The Meditations is a collection of private reflections written in Greek by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, who ruled from 161 to 180 CE, in which he reminds himself how to live by the principles of Stoic philosophy. It is divided into twelve books, and at least part of it was written during the last
Meditations is a set of private Stoic reflections in twelve books, written in Greek by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by the American writer Herman Melville (1819 to 1891). It is narrated by a sailor named Ishmael, who joins the whaling ship Pequod and watches its captain, Ahab, pursue the white sperm whale that took his leg. Part adventure, part encyclopedia of whaling, it is now counted
An 1851 novel by Herman Melville about Captain Ahab and his obsessive hunt for a white sperm whale aboard the Pequod.
In simple terms The Mona Lisa is a portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 16th century, widely regarded as the single most famous painting in the world. [2] What it’s about Leonardo began the portrait around 1503, and evidence suggests he continued working on and refining it for years, possibly up until
The Mona Lisa is a portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 16th century, widely regarded as the most famous painting in the world.
The Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle’s treatise on how human beings can live well, built around happiness, the virtues of character and intellect, pleasure and friendship. It is the later of his two surviving works on ethics and the one that scholars usually study. Its central claim is that a good life consists in the active
Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle's treatise on happiness, virtue and friendship, one of the founding works of Western ethics.
On the Origin of Species is a scientific book by the English naturalist Charles Darwin, published in London on 24 November 1859. It presents the case that species are not fixed but change over generations, and that the main mechanism of change is natural selection. It is regarded as the founding work of evolutionary biology.
Charles Darwin's 1859 book presenting the theory that species change over time through natural selection.
One Thousand and One Nights, known in English as the Arabian Nights, is a collection of tales from the Middle East and South Asia held together by a frame story in which Shahrazad tells a king a new story each night to postpone her death. Its Arabic title is Alf layla wa layla. The collection
One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of tales told by Shahrazad to a king, known in English as the Arabian Nights.
Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare about a Moorish general serving Venice whose marriage to Desdemona is destroyed when his subordinate Iago persuades him that she is unfaithful. It was probably written in 1604, performed at court in November of that year and first printed in 1622. The Folger Shakespeare Library describes it as
Shakespeare's tragedy, written around 1604, about a Venetian general whose marriage is destroyed by his ensign Iago.
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608 to 1674). First published in 1667, it retells the biblical story of the Fall of Man, in which Adam and Eve disobey God in the Garden of Eden. In its final form the poem runs to more than ten
An epic poem in blank verse by John Milton, first published in 1667, that retells the Fall of Adam and Eve.
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by the English writer Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in January 1813. It follows Elizabeth Bennet, the second of five sisters in a country family, as she and the wealthy Fitzwilliam Darcy misjudge each other and then revise their opinions. It is among the best-known English novels.
An 1813 novel by Jane Austen about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, centered on marriage, class and first impressions.
Principia Mathematica, in full Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), is the three-book work in which Isaac Newton set out his laws of motion and his theory of universal gravity. It was first published in London in 1687. The short title is shared by an unrelated twentieth-century logic treatise by
Principia Mathematica is Isaac Newton's three-book treatise of 1687 that set out the laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.