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Rudolf Steiner's contribution to humanity has been prodigious: farms, schools, clinics and laboratories have all been established on the spiritual philosophy he expounded. Hitler and the Nazis banned all his works. The Anthroposophical Society, established by Steiner in 1912, has adherents around the world. It is open to all creeds and colours, demands no endorsement of doctrine, and holds as a universal principle the striving for the knowledge of the spirit in man and the cosmos. In 'Knowledge of the Higher Worlds,and Its Attainment' Rudolf Steiner reveals - to those willing to undertake the necessary discipline - the method by which this 'knowledge of the spirit' may be obtained.

'The Analects of Confucius' has had the most profound effect on Chinese Society, and influenced much of S. E. Asia. The book was not written by Confucius, but by his disciples some 30 to 50 years after the Master's death in 479 BCE. However, the main arguments are undoubtedly those of Confucius himself. Self-improvement is the essence of Confucian thought: one must cultivate 'ren', (empathy), the five main qualities of which are liberality, trustworthiness, respect, earnestness and kindness. Mastering these, one becomes a 'junzi' or Prince of Virtue, setting an example which others will follow to produce a peaceful and just society.

Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 - 180 AD. His rule was absolute and - as the lives of other Emperors reveal only too clearly - he was able, with impunity, to indulge in any vice, crime or licentious behaviour he chose. Yet Marcus Aurelius resisted all such temptations, thanks to his belief in stoic philosophy. In The Meditations, (which was never intended for public view), Aurelius examines his inner nature, intimately describing his flaws and talents, and admonishing himself to live a good life. It is astonishing that this book exists - filled with great wisdom, and written by a Roman Emperor who reaches out over almost 2000 years to speak with us about the mysteries of life and death.

Horace Walpole is credited by many with the invention of the Gothic Novel. The author claimed to have written 'The Castle of Otranto' - a medieval mystery story set in a haunted castle peopled by fantastic characters - after a night of dreams. It is a fitting origin for this dark book of terror and villainy, an attempt, in Walpole's own words, "to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern". Walpole's literary experiment has proved to be a great success, and The Castle of Otranto has rarely been out of print since its first publication in 1764.

John Stuart Mill's classic has at its heart a brave (some might say Quixotic) attempt to define both the constraints on individual freedom, and the degree of coercion governments may legitimately use to limit that freedom. His solution is a "very simple principle" - that one may coerce only to defend oneself or others from harm. This deceptively straightforward axiom has deep social consequences - it would, for example, ban all government intervention to make populations behave 'better'. The resulting ramifications have been argued over by social scientists for more than 150 years, and never more so than in modern times.

Edwin Abbott was a mathematician who used the idea of 'Flatland' - a world of just two dimensions - to poke fun at caste-ridden Victorian Society. The book also allowed him to explore the nature of dimensions and our own perceptual limitations. In the book a three-dimensional being can view the workings of 'Flatland' yet remains invisible to its two-dimensional inhabitants. Abbott then leads the reader into the contemplation of new dimensions that may yet exist beyond our own 'real world' of height, width and length. Similar developments in Modern Physics have greatly increased 'Flatland's' popular appeal, with Isaac Asimov hailing the book as "the best introduction into... perceiving dimensions".

This classic of devotional literature was written sometime in the late seventeenth century. Its author, Brother Lawrence, was born Nicholas Herman, and served as a soldier before becoming a monk in his middle years, some time after receiving a severe wound that left him in lifelong chronic pain. Following a series of spiritual trials, Brother Lawrence discovered a system that allowed him to be conscious of the presence of God on a continual basis, throughout all of his daily life. In this book, (collated by Joseph de Beaufort, counsel to the Archbishop of Paris), this simple, holy man explains the means and practices by which anyone may learn to walk continually in the presence of the Almighty.

'The Interior Castle' is a classic of Christian mysticism, written with some reluctance by its author, St Teresa of Avila. The saint spent most of her life as a Carmelite nun, and was noted for her piety and the frequency of her visions. In 1577 she was instructed by her superiors to produce a work on prayer for her sisters in the order. The result was a book of great spiritual significance, in which she wrote of her vision of the human being as a crystal globe, containing seven mansions. It is through these that the soul must make a progressive pilgrimage, to final union with God in the seventh mansion. St Teresa describes the prayers and meditations for this spiritual journey in great detail, and also warns of the obstructions and barriers that the Devil erects to prevent passage into the various mansions. Full of encouragement and advice for the modern aspirant, 'The Interior Castle' is as relevant today as when it was first written over four hundred years ago.

In 1882, at the age of 21, Rudolf Steiner's life was changed forever by a seemingly chance meeting on a train. Traveling between Vienna and his home town of Pottschach, Steiner fell into conversation with Felix Koguzki, a lowly herb-gatherer who claimed to have personal and direct knowledge of higher worlds of spiritual attainment. Koguzki arranged for the young man to meet a mysterious individual, someone Steiner refers to only as a 'Master', who seems to have guided him successfully towards spiritual enlightenment. Steiner's book 'Theosophy' was published 28 years later, in 1910, and is a detailed account of this 'spiritual science', a method of attaining to the higher worlds that is replete with descriptions of esoteric realities, and what one may expect at the various milestones of human development. This is a book that will repay a slow and careful study, a treatise on the higher worlds that the reader can, with profit, return to again and again.

'David Balfour' is the sequel to 'Kidnapped', and starts at the exact moment that Robert Louis Stevenson's more famous book ends - with Balfour in Edinburgh, standing cold and remorseful outside the offices of the British Linen Company. From there begins a rollicking series of adventures which sees our eponymous hero successively marooned on a remote island, traveling through Holland and France where he fights for his life with his old comrade Alan Breck, and finding time to fall in love with the spirited and beautiful Catriona, grand-daughter of the infamous 'Highland Rogue', Rob Roy.