Books like Why Can't We Be Good? by Jacob Needleman

Eckhart Tolle guides readers toward a pain‑free existence by teaching how to recognize and release mental patterns that cause suffering, encouraging living fully in the present moment.

Candide: A Tale of Conviviality and Optimism in a Wretched World

On new thought.

A motivational guide for movie stars, focusing on their personal growth and life lessons.

An essay in book form of David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College commencement address, offering practical philosophical advice on living mindfully.

Alan Watts examines the paradox of human insecurity, arguing that the pursuit of stability breeds anxiety. Drawing on philosophy, religion, and psychology, he invites Western readers to reconsider their relationship with time, pain, and the world.

The Road Less Traveled encourages facing life's challenges as a path to deeper self‑understanding, emotional maturity, and healthier loving relationships.

RELIGION: GENERAL. Bushido is the chivalric code of moral principles that the Samurai followed. Influenced by Confucianism, Shinto and Zen Buddhism, it tempers the violence of a warrior with wisdom and serenity. This book has become influential among military and corporate leaders looking for ways to manage their people and overcome their opponents. Beautifully produced in traditional Chinese binding and with a timeless design, this book includes the classic Inazo text with a new introduction.

John Portmann examines the human inclination to enjoy others’ misfortune, tracing the concept of Schadenfreude through philosophy, literature, and contemporary culture to uncover its emotional, ethical, and societal implications.

A moral manifesto that forces us to reconsider a world divided between the West and the Rest, Us and Them. We have grown accustomed in this anxious, post-9/11 era to constructing a world fissured by warring creeds and cultures. Much of humanity now seems separated by chasms of incomprehension. Kwame Anthony Appiah's landmark new work challenges the separatist doctrines espoused in books such as Samuel P. Huntington's "The Clash of Civilizations," Reviving the ancient philosophy of "Cosmopolitanism," a school of thought that dates to the Cynics of the fourth century bce, Appiah traces its influence on the ethical legacies of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, Kant's dream of a "league of nations," and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In doing so, Appiah shows how Western intellectuals and leaders, on both the left and the right, have wildly exaggerated the power of difference--and neglected the power of one. One world. One species. Challenging years of received wisdom, "Cosmopolitanism" is a resounding work of philosophy and global culture. About the series: Issues of Our Time: "Aware of the competition for the attention of readers, W. W. Norton & Company and I have created the "Issues of Our Time" as a lucid series of highly readable books through which some of today's most thoughtful intellectuals seek to challenge the general reader to reexamine received truths and grapple with powerful trends that are shaping the world in which we live. The series launches with Anthony Appiah, Alan Dershowitz, and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen as the first of an illustrious group who will tackle some of the most plangent and central issues defining our society today throughbooks that deal with such issues as sexual and racial identities, the economics of the developing world, and the concept of citizenship in a truly globalized twenty-first-century world culture. Above all else, these books are designed to be read and enjoyed."--Henry Louis Gates Jr., W. E. B. DuBois Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University