middle Ages could help modern readers think more deeply about truth, faith, reason, virtue, God, and the meaning of human life? Thomas Aquinas Made Easy is a complete 4-book box set created for readers who want to understand Aquinas without getting lost in academic language, technical debates, or dense medieval terminology. This collection opens the door to one of the ...

Beneath the roots of an ancient oak, under the soft light of a listening moon, a curious cat named Pip discovers a hidden library that breathes. The shelves hum. The pages sigh. And a wise Great Owl teaches that curiosity itself is the first spell of learning. In The Great Owl’s Library: The Library Beneath the Moon, readers are invited into a timeless world where learning glows like candlelight and every question opens a new door. Through gentle prose and lyrical storytelling, author Devon R. Browning weaves a tale of discovery, learning, and the power of listening. ✨ Perfect for ...

The ancient biographer and essayist Plutarch thought deeply about the leadership qualities of the eminent Greeks and Romans he profiled in his famous - and massive - Lives, including politicians and generals such as Pericles, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony. Luckily for us, Plutarch distilled what he learned about wise leadership in a handful of essays, which are filled with essential lessons for experienced and aspiring leaders in any field today. 

Looking for a book your child will actually want to read? Getting kids aged 8-12 to pick up a book - and keep reading - can feel like an impossible task. But what if the book felt less like reading and more like finally understanding why life is so hilariously unfair? That’s exactly what Murphy’s Law for Kids delivers. Every parent knows the moment - your child is frustrated, convinced the world is against them, and has no idea how to make sense of it. The toast lands butter-side down. The teacher calls on them when they don’t know the answer. The project printer breaks the night ...

In his essay On Anger, the Roman Stoic thinker Seneca argues that anger is the most destructive passion. This splendid new translation of essential selections from On Anger, presented with an enlightening introduction, offers listeners a timeless guide to avoiding and managing anger. Drawing on his great arsenal of rhetoric, including historical examples, anecdotes, quips, and soaring flights of eloquence, Seneca builds his case against anger with mounting intensity.

Born a slave, the Roman Stoic philosopher Epictetus (c. 55-135 AD) taught that mental freedom is supreme, since it can liberate one anywhere, even in a prison. In How to Be Free, A. A. Long - one of the world's leading authorities on Stoicism and a pioneer in its remarkable contemporary revival - provides a superb new edition of Epictetus's celebrated guide to the Stoic philosophy of life (the Encheiridion) along with a selection of related reflections in his Discourses.

Worried that old age will inevitably mean losing your libido, your health, and possibly your marbles too? Well, Cicero has some good news for you. In How to Grow Old, the great Roman orator and statesman eloquently describes how you can make the second half of life the best part of all - and why you might discover that reading and gardening are actually far more pleasurable than sex ever was.

How to Say No is a delightful collection of brief ancient writings about Cynicism that captures all the outrageousness, wit, and wisdom of its remarkable cast of characters—from Diogenes in the fourth century BCE to the column-stander Symeon Stylites in late antiquity.

In a world where social media, online relationships, and relentless self-absorption threaten the very idea of deep and lasting friendships, the search for true friends is more important than ever. In this short book, famous Roman politician and philosopher Cicero offers a compelling guide to finding, keeping, and appreciating friends. With wit and wisdom, Cicero teaches not only how to build friendships but also why they must be a key part of our lives. For, as Cicero says, life without friends is not worth living. 

Distraction isn't a new problem. We're also not the first to complain about how hard it is to concentrate. Early Christian monks beat us to it. They had given up everything to focus on God, yet they still struggled to keep the demons of distraction at bay. But rather than surrender to the meandering of their minds, they developed powerful strategies to improve their attention and engagement. How to Focus is an inviting collection of their strikingly relatable insights and advice—frank, funny, sympathetic, and psychologically sophisticated.

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is one of the greatest guides to human flourishing ever written, but its length and style have left many readers languishing. How to Flourish is a colloquial new translation by Susan Sauve Meyer that makes Aristotle's timeless insights about how to lead a good life more engaging and accessible than ever before.

"It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die", wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD). He counseled readers to "study death always", and took his own advice, returning to the subject again and again in all his writings, yet he never treated it in a complete work. How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca's remarkable meditations on death and dying. Edited and translated by James S. Romm, How to Die reveals a provocative thinker who speaks with a startling frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out.

Explores the living wisdom of the tarot, based on the author’s more than 40 years’ experience as a professional tarot reader Shares stories from the author’s client readings to show how each card tells a story and how it only takes a small amount of familiarity to decipher a world...

Whether you farm or garden, live in the country or long to move there, or simply enjoy an occasional rural retreat, you will be delighted by this cornucopia of writings about living and working on the land, harvested from the fertile fields of ancient Greek and Roman literature. An inspiring antidote to the digital age, How to Be a Farmer evokes the beauty and bounty of nature with a rich mixture of philosophy, practical advice, history, and humor.  

How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign.

Does happiness come from the pursuit of pleasure or moral virtue? A vivid new translation of Cicero’s exploration of a timeless question.

For centuries, The Bodhicaryavatara has been one of Buddhism’s most influential guides to compassion, ethical strength, and inner transformation. Praised by scholars and practitioners alike, it has shaped how generations understand anger, patience, effort, wisdom, and the responsibility we bear toward one another. Yet for many modern readers, the original text can feel distant—brilliant, but difficult to enter. A Simple Guide to The Bodhicaryavatara changes that. This book opens one of Buddhism’s greatest works with clarity, precision, and relevance, translating Shantideva’s ...

An inviting and accessible new translation of Aristotle's complete Poetics—the first and best introduction to the art of writing and understanding stories.

All of us are faced countless times with the challenge of persuading others, whether we're trying to win a trivial argument with a friend or convince our coworkers about an important decision. Instead of relying on untrained instinct - and often failing as a result - we'd win more arguments if we learned the timeless art of verbal persuasion, or rhetoric.

Who doesn't worry sometimes that smart phones, the Internet, and TV are robbing us of time and preventing us from having a life? How can we make the most of our time on earth? In the first century AD, the Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger offered one of the most famous answers to that question in his essay "On the Shortness of Life"—a work that has more to teach us today than ever before.