"Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales brings together an unforgettable group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, pilgrims who came from all ranks of society, from the crusading Knight and burly Miller to the worldly Monk and the famously lusty Wife of Bath. Their tales are as various as the tellers, including romance, bawdy comedy, beast fable, learned debate, parable, and Eastern adventure. The resulting collection gives us a set of characters so vivid...

"In the winter of 1933 Ernest Hemingway and his wife Pauline set out on a two-month safari in the big-game country of East Africa, camping out on the great Serengeti Plain at the foot of magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro ... The author later recreated his experiences there in 'Green Hills of Africa.' Rich in description and refreshingly alive to the character, culture, and customs of the country, it is one of Hemingway's most revealing aesthetic statements;...

Published in 1951, The Sea Around Us is one of the most remarkably successful books ever written about the natural world. Rachel Carson's rare ability to combine scientific insight with moving, poetic prose catapulted her book to first place on The New York Times best-seller list, where it enjoyed wide attention for thirty-one consecutive weeks. It remained on the list for more than a year and a half and ultimately sold well over a million copies,...

One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning. With lyric eloquence, Albert Camus brilliantly posits a way out of despair, reaffirming the value of personal existence,...

Presents the author's observations on the mystical world of Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan Matus.

Fire from Within is the author's most brilliant thought-provoking and unusual book, one in which Castaneda, under the tutelage of don Juan and his "disciples," at last constructs, from the teachings of don Juan and his own experiences, a stunning portrait of the "sorcerer's world" that is crystal-clear and dizzying in its implications. Each of Carlos Castaneda's books is a brilliant and tantalizing burst of illumination into the depths of our deepest...

In 1898 John Millington Synge made his first of many trips to the Aran Islands in an attempt to record and archive the tales, poems and songs of the three western islands off of the Galway coast. The memoir he kept of his time their makes up this book, awash with stories of the wonderful characters he met along the way and all their anecdotes. He manages to capture a the way of life that is long since gone and it is lucky for us that he took the time...

Philosopher, naturalist, poet and rugged individualist, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) has inspired generations of readers to think for themselves, to follow the dictates of their own conscience and to make an art of their lives. This representative sampling of his thought includes five of his most frequently cited and read essays: 'Civil Disobedience, ' his most powerful and influential political essay, exalts the law of conscience over civil law....

"Dante Aligheri's magnificent story of his journey through the infinite horrors of Hell and past the gates inscribed with the timeless words: Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. The poem is a terrifying vision of the consequences of sin, a daring quest for the path to Paradise, and a vivid pageant of the Middle Ages"--Container back cover insert.

"Ordinarily, events that change our path are impersonal affairs, and yet extremely personal. My teacher, don Juan Matsus, said this is guiding me as his apprentice to collect what I considered to be the memorable events of my life.. Don Juan described the total goal of the shamanistic knowledge that he handled as the preparation for facing the definitive journey: the journey that every human being has to take at the end of his life. He said that what...