The Moralia (loosely translatable as Matters relating to Customs and Mores) of the 1st-century Greek scholar Plutarch of Chaeronea is an eclectic collection of 78 essays and transcribed speeches. They give an insight into Roman and Greek life, but often are also fascinating timeless observations in their own right. Plutarch subsequently named, on becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( circa 46 - 120 AD), was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Morals. He was born to a prominent family in Chaeronea, Boeotia, a town about twenty miles east of Delphi.

Procopius of Caesarea (circa AD 500 - c. AD 565) was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palaestina Prima. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the "Wars of Justinian," the "Buildings of Justinian" and the celebrated "Secret History." He is commonly held to be the last major historian of the ancient world. The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the Roman emperor Justinian. The Secret History reveals an author who had become deeply disillusioned with the emperor Justinian and his wife, Empress Theodora, as well as Belisarius, his former commander and patron, and Antonina, Belisarius' wife. The anecdotes claim to expose the secret springs of their public actions, as well as the private lives of the emperor, his wife and their entourage. Justinian is raked over the coals as cruel, venal, prodigal and incompetent; as for Theodora, the reader is treated to the most detailed and titillating portrayals of vulgarity and insatiable lust combined with shrewish and calculating mean-spiritedness.

In 1909, American agronomist F.H. King toured China, Korea and Japan, studying traditional fertilization, tillage and general farming practices. He wrote his observations and findings in Farmers of Forty Centuries, Or Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan (1911, published shortly after his death by his wife, Carrie Baker King). King lived in an era preceding synthetic nitrogen fertilizer production and before the use of the internal combustion engine for farm machinery, yet he was profoundly interested in the challenge of farming the same soils in a 'permanent' manner, hence his interest in the agricultural practices of ancient cultures.

The Analects, or Lunyu (literally "Selected Sayings"), also known as the Analects of Confucius, is the collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been written by Confucius' followers. It is believed to have been written during the Warring States period (475 BC - 221 BC), and it achieved its final form during the mid-Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). The Analects has been one of the most widely read and studied books in China for the last 2,000 years, and continues to have a substantial influence on Chinese and East Asian thought and values today. Confucius (551-479 BCE) was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. His followers competed successfully with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era only to be suppressed in favor of the Legalists during the Qin Dynasty. Following the victory of Han over Chu after the collapse of Qin, Confucius's thoughts received official sanction and were further developed into a system known as Confucianism.

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras, and the basis on which several schools of Buddhism were established.The oldest parts of the text (Chapters 1-9 and 17) were probably written down between 100 BC and 100 AD: most of the text had appeared by 200 AD. The earliest known Sanskrit title for the sutra is the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, which translates to "the Lotus Flower Formula (or Rule) of Good Dharma." The Lotus Sutra presents itself as a discourse delivered by the Buddha toward the end of his life. The tradition in Mahayana states that the sutra was written down at the time of the Buddha and stored for five hundred years in a realm of nagas. After this they were reintroduced into the human realm at the time of the Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir.

Dream of the Red Chamber is a masterpiece of Chinese literature and one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the mid-18th century during the Qing Dynasty and is generally acknowledged to be a pinnacle of Chinese fiction. The novel is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the rise and decay of author's own family and, by extension, of the Qing Dynasty. As the author states in the first chapter, it is intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth - friends, relatives and servants. At the center of the story is Bao-yu, a precocious, spoiled, and undisciplined boy and his romantic affinity to his poetry-loving, orphaned cousin, Dai-yu. The novel is remarkable not only for its huge cast of characters and psychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social structures typical of 18th-century Chinese aristocracy.

First published in 1854, Henry David Thoreau"s groundbreaking "Walden" has influenced generations of readers and continues to inspire and inform anyone with an open mind and a love of nature. There is so much wisdom in Walden, it's impossible to digest it all even in a dozen readings. Pithy lines and quotes by Henry David Thoreau tend to the return to the reader over and over again, as life rolls along. A favorite quote from Thoreau states that he would be happy to live in a pine box, three feet by six feet, as long as he could wake up every morning in the middle of nature. When it came to simplicity and sustainability, Henry David Thoreau was years ahead of his time. Walden, along with the journals of Henry David Thoreau, constitute some of the most useful of and timeless of all American literature.