Personal Library


📚 Library

A curated collection of books I’ve read, am reading, or plan to read. This list reflects my interests in philosophy, classical literature, and historical works.

💻 Digital Library Access

Note: My digital library contains a separate collection of PDF books and is distinct from the physical books listed below.

Access my digital PDF collection through Calibre at lib.aymanlafaz.com

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🏛️ Ancient Philosophy

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

💭 Modern 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

📜 Historical Works

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

☯️ Eastern Thought

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

📕 Classical Literature

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

❄️ Russian Literature

Dostoevsky

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

⚔️ Military & Political Theory

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

🔤 Language & Reference

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

🏺 Cultural History

  • Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television (Erik Barnouw) — A historical exploration of the development of television in the U.S. and its cultural impact.

🧮 Mathematics

  • Les mathématiques dévoilées MPSI (Vincent Rohart) — A comprehensive textbook for MPSI students, covering key mathematical concepts with detailed explanations, exercises, and Python programs to illustrate numerical analysis.

🌙 Arabic Philosophy & Literature

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
  • تهافت الفلاسفة (الغزالي) — The Incoherence of the Philosophers - Al-Ghazali
    • A critical attack on the philosophical doctrines of Avicenna and Al-Farabi, especially in metaphysics
  • تهافت التهافت (ابن رشد) — The Incoherence of the Incoherence - Ibn Rushd
    • A rebuttal of Al-Ghazali’s Incoherence, defending philosophy and the Aristotelian tradition

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