The Guide For The Perplexed

While consulting at an Egyptian library, software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi is kidnapped and her talent for preserving memories becomes her only means of escape as the power of her ingenious work is revealed, while jealous sister Judith takes over Josie's life at home.

This book, by the author of 'Small is Beautiful' is about the different ways in which people may see and the blindness of only seeing in one particular way. The arguments Schumacher presents are invigorating, provoking and often dramatic.

A classic of medieval Jewish philosophy, Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed is as influential as it is difficult and demanding. Not only does the work contain contrary—even contradictory—statements, but Maimonides deliberately wrote in a guarded and dissembling manner in order to convey different meanings to different readers, with the knowledge that many would resist his bold reformulations of God and his relation to mankind. As a result, for all the acclaim the Guide has received, comprehension of it has been unattainable to all but a few in every generation. Drawing on a lifetime of study, Alfred L. Ivry has written the definitive guide to the Guide—one that makes it comprehensible and exciting to even those relatively unacquainted with Maimonides’ thought, while also offering an original and provocative interpretation that will command the interest of scholars. Ivry offers a chapter-by-chapter exposition of the widely accepted Shlomo Pines translation of the text along with a clear paraphrase that clarifies the key terms and concepts. Corresponding analyses take readers more deeply into the text, exploring the philosophical issues it raises, many dealing with metaphysics in both its ontological and epistemic aspects.

Philosopher, physician, and master of rabbinical literature, Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204) strove to reconcile biblical revelation with medieval Aristotelianism. His writings, especially the celebrated Guide for the Perplexed, exercised considerable influence on both Jewish and Christian scholasticism and brought him lasting renown as one of the greatest medieval thinkers. This volume contains his most significant ethical works, newly translated from the original sources by Professors Raymond L. Weiss and Charles E. Butterworth, well-known Maimonides scholars. Previous translations have often been inadequate — either because they were not based on the best possible texts or from a lack of precision. That deficiency has been remedied in this text; the translations are based on the latest scholarship and have been made with a view toward maximum accuracy and readability. Moreover, the long "Letter to Joseph" has been translated into English for the first time. This edition includes the following selections: I. Laws Concerning Character Traits (complete) II. Eight Chapters (complete) III. On the Management of Health IV. Letter to Joseph V. Guide of the Perplexed VII. The Days of the Messiah Taken as a whole, this collection presents a comprehensive and revealing overview of Maimonides' thought regarding the relationship of revelation and reason in the sphere of ethics. Here are his teachings concerning "natural law," secular versus religious authority, the goals of moral conduct, diseases of the soul, the application of logic to ethical matters, and the messianic era. Throughout, the great sage is concerned to reconcile the apparent divergence between biblical teachings and Greek philosophy.

This monument of rabbinical exegesis written at the end of the twelfth century has exerted an immense and continuing influence upon Jewish thought. Its aim is to liberate people from the tormenting perplexities arising from their understanding of the Bible according only to its literal meaning. This edition contains extensive introductions by Shlomo Pines and Leo Strauss, a leading authority on Maimonides.

Kierkegaard is an important literary and religious figure, as well a major philosopher whom students may have a difficult time comprehending- this guide provides a clear and concise understanding of his work

Joel Lawrence offers a new methodology and a fresh perspective in this book, making it a concise guide to one of the most remarkable martyrs and theologians of the 20th century.

In "a fable of fantastical lushness" (New York Times Book Review), Levi weaves together the stories of two strangers and their mysterious travel agent to present an extraordinarily crafted revisionist history of the discovery of America, combining the erudition of Umberto Eco with the ingenious storytelling of A Thousand and One Nights. Holland and Hanni have come to Spain for two very different reasons. They have nothing in common except they share the same travel agent, Ben. Stranded overnight by an airport strike, Hanni and Holland discover that they are connected by a strange web of history and happenstance--a common labyrinth that stretches back to World War II, the Spanish Inquisition, and beyond. A Guide for the Perplexed is a collection of the letters these women write to their mysterious, unseen travel agent--a long night's worth of confessions, a tapestry of tales chasing tales, including an untold saga of Columbus' voyage to the New World, stories of war and lost loves, lost children, lost Jews, and the true origins of baseball.