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 The Teachings of Confucius - Special Edition Confucius not only said interesting things, he sang them and accompanied himself on a kind of zither. The Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery displays an exhibit of musical instruments from Confucius’ time, 2,500 years ago. A collection of his lyrics – unfortunately there are no melodies – is one of the first pieces of Chinese literature handed down through the centuries.
“It is said that Confucius accompanied himself on a ‘qin’ while singing the odes of the Shi Jing, or the ‘Classic of Poetry,’” says cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a guide to the exhibit. “We don’t know what Confucius’ qin may have looked like, but in popular accounts of his life, the image of the philosopher-musician became firmly established.” The qin is a kind of zither. Today’s Chinese musicians still use one kind. Ma is an American of Chinese ancestry, one of today’s leading cellists playing classical western music.
Jenny F. So, the Sackler’s curator of ancient Chinese art, said in an interview that some of the “odes” were just folk songs. Confucius reportedly made a practice of dancing with his disciples every day. In his time, music was considered of great social significance, linking rulers to subjects, parents to children. “It is by poetry that one’s mind is aroused; it is by ceremony that one’s character is regulated; it is by music that one becomes accomplished,” he said.
Most of the instruments on display come from a tomb of the Marquis Yi, found by Chinese soldiers in 1977 when they were leveling a hill as a site for a factory. The instruments are borrowed from a museum in Hubei, China. So said this is the first time they have been displayed in a musical context.
Continue reading Confucius not only said interesting things, he played them.
 The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Classic Collectors Edition If you are a fan of The Art of War by Sun Tzu, you may have noticed an abundance of free versions of the book, especially in electronic format. If you have downloaded any of these, you might have been reminded of the old adage, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Unfortunately, virtually all of the free versions of The Art of War by Sun Tzu are derived from a single source, the 1910 translation by Lionel Giles which was made available via the Gutenberg project in 2003. This 60 page version is filled with scanning errors, missing words and sentences, and is completely devoid of all references, annotations, and explanations.
If you felt disappointed that a book you had heard so much about turned out to be nothing particularly special, you might want to revisit that opinion. Subsequent restored translations since 2003 have produced a much more readable treatise on The Art of War by Sun Tzu, including multiple translations within a single book. The Art of War by Sun Tzu – Classic Collectors Edition contains 2 complete translations: the Giles-Williams Restored Translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu and the Giles-Kim Restored Academic Translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu, with notes, commentary and annotations from a broad range of sources.
With a modern introduction tracing the impact of The Art of War on military tactics, and over 260 pages of content, The Art of War by Sun Tzu – Classic Collectors Edition is sure to make a welcome addition to your print library, or your electronic library. The book is available in hardcover and paperback through Ingram, and in electronic format on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Google Books.
 Experiment short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald Once considered a writer of “slick” magazine stories intended for mass consumption, F. Scott Fitzgerald is now regarded as one of the finest literary craftsmen of his, or of any other, generation. Entrenched in the milieu of the reckless 1920’s, his stories reflect the carefree, impetuous attitude of the time, but they also go far beyond providing a mere snapshot of a generation. Fitzgerald established himself as a master at entwining romanticism with realism. He dissected class differences with a surgeon’s precision. He exalted the Jazz Age fantasy of glorious excess even as he tore it apart.
Glittering Things: The Complete Tales of the Jazz Age contains a solid compendium of early works by Fitzgerald—a time when he was at his most experimental in terms of themes and techniques, as well as a time when he was at his most influential with the public. Included in this special edition is the novelette “Winter Dreams,” a story that would eventually become his masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. Also included are “May Day” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” two of the most well-regarded pieces in the Fitzgerald canon, offering the writer’s candid analysis of the darker side of the Jazz Age’s quest for excess. Fitzgerald’s trademark wit and mastery of dialogue are also well represented with the stories “The Camel’s Back,” “Porcelain and Pink,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
Continue reading Glittering Things: Flappers, Fantasies, Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Experimental short fiction at its best.
 The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Classic Collector's Edition A veteran of aerial combat in the Korean War could help America’s ground-pounders vanquish terrorists in the Middle East today. From his experience dueling with Soviet MiGs, Air Force Colonel John Boyd derived a way of thinking about strategy that applied not only to dogfighting over the Korean Peninsula, but to all dimensions of conflict and competition.
Boyd’s theory was deceptively simple: The combatant who was best able to adapt to an environment that was perpetually in flux, and thus to keep his opponent off-balance, would enjoy a nearly insuperable edge in battle.
Intuition started Boyd on his improbable journey from fighter pilot to strategic theorist. After Korea he landed an assignment as a flight instructor at the Air Force’s elite Fighter Weapons School. There he earned the nickname “40-Second Boyd” after issuing a standing $40 bet that he could win any dogfight within 40 seconds after starting from a position of disadvantage.
He won every encounter – and became obsessed with figuring out how, in theoretical terms, he had pulled it off. Continue reading Col John Boyd: Use Sun Tzu to out maneuver,defeat terrorists
 Kindle: Know Your Government This is a simple, no-nonsense collection of the documents and amendments which shape the system of governance in the United States of America. This edition features:
The Declaration of Independence
The United States Constitution
The Bill of Rights
All Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
You can read each major document in less than 20 minutes. The texts are provided in American English. There are no editorials, no comments, and no political spin. Nothing has been added, or taken away from the original documents.
This Kindle edition has a linked table of contents to each section. All articles and amendments are bookmarked for easy searching. Each amendment to the U.S. Constitution also has the date provided on which it was ratified. Continue reading The 14th Amendment – Know Your Government Series on Kindle, only .99
The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Classic Collector's Edition SUBJECT AREA:
History and Literature
OBJECTIVES:
Students will understand the following:
1. Sun Tzu’s Art of War has become required reading not only in military curricula but in business, economics, and political science classes as well.
2. Many cultures rely on ancient texts and ideas for advice and guidance in today’s world.
Continue reading Free Art of War Lesson Plan, Grades 9-12, with adaptations.
 The Samurai Series on Amazon From the Samurai Series:
I have been many years training in the Way of strategy, called Ni Ten Ichi Ryu, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first time. It is now during the first ten days of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Kanei (1645). I have climbed mountain Iwato of Higo in Kyushu to pay homage to heaven, pray to Kwannon, and kneel before Buddha. I am a warrior of Harima province, Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Geshin, age sixty years.
From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of strategy. My first duel was when I was thirteen, I struck down a strategist of the Shinto school, one Arima Kihei. When I was sixteen I struck down an able strategist, Tadashima Akiyama. When I was twenty-one I went up to the capital and met all manner of strategists, never once failing to win in many contests. Continue reading The Samurai Series Book 1: The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
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