The following books and articles have lighted the journey of a fledgeling Thinker.

ANCIENT HISTORY

Edmundson, G., The Church in Rome in the First Century: An Examination of Various Controverted Questions Relating to its History, Chronology, Literature and Traditions, Bampton Lectures, (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1913).

The essential historical background to New Testament Studies (albeit in need of revision).

Robinson, John A.T., Redating the New Testament (London: SCM Press, 1976).

A tide-turner.

de Ste Croix, G.E.M., The Origins of the Peloponnesian War (London: Duckworth, 1972).

Ancient history as Martin learned to do it from the author.

Wenham, John, Redating Matthew, Mark and Luke (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1992).

The most accessible introduction to the Synoptic Problem (relationships between the first three gospels).

See also the Bibliography to The Three Gospels (Section III on this website).

PHILOSOPHY (How to Think)

The Bible.

HH Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998).

Jamison, Abbot Christopher, Finding Happiness: Monastic Steps for a Fulfilling Life (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2008).

de Mello, Anthony: One Minute Wisdom (New York: Image/Doubleday, 1985).

On opening the eyes.

Moir, Ann and David Jessel, Brainsex:the Real Difference Between Men and Women (Arrow: London:1998).

The differences between the male and female brains.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man (Chicago, IL: ABC International Group, 1997).

The West needs to rediscover the metaphysics which it lost at the Renaissance.

Pease, Allan & Barbara: Why Men Don't Listen & Women Can't Read Maps: How We're Different and what to do about it (London:Orion, 2001).

Hilarious as well as instructive.

Peck, M. Scott, The Road Less Travelled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth (London: Century, 1987). 

Plato's Apology of Socrates. In Penguin Classics, Plato: The Last Days of Socrates, translated by Hugh Tredennick (1959).

The historic Socrates' defence speech when on trial for his life, upon which Western philosophy was founded.

Plato's Republic.  Numerous editions.  Probably the most accessible is H.D.P. Lee's translation in the Penguin Classics, which has run to several editions.

The traditional Western approach to metaphysics; one of the best teaching manuals on learning to Think ever written.  See the review in Section IV.

Schumacher, E.F., A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Jonathan Cape, 1977).

How modern man can rediscover metaphysics.  See the summary in Section IV.

MATHEMATICS

Crilly, Tony, 50 Mathematical Ideas You Really Need to Know (London: Quercus, 2007).

Beautifully and simply presented.

Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh: The Mathematical Experience (USA: Birkhäuser, 1980); republished (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1983)

Penetrating and enthralling grapple with the philosophy of mathematics, and particularly with the central issue of whether mathematics is discovered or invented.

W.W. Sawyer, Mathematician's Delight (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1943).

Attempts to overcome the fear of mathematics by presenting the subject as an attractive mental exercise.  One of the best teaching books I have ever read.

du Sautoy, Marcus The Music of the Primes: Why an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Matters (London: Fourth Estate, 2003).

On the Riemann Hypothesis, its history and significance.  Illustrates compellingly how front line mathematicians think today.

See also the Bibliography to BW/003 in Section II (alternative mathematics).

RELIGION

de Caussade, Jean-Pierre, Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, translated by Algar Thorold and revised by Father John Joyce, S.J. (Glasgow: Collins/Fontana, 1977); also other editions.

The first of the great Catholic classics to have made any sense to Martin.  Quoted in Section VI.

Filby, F.A., Creation Revealed: A study of Genesis 1 in the light of modern science (London: Pickering & Inglis, 1963)

A gem of a book by a well qualified chemist who combines an appreciation of the structure of the account in question with a clear exposition of the science involved.

Humphreys, Colin J., The MIracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories (London: Continuum, 2003).

By a Cambridge University physicist.

Murray, Andrew, Waiting on God (c.1900, several editions).

Contemplative prayer as taught in the Bible.  See the verse summary in Section VI.

Rumi, Spiritual Verses: The First Book of the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, translated into blank verse by Alan Williams (London: Penguin Classics, 2006).

The principal poetry of Sufism; a real delight.

Schaeffer, Francis, Death in the City (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1969).

Which first taught me to love Jeremiah.

Tozer, A.W., The Pursuit of God (1948; Alberta: Horizon House, 1976) and other editions.

One of the great evangelical mystics.

Underhill, Evelyn, The Mystics of the Church (London: James Clarke, 1925).

A non-combative account of Church history.

Whybray, R.N., The Making of the Pentateuch: A Methodological Study, JSOT Supplement Series 53 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987).

LITERARY CRITICISM

Crump, M.M., The Growth of the Aeneid: A Study of the Stages of Composition as revealed by the Evidences of Incompletion (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1920)

Literary detective work done properly.

Lewis, C.S., Essay 'Fern-Seed and Elephants' in his posthumous book of that name (Collins/Fount, 1977 and other editions).

On Bultmann-type literary criticism.  Lewis at his sparkling best.

Young, Douglas, 'Miltonic Light on Professor Denys Page's Homeric Theory', Greece and Rome, Second Series, VI.1 (March 1959), 96-108.

Wittily disposes of the notion that authorship can be determined by statistical word counts alone.

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

Bradley, Ian, God Save The Queen: The Spiritual Dimension of Monarchy (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2002).

Thought-provoking, balanced and well thought through.

Cable, Vince: The Storm: The World Economic Crisis & What it Means (London: Atlantic, 2009).

The essential introduction to the problems of today's global economy.

 Hailsham, Lord, The Dilemma of Democracy: Diagnosis and Prescription (London: Collins 1978).
Prophetic.

Parkinson, C. Northcote, Parkinson's Law, or The Pursuit of Progress (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965).

Many a true word spoken in jest.

Sachs, Jeffrey, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (London: Allen Lane, 2008).

Practical proposals for saving the planet born of very considerable experience.

Sacks, Jonathan, The Politics of Hope (London: Jonathan Cape, 1997).  Now in its second edition.

One of the great Thinkers of our day (alternative politics).

Schumacher, E.F., Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered, (1973; London: ABACUS, 1974).

An iconic book by the originator of the concept of intermediate technology.

                                                                                    Martin Mosse,

                                                                                    Updated July 2009.