The Book of Dead Philosophers

Written by Simon Critchley

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: February 10, 2009
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-0-307-39043-1 (0-307-39043-8)

“To philosophize is to learn how to die.” —Cicero; assassinated by order of Mark Antony

“One who no longer is cannot suffer.” —Lucretius; suicide, allegedly driven mad by a love potion

“Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” —Hobbes; died in bed, age 91

In this collection of brief lives (and deaths) of... Read more >

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are, 15th Anniversary Edition

Written by Bob Frissell

Format: Trade Paperback, 336 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
On Sale: September 29, 2009
Price: $17.95
ISBN: 978-1-55643-831-8 (1-55643-831-1)

Nothing in This Book Is True, But It’s Exactly How Things Are is an account of humankind’s function within the grand celestial battle between internal and external knowledge. Author Bob Frissell gives a compelling account of our planetary ascent into higher consciousness, presenting a big-screen view of the Earth through the... Read more >

Betraying Spinoza
The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity
Written by Rebecca Goldstein

Format: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Schocken
On Sale: August 11, 2009
Price: $13.95
ISBN: 978-0-8052-1159-7 (0-8052-1159-4)

In 1656, Amsterdam’s Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty–three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems... Read more >

Left in Dark Times
A Stand Against the New Barbarism
Written by Bernard-Henri Levy

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: October 13, 2009
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7472-0 (0-8129-7472-7)

In this unprecedented critique, Bernard-Henri Lévy revisits his political roots, scrutinizes the totalitarianisms of the past as well as those on the horizon, and argues powerfully for a new political and moral vision for our times. Are human rights Western or universal? Does anti-Semitism have a future, and, if so, what... Read more >

Descartes' Bones
A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason
Written by Russell Shorto

Format: Trade Paperback, 336 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: August 25, 2009
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-27566-0 (0-307-27566-3)

Sixteen years after René Descartes' death in Stockholm in 1650, a pious French ambassador exhumed the remains of the controversial philosopher to transport them back to Paris. Thus began a 350-year saga that saw Descartes' bones traverse a continent, passing between kings, philosophers, poets, and painters.

But as Russell Shorto shows... Read more >

The Life You Can Save
Acting Now to End World Poverty
Written by Peter Singer

Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
Publisher: Random House
On Sale: March 3, 2009
Price: $22.00
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6710-7 (1-4000-6710-3)

This is the right time to ask yourself: “What should I be doing to help?”

For the first time in history, it is now within our reach to eradicate world poverty and the suffering it brings. Yet around the world, a billion people struggle to live each day on less than many... Read more >