Edgar Allan Poe's stories are some of the most fascinating in the canon of American literature. Such classics as "The Tell-Tale Heart" are taught in schools all over the country and are loved by readers for the insight he offers into the paranoid mind. More than that, Poe's intricate detail of the protagonist's thought patterns make even the most insane-seeming character - truly a murderer - somehow relatable to the reader, even if those of us on the sane side would never consider such an act. Poe stands among the best of American storytellers. He is widely known to be the inventor of the...

The Old Past Master communicates truths and wisdom in simple, obvious ways we can all understand. Claudy's young Masons present problems, sometimes a sort of straw man, and his Old Past Master proceeds to explain how to think about these issues while keeping the Masonic principles of faith, hope and charity in the forefront of the conversation. Especially important is that the lessons are never communicated in a harsh or pedantic style, but one full of warmth and brotherly love, communicated in a conversational tone.

Roughing It Is the story of the Mark Twain's trip to Nevada to join his brother, who had been named secretary of the territory. Twain writes: "My brother had just been appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory-an office of such majesty that it concentrated in itself the duties and dignities of Treasurer, Comptroller, Secretary of State, and Acting Governor in the Governor's absence. A salary of eighteen hundred dollars a year and the title of 'Mr. Secretary, ' gave to the great position an air of wild and imposing grandeur. I was young and ignorant, and I envied my brother." Although this story...

Shakespeare's sonnets are among the best-known and most-loved poems in the English canon. Shakespeare excels at describing the subtleties of human emotion and tying together a string of familiar sentiments that we can all relate to, regardless of our backgrounds. He speaks to the universality of love and longing, revealing us all as subject to the temperate and inclement nature of desire.

The Regius Poem, also known as the Halliwell Manuscript, is a long series of rhyming couplets that make up what is thought to be the earliest of the Old Charges of Masonry. It was discovered in the British Museum by James O. Halliwell in 1838. While sometimes thought to have been written during the reign of King Athelstan (924-940 A.D.), the document actually dates to the late 14th century. Whether it is a derivative work based on a separate manuscript from Athelstan's time is unknown. However, the Regius Poem is the cornerstone of the Legend of York, which is important in Masonry even today....

The Dhammapada is one of the great books of the Buddha's teachings. The 423 passages are taken from the various teachings or suttas and represent the core teachings and principles of the Buddha. The collection was assembled probably in the third to fifth centuries CE and contains a number of verses that are organized by category. The passages are taken from longer works - various Buddhist parables - and represent the very core of a specific lesson. This is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in exploring Buddhism and learning more about the practice, but it also enumerates...