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Best Confucianism

A Guide to Elegance: For Every Woman Who Wants to Be Well and Properly Dressed on All Occasions
The original What Not to Wear from one of fashion's. most enduringly. stylish women ... Madame Genevieve Antoine Dariaux spent most of her life in Paris, and now lives in the south of France.
Reviews
"Some of the fashion advice is a little dated, but her overall approach to life is worth incorporating into your own."
"I found much of the advise in this book very well thought out, including how to dress for one's shape in the easiest and simple way."
"Boujie."
"Great read, a bit out of date in some things as it is written in the 60's but in has great style has no time."
"I use it all the time for checking just to make sure I look my best before walking out the door."
"It's fun to read this book."
"Very good tips for elegance."
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Tao Te Ching: An Illustrated Journey
Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching ( The Book of the Way ) is the classic manual on the art of living. Text: English (translation). Original Language: Chinese. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Reviews
"Get this book, make some tea, turn of the incessant rattlings in your brain and the screens in your home and relax to ancient wisdom that has influenced millions of hearts and minds for thousands of years..."
"I felt the digital version was hard to read."
"Anyone who's looked at the original Chinese characters knows that it's tough to literally translate into English - many connectives we use to make things flow are just not present in the Chinese. Where other translations can be bogged down with frilly adjectives and add-ons, this one strips itself down to the bare essentials - not only approaching the spareness of the original, but also the theme - 'ten thousand things' are 9,999 too many!"
"It's been said that this is the best translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Teh Ching, though I cannot attest to the validity of the statement I can say that of the few translations that I have read this has been the most easy to understand and the most enjoyable."
"if you want to read the original this is a fine translation."
"More than happy to see an edition of Tao Te Ching that was my first exposure to the material."
"Stephen Mitchell really brings this work to relevance and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone looking to work in any leadership position."
"Since I practically have Mitchell's translation memorized, it is fun to have a new translation which is simple and understandable."
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Third Eye: Third Eye, Mind Power, Intuition & Psychic Awareness: Spiritual Enlightenment
A third eye is like an invisible eye only you know about it! Third Eye: Mind power, Intuition and Psychic Awareness is the key to opening the door of the magic that is already within you! 1.Learn everything about your third eye. 2.Find out why you should activate your third eye. 3.Learn about third eye meditation. 4.Learn the principles about imagination. 5.Learn how to open your third eye. 6.Discover the possible experiences with a open third eye. 7.Learn important FAQ’s.
Reviews
"this book is very well written and I found very helpful."
"Great book on spirituality, from different prespective."
"Very happy with this purchase!"
"This books has taught a lot about harnessing the positive and effective energies in us. It has also taught me how to open my third eye with meditation which is also something I have wanted to do so not only do you get an explanation of what your third eye is but it also walks you through on how to meditate."
"Very interesting which a lot of important things to learn."
"This book will set you on a chronic and strong journey towards spiritual enlightening, positivism, good vibes, never ending energy, never ending wisdom, self discovery, self appreciation, and magnificent level of intuition."
"A quick read, it is filled to brimming with interesting facts as well as ways to put your new found knowledge into action."
"This is a well written book and is actually a good one for research."
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Best Occult Rosicrucianism

Initiation Into Hermetics
Bardon leads the student step by step through exercises providing detailed training in the entire arcanum of magic, from basic techniques in thought control to advanced teachings in astral travel, and much more. In contrast to other books on the subject of magic, Bardon focuses his attention on the practical training necessary for all true magical attainment. The author leads the student step by step through exercises providing detailed training in the entire arcanum of magic, from basic techniques in thought control and imagination to advanced teachings in astral travel, the use of talismans and magic mirrors, and much more.
Reviews
"In spite of the author's warnings that readers with prior magical experience might have to unlearn a lot while studying his books (which is true! Yeah, well, that was in 1956, and it's 2015 now, and there are many effective ways for a novice to gain a lot of mystical insight and experience very quickly. Buy yourself a copy of Modern Magick, or Liber Null if you're cheap, and magic yourself silly, kid. Come back when you've got a few bruises, when you've developed a healthy fear of your own power, when you need a real teacher but you don't want to join a cult. All of the magical texts you have read until now - all of the legitimate ones, at least - have basically handed you a series of increasingly deadly firearms. They have assured you that all of the old gun-juggling books, the ones that traditionally warned readers about the severe dangers of juggling guns, were just written by paranoid people and elitists, and you definitely probably maybe won't shoot your own face off. Initiation into Hermetics is a ruthlessly pragmatic and technical book about utterly mastering the four/five primal elements in both understanding and practice. There are no elaborate rituals - Bardon's firm assertion is that rituals constitute an advanced form of magic, and in the hands of novices they amount to simple acts of ignorant sorcery, achieving nothing better than that which is achievable through simple applications of elemental mastery. His second book is about ritual magic, but he insists that students must painstakingly master the primal elements and their own consciousness, in accordance with the guidelines in Initiation into Hermetics, before attempting advanced work. He uses many of his own proprietary terms, and some of the word choices - whether the fault of the author or the translator, I can't say - can be confusing until you adapt to them."
"I am studying this book little by little, great investment in my spiritual life."
"Excellent."
"It has taken far too long to get this excellent training system converted to Kindle book format."
"This book is a lot heavier than I anticipated."
"This book is an excellent study guide for mastering the fundamentals of magic and metaphysics."
"A great volume for those interested in practical hermetic occultism."
"Great book to work through."
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Best Chinese Literary Criticism

The Analects (Oxford World's Classics)
Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. Raymond Dawson, Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College, Oxford.
Reviews
"As I understand of my readings from the "Tao Te Ching" and the "Complete Works of Chuang Tzu", TAOISM is a philosophy of inaction, the common analogy being that of the river eroding a mountain just by slowly doing its thing over a long course of time. Within the "Analects of Confucius" one finds quite a few gems of wisdom, including the almost universal Golden Rule (the saying, not the health insurance company)."
"One thing that seems worth mentioning is that, although Confucianism is generally referred to as a religion, the values, beliefs, and teachings of Confucius seem to render Confucianism more a philosophy than a religion. He placed great emphasis on "gentlemanly behavior, but seemed less concerned with anything like preparing for the hereafter."
"This actual paper copy was published in 2013 according to amazon, but many of the most helpful reviews are from 2001 or 2004."
"Given to friends."
"Then, as now, I was attracted to a philosophy that did not hold out a reward of eternal salvation as the basis for establishing common morality. At one point in the Analects, Confucius mocks someone who wants to know about death when in his opinion the person knows nothing at all about life. On the other hand, reading it as part of a class and as a student gave me what I am sure was a much better framework for placing the work against history and context. I had read Mencius two years ago and distinctly remember being frustrated by the introduction. I recognize that writing an introduction is rather a thankless job-- you either bore the experts or lose the newbies. I am not certain whether the Lau introduction to the Penguin edition of The Analects would bore an expert, but this (relative) newbie certainly appreciated its assistance."
"Item as described and fast shipping - recommended!"
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Best Zoroastrianism

In Search of Zarathustra: Across Iran and Central Asia to Find the World's First Prophet
Following Zarathustra’s elusive trail back through time and across the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish worlds, Paul Kriwaczek uncovers his legacy at a wedding ceremony in present-day Central Asia, in the Cathar heresy of medieval France, and among the mystery cults of the Roman empire. “Fascinating. One vacillates between wonder at the story told and admiration at the genial intellectual virtuosity of the storyteller. A delight.” — Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. “Vital. Remarkable. Artfully reveals the Zarathustian hinges of Iranian culture. [It] is written with the prescient elegance of a curious traveler and in the hope that ideas that once changed the world may do so again.” — Boston Review.
Reviews
"The books takes you though each of the powerful Zoroastrian dynasties of the Persian Empire, and explains how the religion itself morphed over time during those centuries. The news these days would have you believe that the Iranians and Israelites are mortal enemies; however, there is a rich, shared past between these two cultures."
"Good info on a largely forgotten religion."
"A great journey that helped me learn my origins."
"It widen the knowledge and opens the door toward a rich and alive past that made part of what the world is today."
"Kriwaczek is a grand old traveler, following the tracks of a tradition across the world, generally spiraling backward toward the original source of all our major monotheistic beliefs -- God and the devil, heaven and hell, the messiah and the day of judgement -- in the first Zoroastrians."
"I suppose if you know absolutely nothing about Zarathustra, you might find this book sort of interesting (although you will be getting some truly bad history), but if you have even a Wikipedia level understanding of the subject, it will probably be a frustrating waste of time. He retells information he gets from a cab driver, a tour guide, and some guy who he was standing next to at an archeological site. He makes it sound like he's on a mystical journey, but he's just staying in hotels, taking cabs, and looking at tourist sites. And if you know anything about Zoroastrianism and have wondered about it's influence on our beliefs today, you might have a good idea of the first place to investigate: The Babylonian captivity of the Jews and their restoration to Jeruselem by Cyrus the Great of the Persians."
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Best Jainism

A Treasury of Jewish Quotations
For more than forty years Dr. Joseph L. Baron, the eminent Jewish scholar, gathered material for this work, mining all the great treasuries of classic Jewish literature. Joseph L. Baron was a reform Rabbi who served at the Temple Emanu-El B'ne Jeshurun in Milwaukee from 1926 to 1960.
Reviews
"And they come from such diverse sources as the Bible to works of the 20th century, from prophets, philosophers, educators, statesmen, rabbis, novelists. But since the compiler, an eminent Jewish scholar, spent 40 years compiling these sayings, I can spend a few more months digesting them."
"To express it in a simple form, this book is a must for everyone interested in philosophy, ethics and what the jews have said about diverse themes throughout history."
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Best Taoism

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao
In this book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer has reviewed hundreds of translations of the Tao Te Ching and has written 81 distinct essays on how to apply the ancient wisdom of Lao-tzu to today’s modern world. Some of the chapter titles are “Living with Flexibility,” “Living Without Enemies,” and “Living by Letting Go.” Each of the 81 brief chapters focuses on living the Tao and concludes with a section called “Doing the Tao Now.”. His books Manifest Your Destiny, Wisdom of the Ages, There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, and the New York Times bestsellers 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, The Power of Intention, Inspiration, Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life, Excuses Begone!, Wishes Fulfilled, and I Can See Clearly Now were all featured as National Public Television specials.
Reviews
"VERY inspiring... Read it slowly and carefully..."
"I was not familiar with the author or the associated book, but I ordered this calendar because I thought the images looked great and I wanted to find a calendar that had some kind of interesting content with each month. The back of the calendar also gives a listing of the same holidays with the dates they occured on in 2009, a miniature of the final four months of 2009, and a small layout of the 2011 months."
"I am learning stuff and Wayne Dyer's voice calmly puts me to sleep."
"The first self-help book I ever read was by Wayne Dyer."
"What can I say its Dr. Wayne Dyer?"
"This man has always been one of my favorites since he first began writing."
"Or in my case, basic principles and concepts for review and meditation every day, even if heard before."
"Great read!"
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Best Sikhism

1 & 2 Timothy, Titus
Most Bible commentaries take us on a one-way trip from the twentieth century to the first century. Walter L. Liefeld (Ph.D. Columbia and Union) is distinguished professor emeritus of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is the author of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Luke, Interpreting the Book of Acts, New Testament Exposition, and the IVP New Testament Commentary on Ephesians.
Reviews
"Very insightful and easy to understand."
"Have purchased about 6 books in this series and I really enjoy using for my sermon prep."
"Exactly what I was looking for...in the exact shape as advertised."
"Just started to read it."
"Part of a very applicable and easy to use commentary."
"Once again, excellent application of Scripture in this series."
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Best Shintoism

The Invention of Religion in Japan
In this book, Jason Ānanda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. " The. Invention of Religion in Japan is truly revolutionary. “Jason ­Ananda Josephson astutely analyzes how Japanese definitions of religion sought to contain Christian missionary agendas and to position Japan advantageously vis-à-vis Western nations while at the same time radically reconfiguring inherited traditions and articulating new ideological norms for Japanese citizens. This study is illuminating reading for anyone interested, not only in modern Japan, but in the complex interconnections of religion, modernity, and the politics of nation states.” ( Jacqueline Stone, Princeton University ). “Written with remarkable clarity, this book makes an excellent contribution to the study of the interface of traditional Japanese religions and politics. Josephson has used well-documented examples of the creation of various Japanese belief systems in the modern era to suggest a new model for understanding the colonial past of religious studies and to provide new tools and models for grappling with continuing change in religious studies theory. “Jason Ananda Josephson’s book on the ‘invention of religion’ is an informative, well-argued, and stimulating discussion of an important topic that should be fascinating to anyone interested in religion in modern Japan or religion in any historical or cultural context.”-Paul L. Swanson | International Bulletin of Missionary Research. “Jason Josephson’s The Invention of Religion in Japan offers a creative theoretical apparatus that many students of Japanese religion and history will find immediately useful. Josephson upends the familiar Saidian account of Europe’s masterful encounter with the passive ‘Orient,’ showing that Japanese interpreters played active roles in formulating European understandings of the new academic field of ‘Japanese religions.’”-Religious Studies in Japan. “Josephson admirably traces the development of ‘religion’ in Japan and the West, and he constantly reminds of how this invention was inextricably interwoven with international politics and diplomatic relationships. Josephson presents a sophisticated analysis of the invention of religion in Japan by applying theoretically and empirically based explanations that rely on primary source data in multiple languages to contest previous notions of ‘religion’ and assumptions within the academic study of religion. In that respect, The Invention of Religion in Japan can help scholars of religions in Japan and elsewhere continue to refine and shape our understanding of ‘religion’ in modernity.”-Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Readers who are not Japan specialists will find the issues framed by interesting anecdotes and well-chosen historical information.”-Journal of Religion in Japan. “The book is a linguistic and textual tour de force that challenges many preconceptions about the development of studies of religion in Japan as well as about religion as a defined, or definable, category in Japanese contexts. Its thesis, that “religion” as a conceptual category did not exist prior to Western incursions into Meiji Japan and that it thus needed to be invented by the Japanese, is argued convincingly and will make many who have held alternative viewpoints think again. One hopes very much that people outside of religious studies do not look at Josephson’s title and think this is a book solely about religion. “Theoretically sophisticated and intellectually ambitious, Josephson’s book challenges the long-held assumption that religion is a universal component of human experience….Josephson’s work is a skillful exercise in semiotic analysis, drawing on sources in Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, French, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish, and Italian, and it illuminates the role of the Japanese as observers of the West, not merely as objects of Western observation….In this way, Josephson uses the transnational approach not only to revise a long-standing problem in Japanese historiography but also to deconstruct hegemonic Western concepts.”-Cross-Currents. “Josephson weaves together a fresh narrative of Japanese nation-building in its relation to religion. [Josephson] does a brilliant job in showing how ‘religion’ was used by state officials, scientists, and other protagonists in late 19th-century Japan as exactly what it is: a free-floating signifier with a strong discursive force that can be of great use for different processes of negotiation and naturalization.”-Inken Prohl | Religion. “The book brilliantly weaves two genealogies of scholarship, making it deeply interesting to students of either one: studies examining the construction of State Shinto in the Meiji period as a nonreligious expression of modern Japanese identity with a generation of critical scholarship on the academic study of religion. [Josephson] has produced an elegant argument that religion (including its co-products, the secular and the superstitious) was not so much imposed on Japan, but rather, in the discursive gap created by Western missionary and diplomatic incursions, invented in Japan by the Japanese to serve the late nineteenth-century modernization project. Josephson sheds much light on how the Western category of religion was adapted, interpreted, and transformed in Japan at the turn of the twentieth century. “Josephson’s investigation of the category of religion as it developed in modern Japan is a helpful addition to the field, and, to be honest, I have already begun assigning it in seminars. This book [will be] useful in comparative and theoretical courses on religion and will no doubt appeal to anyone studying Japanese religions and Japanese history.
Reviews
"He told me that it opens new territory in the understanding of the development of Buddhism in Japan and the effects of the intersection with Christianity on both the Japanese and Europeans who brought Christianity to Japan."
"I highly recommend this book to undergrads considering a religion major, as well as people who want a summary of various topics related to the formation of the religious category in Japan."
"Josephson makes a profound argument about the nature of the category of religion through a detailed examination of how that category was formulated in Japan following Japan's encounter with The West."
"This is an excellent overview of the history of State Shinto and its development as a tool both for control and for adaptation to international assumptions about religion."
"Wonderful dissection of what is science, religion, and how they interweave."
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Best Karma Buddhism

Astrology/Karma & Transformation 2nd Ed
Especially emphasizing the transformative and karmic significance of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, this book places all astrological techniques in a growth-oriented perspective. Regarding his written works, the Library Journal stated: "The simplicity and clarity of his treatment of complex ideas is remarkable; it makes accessible even to the beginner a wealth of understanding....giving meaningful psychological grounding to astrological interpretation.
Reviews
"I rate it as an excellent book for all the details and explanations that the author provides."
"This book takes a positive, helpful view of the topic of karma as it can be understood through astrology."
"Exceeded my expectations, here is the book whereby one comes to understand the inner secrets of all life!"
"As with all of Arroyo's books, this one takes Astrology to another level."
"Arroyo is a great teacher of astrology."
"great read!"
"Fresh and well thought out."
"Perfect for those ready to grow beyond beginning astrology."
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Best Tao Te Ching

Tao Te Ching
Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living, and one of the wonders of the world. Text: English (translation). Original Language: Chinese. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reviews
"Get this book, make some tea, turn of the incessant rattlings in your brain and the screens in your home and relax to ancient wisdom that has influenced millions of hearts and minds for thousands of years..."
"I felt the digital version was hard to read."
"Anyone who's looked at the original Chinese characters knows that it's tough to literally translate into English - many connectives we use to make things flow are just not present in the Chinese. Where other translations can be bogged down with frilly adjectives and add-ons, this one strips itself down to the bare essentials - not only approaching the spareness of the original, but also the theme - 'ten thousand things' are 9,999 too many!"
"It's been said that this is the best translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Teh Ching, though I cannot attest to the validity of the statement I can say that of the few translations that I have read this has been the most easy to understand and the most enjoyable."
"if you want to read the original this is a fine translation."
"More than happy to see an edition of Tao Te Ching that was my first exposure to the material."
"Stephen Mitchell really brings this work to relevance and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone looking to work in any leadership position."
"Since I practically have Mitchell's translation memorized, it is fun to have a new translation which is simple and understandable."
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Best Tibetan Book of the Dead

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
The first complete translation of a classic Buddhist text on the journey through living and dying Graced with opening words by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, the Penguin Deluxe Edition of The Tibetan Book of the Dead is "immaculately rendered in an English both graceful and precise." Profound and unique, it is one of the great treasures of wisdom in the spiritual heritage of humanity. (Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying ). a voyage inside the profound imagination of a people, immaculately rendered in an English both graceful and precise. I hope that the profound insights contained in this work will be a source of inspiration and support to many interested people around the world.
Reviews
"I have been a voracious reader all my life, and have been exposed to thousands of pages of literature from countless brilliant minds; my advice to those of my ilk: read this book and be amazed at the complexity of it."
"Good resource book."
"Cleared up a lot of questions for me and help me verify and correlate certain information important to me."
"Great book for understanding the process of exiting physical body, the between state and helps in healing process for the closed relatives of people who died."
"A great book."
"Good translation and color photo pages are lovely."
"everything about this book is awesome."
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