Other books that might interest you

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  Pride and Conceit

  Dr. Elizabeth Ashby, Brian Fawcett

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  This is an audiobook of Bodhi Leaves No.14 by Dr. Elizabeth Ashby and Brian Fawcett, "Pride and Conceit" narrated by Christa Michel. The print edition can be found in the Pariyatti Edition of Collected Bodhi Leaves Vol. I (https://store.pariyatti.org/collected-bodhi-leaves-vol-1). 
   
  Excerpt: 
  "Pride in all its forms devolves from self-esteem, which is in reality “ego-worship.” It stems, so they say, from Greed, the first of the Roots of Evil. The thought here is rather subtle: when the ordinary person thinks of greed he thinks first of what one puts into one’s stomach—that second helping of plum-pudding, or eating a pound of candies in a single evening. The commentators of old were much more drastic. Greed is “delight in one’s own possessions.” Hence we can be greedy about anything to which we have affixed the label “mine.” My car, my table, my cat, my best beloved. The greedy aspect of conceit is when we “take delight” in our own good qualities or capacities.. 
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  "Few of us are free from pride in one form or another. We know that in the interests of spiritual development it must be eradicated. We are taught as much, and accept the teaching without question. But the method by which pride may be eliminated is a problem not easy to solve, and the indirect, sweeping precepts of the sages are of little practical help to us. It is all very well saying: “Eradicate this, and eradicate that,” but what we want to know is, “How may we go about it?” 
  In the first place: what is pride?"

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  Moby Dick - America's Epic

  Timothy Baker Shutt

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  No American masterpiece casts quite as awesome a shadow as Melville's monumental Moby Dick. Mad Captain Ahab's quest for the White Whale is a timeless epic--a stirring tragedy of vengeance and obsession, a searing parable about humanity lost in a universe of moral ambiguity. It is the greatest sea story ever told. Far ahead of its own time, Moby Dick was largely misunderstood and unappreciated by Melville's contemporaries. Today, however, it is indisputably a classic. As D.H. Lawrence wrote, Moby Dick "commands a stillness in the soul, an awe . . . [It is] one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world."

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  The Divine Comedy

  Dante Alighieri

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  A lost soul. A guide from beyond. A journey through the realms no living man was meant to see.
  In The Divine Comedy, Dante travels from the terrifying depths of Hell to the cleansing slopes of Purgatory and the radiant glory of Paradise. Guided first by Virgil and later by Beatrice, he confronts sin, justice, love, and the mysteries of the human soul. Each step reveals unforgettable imagery, profound reflection, and a vision of the afterlife that has shaped literature and imagination for centuries.
  
  Celebrated as "the greatest poem ever written," this masterpiece blends adventure, theology, philosophy, and emotion into a single sweeping narrative. Readers treasure it for its breathtaking symbolism, vivid characters, and transformative insight into the human condition.
  
  If you crave epic storytelling, cosmic wonder, and a journey that challenges both heart and mind, this timeless classic will stay with you forever.
  
  Begin the journey—descend with Dante into darkness and rise with him into eternal light.

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  Ortiz's War - The Allies' Secret...

  Nicholas Reynolds, Katie Sanders

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  Read by the authors and Fred Sanders. 
  The untold story of the Allies’ secret weapon in occupied France. 
  Peter J. Ortiz’s path to becoming the most battle-decorated member of America’s first spy agency—and one of the most decorated Marines of World War II—was unlike any other. Born in New York and raised between California and France, he would have stints as a merchant seaman, dude ranch manager, race car driver, lion tamer, circus performer, and Hollywood stuntman and actor. As a teenager, Ortiz ran away from boarding school in France to join the French Foreign Legion. He first experienced combat in North Africa against tribesmen in the Sahara. Fighting on the front lines against the Germans in 1940, he was badly wounded and captured. He repeatedly escaped, one time fleeing a hospital train after assuming the identity of a dead soldier. 
  Docking in the US the day after Pearl Harbor, Ortiz enlisted in the Marine Corps. As someone who could speak French like a native--and get by in Arabic, German, and Spanish--the dashing former Legionnaire immediately stood out. Instead of being deployed to the Pacific like the majority of Marines, Ortiz was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—America’s World War II forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency—for special operations in North Africa and Europe. 
  In 1944, Ortiz parachuted into France on two top-secret inter-Allied missions. Operating deep behind enemy lines, he traveled throughout Southeastern France—at times donning his Marine uniform—arming and training the Maquis, blowing up Nazi infrastructure, and aiding downed Allied airmen. Rotating his many covers—including as a fashion designer and minor Vichy government official—he infiltrated Nazi gatherings and funneled intelligence about German positions back to OSS London ahead of D-Day. By the time he escaped across the Pyrenees, he was among the Gestapo’s most wanted.  
  Two months after the Normandy landings, Ortiz jumped back into the French Alps, this time with a team of Americans he recruited for “Le Grand Parachutage,” a drop that sent more than 150 tons of supplies raining down to the Maquis to fight the Axis. When his six-man patrol was surrounded by more than one hundred Germans at the village of Centron, Ortiz faced a choice: fight the enemy or save the village from Nazi annihilation. 
  A rare Marine in the European Theater, he received two Navy Crosses. Ortiz’s story—an untold corner of World War II history—is one of extraordinary courage, resistance, and self-sacrifice. 
  Photos and reference material can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

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  Knead to Know - A History of Baking

  Neil Buttery

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  In Knead to Know: A History of Baking, food historian and chef Neil Buttery takes the reader on a journey exploring the creation, evolution and cultural importance of some of our most beloved baked foods, whether they be fit for a monarch's table, or served from the bakestone of a lowly farm labourer. This book charts innovations, happy accidents and some of the most downright bizarre baked foods ever created. 
   
   
  Everything has a history, but food history is special because it tells us so much about our culture and society, from the role of bread in the birth of human civilisation to the invention of the wedding cake, the creation of the whisk, or the purpose of the fish heads in a star-gazy pie. Food history encompasses it all. 
   
   
  When we think of the evolution of something, we think every step is an improvement, an incremental elevation toward some peak of perfection. This is not always the case. Sometimes things have to become simpler, knowledge is lost and skills are forgotten. As a baker of historical foods, Neil Buttery demonstrates that forgotten recipes and traditional techniques are often worth trying out (and mentions a few that should perhaps be left in the past).

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  War and AI - The Algorithmic...

  Rado Molina, Javier del Puerto

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  "War and AI" tracks the lethal contradiction at the center of the AI boom: the same systems marketed as tools of progress are already being wired into kill chains, targeting systems, and automated decisions about who lives and who dies.
  
  From Gaza to Ukraine, machine vision, autonomous drones, and algorithmic targeting are no longer speculative. They are shaping real battlefields in real time, with civilians trapped inside the margin of error.
  
  This urgent new book maps the doctrine, supply chains, and moral collapse behind algorithmic warfare, arguing that the most dangerous lie of the AI age is the claim that we can build machines to save humanity without first teaching them how to kill.

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