Audiobooks narrated by Chirag Patel

Dao De Jing: The Classic Victorian-Era Translation

James Legge (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Arthashastra, or, The Playbook of Material Gain: Pragmatic and amoral tips on how to gain, defend, a

Truly radical 'Machiavellianism', in the popular sense of that word, is classically expressed in Indian literature in the Arthashastra of Kautilya (written long before the birth of Christ, ostensibly in the time of Chandragupta): compared to it, Machiavelli's The Prince is harmless. — Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation (1919) Chanakya's treatise, written while turning a farmhand into the emperor of the largest empire India had ever seen, focuses on how to manage an empire, covering everything from domestic policy and personal rights to assassination and the dirtier arts of politics. This is not, as with Plato’s Republic, a work of theory. Chanakya’s guidance is entirely practical, and is based on both his education and his experience building an empire. It lacks the philosophical ponderings and moralizing of its equivalent Western works (such as The Prince, The Republic or Leviathan) and instead focuses on how one deals with the messiness of the world in practice. People will occasionally refer to Chanakya as an Indian Machiavelli, but this does some discredit to Chanakya. The Prince is a satire, and focused around exposing the tactics and inhumanity of Cesare Borgia. Arthashastra is a manual for every aspect of statecraft, and while it deals in the unethical it does so only because that is, after all is said and done, one of the options available to a ruler. If you're after a totally pragmatic analysis of leadership, stripped of moralising and focused on what works and how to deal with real-world issues, this is the book for you.

Chanakya (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Classic of Filial Piety: The classic book of Confucian wisdom for children

For over two thousand years, this books has been the foundation of Chinese family life. Based on a series of conversations with Confucius, and supplemented by a series of story examples by an Emperor in the 11th Century, it is essential to understanding the nature and order of Chinese society. It speaks of how one should behave towards a senior such as one’s parents, elder brother or ruler, and the obligations that follow in the opposite direction. Written in 400BC, the Xiaojang is legendarily a dialogue between Confucius and Zeng Zi, a disciple who was well known for his filial piety. Since that time, it has been an essential tool of Chinese civilisation, often being the first book that Chinese children are given when they are able to read it. For Confucius and his disciples, family life is the foundation and cornerstone of society, and recognising the value and impact of family harmony on both the local and greater environments is crucial to stability and prosperity. SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS The Athenaeum.--'We wish that there were more of them; they are dreamy, lifelike, and fascinating.' Pall Mall Gazette.--'No translation of this important work has been made since the beginning of the eighteenth century.' Manchester Courier.--'Worthy of close study by all who would penetrate to the depth of Eastern thought and feeling.' The Scotsman.--' should not fail to please readers of the more studious sort.' Southport Guardian.--'will find considerable favour with all Students of Eastern Literature and Eastern Philosophy.' Bristol Mercury.--'We commend these little books to all who imagine that there is no knowledge worth having outside Europe and America.' Field.--'Such books are valuable aids to the understanding of a far-off age and people, and have a great interest for the student of literature.'

Ivan Chen (translator) (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Cloud Of Unknowing: The classic of Christian mystical wisdom, rendered in modern English

In the middle ages, Christianity shared much with Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies. Read on to learn how Christian mystics came to the same conclusions as those from very different faiths. This edition has been adapted from the 1923 version into modern English to make the ideas more accessible to today's reader, the Cloud of Unknowing distills a complex mystical epistemology and discipline into engagingly readable prose. The Cloud of Unknowing is a work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. It is a spiritual guide, which focuses on using contemplative prayer to know God by abandoning consideration of God's particular activities and attributes, and having the courage to surrender your mind and ego to the realm of 'unknowing', at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God. The book counsels the young student to seek God, not through knowledge and intellect, but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought. This is brought about by putting all thoughts and desires under a 'cloud of forgetting,' and thereby piercing God's cloud of unknowing with a 'dart of longing love' from the heart.

Chirag Patel (editor), Evelyn Underhill (editor) (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Sayings of Lao-Tzu: An accessible narrative prose translation of the Dao De Jing

A prose translation of the Tao that focuses on bringing out the subtlety and depth of the classic Way. Translations of the famous Way and Virtue (Dao De Jing/Tao Te Ching) focus on the poetics and depth of the original. In contrast, Giles’ translation focuses on telling stories with the text, drawing out the nuances in a way that is more familiar to Western audiences from philosophical and religious texts. “Few can help being struck by the similarity of tone between the sayings of Lao Tzu and the Gospel enunciated six centuries later by the Prince of Peace. There are two famous utterances in particular which secure to Lao Tzu the glory of having anticipated the lofty morality of the Sermon on the Mount. The cavilers who would rank the Golden Rule of Confucius below that of Christ will find it hard to get over the fact that Lao Tzu said, 'Requite injury with kindness,' and 'To the not-good I would be good in order to make them good.' It was a hundred and fifty years later that Plato reached the same conclusion in the first book of the Republic. It is interesting to observe certain points of contact between Lao Tzu and the early Greek philosophers. He may be compared both with Parmenides, who disparaged sense-knowledge and taught the existence of the One as opposed to the Many, and with Heraclitus, whose theory of the identity of contraries recalls some of our Sage's paradoxes. But it is when we come to Plato that the most striking parallels occur. It has not escaped notice that something like the Platonic doctrine of ideas is discoverable in the 'forms' which Lao Tzu conceives as residing in Tao. But, so far as I know, no one has yet pointed out what a close likeness Tao itself bears to that curious abstraction which Plato calls the Idea of the Good.”

Lao Tzu, Lionel Giles (translator) (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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The Forerunner & The Madman

Most famously known for his book The Prophet, the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran, who has been called 'the single most important influence on Arabic poetry and literature during the first half of [the twentieth] century.' Contained herein are two lesser known works. The Madman was the first book Kahlil published in English, and it's success was enough for The Forerunner to be released by the same publisher less than two years later.

Khalil Gibran (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Unusual Topics & Interesting Reviews: Opinions & ideas that'll make you sound like a deep and learne

If you're struggling with how to demystify the world, check out this guide. With answers about everything from AI and mental health, to living through hard times and discussions of philosophy, theology and spirituality, it contains a wealth of interesting facts, ideas and opinions. Also includes a section on marijuana-related questions, and properly reflective reviews of great sci fi, fantasy, non fiction and comedy books. You'll be guaranteed to find a classic work that you'll love in there.

Chirag Patel (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Perfect Your Writing: How to be a stylish, insightful and convincing writer.

Are you keen to perfect your writing? This audiobook will teach you how to be a stylish, insightful and convincing writer. This compilation includes Twain's On the Decay of the Art of Lying, Strunk's The Elements of Style, and Bennett's The Author's Craft - all in one. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr first clarifies the writer's understanding of how to - correctly. In it, Strunk has laid a detailed, essential map, one he believed pays off, for in unlocking the secrets of style, one opens the terrain for mastery of literature.Now over a century since its first publication, the book is anything but outdated, as it is still widely used today – just testament to Strunk’s timeless knowledge and mastery with the pen.'The skilled observer ... does not have to change his mind.' – Arnold Bennett.The Author's Craft is Arnold Bennett’s four-part writing tutorial. As an esteemed journalist, novelist and playwright, he believed truly 'Seeing Life' primed the pen, out of which 'Writing Novels', 'Writing Plays' and 'The Artist and The Public' emerge. In the exposition, he expands on how to see the world, and how to not overlook the details most miss… These skills and techniques give rise to the craft he feels the author is really trying to achieve: art.Mark Twain’s “On the Decay of the Art of Lying” was his wryly told essay on why he felt the world needs educated lying, published in 1880 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. The way he saw it, everyone lies at some point in their lives. Twain decided that lying could be a valuable skillset in various different arenas - provided you knew how to do it well, and didn’t try to hurt anybody. As he put it, 'What chance has the ignorant uncultivated liar against the educated expert? What chance have I against Mr. Per—against a lawyer? Judicious lying is what the world needs.'

Arnold Bennett, Mark Twain, William Strunk Jr (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Folk Punk, literary style: The Poetry of Pat ‘The Bunny’ Schneeweis AKA Johnny Hobo

There are artists out there able to lift the spirits of the downtrodden, who point towards a better world with all they are. Sometimes, they do this in DIY punk style: raw, unplugged, and deeply human. Patrick Schneeweis, better known as Pat the Bunny, is an artist who chose the road less travelled, instinctively deeming it more honest and less controlling. Freer. He grew up in Vermont, where he found people liked his voice and the controversial topics he tackled, and by 16 years old, he had released his first album ‘Fire Hazard’. Pat had the courage to test his reality, and then nakedly vocalise it (in both the metaphorical and literal senses). His lyrics saw conflicting ideologies meet and fight to the death, in outlooks that were as captivating as his personal anecdotes were relatable. Pat’s journey offers direction to the lost, if only in the promise that so is he; and for all his youthful anarchism and burn-it-to-the-ground spiritedness, his commentary of the world is ironically sobering. Pat’s music career only spanned thirteen years, from 2003-2016. He reincarnated several times in different bands of his own making, and split albums with other folk-punk artists equally hungry to change the world. He fought like hell for a vision of peace, and made the battlegrounds his own state of consciousness. Like a flashfire burning everything in its wake, towards the end of his career, Pat’s had simmered down, but shoots of new life had sprung up from the ashes, a new direction in which his life could take. This book paints the picture of Pat’s fallings and risings, a final cadence before he left the punk scene behind him for good.

Patrick Schneeweis (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Proto Sci Fi 182-1741AD: The very first speculative fiction tales, translated from the Latin, Dutch

This volume includes works that we would now recognize as science fantasy, with tropes such as exploring civilizations on the moon and strange devices with magical powers. It includes: A True Story, Lucian of Samosata, c. 182. Written partly as a response to the inventions in other ‘histories’ of the Roman era, which were often as much fantasy and rumor as fact, this story is the earliest known work to include space travel, aliens, liquid air, robots, interplanetary warfare, and worlds with different rules of physics. The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter, Ozaki, c.939. From the oldest extant Japanese folk narrative, this work is also known and in film as “The Tale of Princess Kaguya’. In today’s terms, it is the first work of speculative fiction, concerned with encounters with beings of impossible power, and a princess whose home and people are on the Moon. Somnium, Johannes Kepler, 1609. A novel written by the astronomer whose name is still known today, described by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov as one of the first works of science fiction. Describes a culture and civilization on the Moon. The Man In The Moone, Francis Godwin, 1638. Drawing on contemporary theories of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Gilbert, the inhabitants of the Moon in this story are a tall Christian people encountered by a roguish hero who must learn of their lands, and gains items that allow the control of light, heat, and gravity. Described by Edgar Allen Poe as “a singular and somewhat ingenious little book”, it was a direct influence on Jules Verne and HG Wells. Niels Klim's Journey Under The Ground, Louis Holberg, 1741. Originally written in Latin, this is the first book in the “hollow Earth” genre. It concerns a traveler who falls into orbit around the inner sun, and must learn the ways of a strange six-armed people that populate the inner surface of the Earth.

Francis Godwin, Iwaya Sazanami, Johannes Kepler, Louis Holberg, Lucian Of Samoa (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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What Did Jesus Really Say?: A Study Of The Inner Knowledge

In the first century AD a religion was born: Christianity, with Jesus Christ head of the Church. Little evidence survives regarding the critical formative years, all from second-hand sources and mostly one man, Paul of Tarsus, who never physically walked with Jesus. The living narrative of Jesus’ life is in question. More in question is the message he gave. Historians are divided as to what Jesus said and did, and today many doubt the accuracy of the New Testament canon that Christians take as scripture. A wide divergence grows with coming of the modern age. Historians and scholars grotesquely disagree, a few believing Jesus never existed and to the other extreme of every word of the Bible being God’s inerrant word. “What Did Jesus Really Say?”, authoritatively answers these formerly unanswerable questions. Jesus taught of an inner world, and this very inner world can be tapped today for answering what the written record cannot reveal. Trusted inner sources are the key and were tapped for this book. It is a short read packed with informative material that will forever change present-day understanding of life and death and the beyond in all disciplines of modern thought, and bring clear resolution to the Jesus story.

Arthur Telling, Cleopatra De Los Dolores (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Biggles Defies The Swastika: Captain James Bigglesworth goes undercover in Nazi-occupied Norway and

Even the best of heroes can find themselves in a sticky situation, and this is one of the very stickiest. How will our hero survive when he is set to hunt himself? Biggles is working on an undercover mission in Norway when the streets outside his hotel are stormed by Nazis. His escape via the aerodrome is thwarted by renegades working with the S.S. To avoid capture or worse, Biggles camouflages himself as a Norwegian traitor and swears into the German Air-Force, donning a swastika armlet and adopting the role of a Nazi. With no intention of remaining in Nazi occupied Norway, Biggles uses the first opportunity to escape into Sweden, where he is put through to Colonel Raymond at Headquarters. But Biggles is strategically placed behind enemy lines, and Colonel Raymond has other ideas for him. A pilot thrust back into the role of a spy, Biggles must use every resource available to avoid detection and gather as much intelligence about the enemy's movements as possible – but the Gestapo are on the lookout for a British soldier stationed in Norway, and his arch nemesis Erich von Stalhein is right on his tail. Read on for tales of high adventure in the heart of the Second World War as Britain's greatest pilot and hero must use all his wits and daring to survive.

We Johns (Author), Chirag Patel (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Chirag Patel