Hailed as the finest book ever written on the nature of democracy, it continues to be an influential text on both sides of the Atlantic, above all in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. De Tocqueville examines the structures, institutions and operation of democracy, and shows how Europe can learn from American successes and failures. His central theme is the advancement of the rule of the people, but he also predicts that slavery will bring about the most horrible of civil wars, foresees that the USA and Russia will be the superpowers of the 20th century, and is 150 years ahead of his time in his views on the position and importance of women. Paperback reprint.

The Holy Qu'ran (also known as The Koran) is the sacred book of Islam. It is the word of God whose truth was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years. The first full compilation was by Abu Bakar, the first Caliph, and it was then recompiled in the original dialect by the third Caliph Uthman, after the best reciters had fallen in battle. Muslims believe that the truths of the Qur'an are fully and authentically revealed only in the original classical Arabic. This translation, by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, is considered to be the most faithful rendering available in English. 562pp. Paperback.

This astonishing series of aphorisms, put into the mouth of the Persian sage Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, contains the kernal of Nietzsche's thought. God is dead, he tells us. Christianity is decadent, leading mankind into a slave morality concerned not with this life, but with the next. Nietzsche emphasises the Übermensch, or Superman, whose will to power makes him the creator of a new heroic mentality. The intensely felt ideas are expressed in prose-poetry of indefinable beauty. Though misused by the German National Socialist party as a spurious justification of their creed, the book also had a profound influence on early 20th century writers such as Shaw, Mann, Gide, Lawrence and Sartre. It remains, to this day, a beacon of original thought. 320pp paperback.

David Hume (1711-1776) was the most important philosopher ever to write in English, as well as a master stylist. This volume contains his major philosophical works. A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-1740), published while Hume was still in his 20s, consists of three books on the understanding, the passions, and morals. It applies the experimental method of reasoning to human nature in a revolution that was intended to make Hume the Newton of the moral sciences. Disappointed with the Treatise's failure to bring about such a revolution, Hume later recast Book I as An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (1751), and Book III as An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, which he regarded as 'incomparably the best' of all his works. Both Enquiries went through several editions in his lifetime. Hume's works, controversial in his day, remain deeply and widely influential in ours, especially for his contributions to our understanding of the nature of morality, political and economic theory, philosophy of religion, and philosophical naturalism. This volume also includes Hume’s anonymous Abstract of Books I and II of the Treatise, and the short autobiographical essay, ‘My Own Life’, which he wrote just before his death. 860 page paperback. New from Wordsworth.

Dating from around 300BC, this is the first great classic of the Chinese school of philosophy called Taoism. Within its pages is summed up a complete view of the cosmos and how human beings should respond to it. It constitutes the shaping forces behind Chinese spirituality, art and science and this edition presents the authoritative translation by Arthur Waley. Wordsworth paperback. 112pp.

The ideas of Plato (c.429-347BC) have influenced Western philosophers for over 2,000 years. The Republic deals with the great range of Platonic thought combining argument and myth to advocate a life organised by reason rather than dominated by desires and appetites. Regarded by some as the foundation document of totalitarianism, it remains a challenging and intensely exciting work. 400 page paperback.

Benedict de Spinoza lived a life of blameless simplicity as a lens-grinder in Holland. And yet in his lifetime he was expelled from the Jewish community in Amsterdam as a heretic, and after his death his works were first banned by the Christian authorities as atheistic, then hailed by humanists as the gospel of Pantheism. His Ethics Demonstrated in Geometrical Order shows us the reality behind this enigmatic figure. First published by his friends after his premature death at the age of 44, the Ethics uses the methods of Euclid to describe a single entity, properly called both 'God' and 'Nature', of which mind and matter are two manifestations. In ways that are strikingly modern, discover the identity of mind and body, the necessary causation of events and actions, and the illusory nature of free will. 400pp. Paperback.

In 2007 Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett - who subsequently became known as "The Four Horsemen" - sat down in Hitchens's library and, over cocktails, began a conversation which was become a landmark point in modern atheism. The video was set to record and what followed, a rigorous, groundbreaking and enthralling exchange has since been viewed millions of times since first posted. This is intellectual enquiry of the very highest order - exhilarating, funny, unpredictable, sincere and probing. This book comprises the entire transcript of that conversation, presented in print for the first time, and is augmented by new material from the living participants, essays by Dawkins, Harris and Dennett. These are arguably as important as that original conversation, as they mark the evolution of each's thinking over the ensuing 12 years and also highlight particularly resonant personal aspects of this epic discussion. Each man contends with the fundamentals of human existence while challenging the others to articulate their stance on religion, spirituality and debate with people of faith and the components of an ethical life. And the icing on the cake is an extended foreword by Stephen Fry in which he characterises the protagonists as the Four Musketeers - Porthos, d'Artagnan, Aramis and Athos respectively - as he introduces the conversation and essays in his own inimitable style. Erudite, profound and with no little humour, a sparkling introduction to modern atheism. 134pp. Apologies for small remainder mark.

Renee Descartes (1596-1650) was the father of modern philosophy and one of the greatest thinkers in history. His genius lies at the core of our contemporary intellectual identity. He broke the conventions of his own time and suffered persecution by the Church as a consequence. Most of his writings are philosophical classics, attempting to answer questions surrounding the self, God, free will and knowledge and using the science of thought as opposed to received wisdom based on faith. This edition is the most comprehensive one-volume selection available and includes his great essay, Discourse on Method. 407 page paperback.

From the excellent Lives of Great Religious Books series, this illustrated edition has desirable roughcut 'deckle' page edges, highly desirable in the USA, in a Princeton University Press publication. It is the untold story of how the Arabic Qur'an became the English Koran for millions of Muslims; the Koran is sacred only in Arabic, the original Arabic in which it was revealed to the prophet Mohammad in the 7th century. To many Arab and non-Arab believers alike, the book literally defies translation, yet English translations exist and are growing, both in number and in importance. Bruce Lawrence tells the remarkable story of the ongoing struggle to render the Koran's lyrical verses into English, and to make English itself an Islamic language. He revisits the life of Mohammad and the origins of the book before recounting the first translation of the book into Latin by a non-Muslim - Robert of Ketton's 12th century version paved the way for later ones in French and German, but it was not until the 18th century that George Sale's influential English version appeared. Many of these early translations, while part of a Christian agenda to 'know the enemy', often revealed grudging respect for their Abrahamic rival. Fresh English translations emerged by South Asian Muslim scholars, and this book is the first to explore the complexities of this translation saga. It also looks at cyber Korans, versions by feminist translators, and now a graphic Koran by the acclaimed visual artist Sandow Birk. 248 deckle pages, illus. including covers for various first editions and reprints.