Plato

• Republic — On justice, education, and the ideal state
• Timaeus — Dialogue on cosmology and the physical world
• Symposium and the Death of Socrates — Collection including Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo

Aristotle

• The Metaphysics — On being and first principles
• Politique I — On political communities and governance

Other Ancient Philosophers

• Letters (Pliny the Younger) — Account of Roman life and governance
• Enneads (Plotinus) — Treatises on the soul, being, and the One
• Confessions (Saint Augustine) — Autobiographical work on faith, sin, and redemption
• Letters from a Stoic (Lucius Seneca) — Epistles on Stoic philosophy

Kant & Nietzsche

• Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant) — On the structure of reason and limits of knowledge
• Projet de paix perpétuelle (Emmanuel Kant) — Essay on peace between nations
• Thus Spake Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche) — Philosophical novel about the Übermensch ideal
• Beyond Good and Evil (Friedrich Nietzsche) — On truth, morality, and philosophical thought
• Aphorisms on Love and Hate (Friedrich Nietzsche) — Aphorisms on human emotions and relationships

French Philosophy

• Le mythe de Sisyphe (Albert Camus) — On absurdism, meaning, and the human condition
• Pensées (Blaise Pascal) — Notes defending Christian faith through reason
• Discours de la méthode (René Descartes) — On rationalism and scientific method

Other Modern Philosophers

• On the Suffering of the World (Arthur Schopenhauer) — Essays on human existence and suffering
• Ethics (Benedict Spinoza) — On God, nature, mind, emotions, and human freedom
• Man and His Symbols (Carl Jung) — On symbolism in the unconscious mind

Ancient History

• The Histories (Herodotus) — Account of ancient Greek and Persian history

Roman History

• SPQR (Mary Beard) — Overview of Roman history
• Emperor of Rome (Mary Beard) — On Roman emperors and imperial power
• The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edward Gibbon) — On the decline of the Roman Empire

World History

• The First Crusade (Peter Frankopan) — On the origins and events of the First Crusade
• The New Silk Roads (Peter Frankopan) — On modern geopolitics and historical trade routes
• The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire (Ryan Gingeras) — On the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
• Greek and Roman Political Ideas (Melissa Lane) — On classical political thought

Historical Analysis

• The Story of Philosophy (Will Durant) — Overview of philosophers and their ideas
• The Lessons of History (Will Durant) — On patterns from world history

Foundational Texts

• Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu) — Taoist text on the way and virtue
• The Upanishads — Vedic philosophical texts
• The Sacred Gathas of Zarathustra & The Old Avestan Canon (Pablo Vazquez) — Zoroastrian religious texts with commentary
• Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness (Ibn Fadlan) — Travel accounts through medieval Islamic lands

Western Classics

• The Fall of Icarus (Ovid) — Poem about the myth of Icarus
• O Cruel Alexis (Virgil) — Pastoral poem about unrequited love
• Inferno (Dante Alighieri) — First part of the Divine Comedy
• Faust (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) — Play about a scholar’s pact with the devil
• Caligula (Suetonius) — Biography of the Roman emperor Caligula
• The Concise Pepys (Samuel Pepys) — Abridged diary from Restoration England

Dostoevsky

• Uncle’s Dream — Satirical novella about provincial society and marriage
• Notes from Underground — About a narrator examining consciousness and free will

Strategic Thought

• The Prince (Machiavelli) — On acquiring and maintaining political power
• On War (Carl von Clausewitz) — Theory of warfare and military strategy
• The Book of Five Rings (Miyamoto Musashi) — On martial arts and strategy

Classical Languages

• Wheelock’s Latin — Latin grammar textbook
• Lingua Latina Per se Illustrata (Hans H. Ørberg) — Latin textbook using the natural method
• Dictionnaire Français / Latin — French-Latin dictionary

Modern Arabic Philosophy

• مدخل إلى فلسفة العلوم (محمد عابد الجابري) — Introduction to the Philosophy of Sciences - Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri
  • On scientific methodology in Arab-Islamic tradition

Classical Islamic Philosophy

• كتاب الكندى إلى المعتصم بالله في الفلسفة الأولى (الكندي) — Al-Kindi’s Book to Al-Mu’tasim on First Philosophy
  • On metaphysics and divine unity
• شرح البرهان لأرسطو وتلخيص البرهان (ابن رشد) — Commentary and Summary of Aristotle’s Demonstration - Ibn Rushd
  • On Aristotelian logic and reasoning
• رسائل ابن سينا (ابن سينا) — Treatises of Ibn Sina - Avicenna
  • Works on medicine, metaphysics, and natural philosophy
• الرسائل الفلسفية (الكندي) — Philosophical Treatises - Al-Kindi
  • Writings on scientific and philosophical subjects

Arabic Literature

• في سبيل التاج (مصطفى لطفي المنفلوطي) — For the Sake of the Crown - Mustafa Lutfi Al-Manfaluti
  • Arabic adaptation of a French play about love and sacrifice