Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters") is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century (711-2) and composed by O no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami. Along with the Nihon Shoki, the myths contained in the Kojiki are part of the inspiration behind Shinto practices and myths. O no Yasumaro (died August 15, 723) was a Japanese nobleman, bureaucrat, and chronicler. He is most famous for compiling and editing, with the assistance of Hieda no Are, the Kojiki, the oldest extant Japanese history. Empress Genmei (r. 707-721) charged Yasumaro with the duty of writing the Kojiki in 711 using the various clan chronicles and native myths. It was finished the following year in 712. Yasumaro became clan head in 716, and died in 723.

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.

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.