Fundamental questions about life arise in various contexts, making us wonder about the real worth of living. However, it is certainly a sign of our times when one is alerted to the fundamental question about the meaning and significance of life by an ominous text message. The main character of this book, Professor Enrique de los Reyes, receives such a warning: the onset of super-typhoon Haiyan, the strongest ever to hit landfall, and the impending danger to his friend and his relatives in the Philippines. As he anxiously awaits more news, he recalls and reviews in the context of this tragedy his philosophical wanderings throughout a long academic career in pursuit of the meaning of life. He wonders how these could now be reconciled with the urgent need for him to attend to this particular situation. The response to his query comes from a most unexpected source as he assesses Alexander Pope’s advice to drink deeply from the Pierian spring and realises its import for one’s conduct in life. This reflective account of a human quest is the last volume in a trilogy which probes into philosophical themes in a narrative way. The first book, Those Distant Shores: A Narrative of Human Restlessness, looks at human restlessness and explores the fundamental theme of human transcendence by following the life-stories of three boyhood friends and of another young student as they embark on their respective journeys in life. The second book, That Elusive Fountain of Wisdom: A Tale of the Human Thirst for Knowledge, deals with the fundamental craving of human beings for fulfilment as depicted in the various characters from different countries who pursue their respective academic interests and ambitions.

In his anthology As a Pierian Spring, Larry Troxel has compiled poems from his first two books on which favorable reviews were given and are blended with many new ones. Each are topically indexed to fit the momentary mood of the reader, hoping he or she might have the thoughtful or up lifting experience of supping from the Pierian Spring as they thumb through its pages. As you read and consider some of the poems in this anthology, open your mind and think beyond the mere words, to a fuller meaning these symbols might convey. Sound words in poetry, well chosen and thoughtfully placed, serve as tips of truth.Words are pointers for our sensesFor things they representOf mysteries behind invisible fencesOurs to learn their full intent. From Tips of Truth

This tale follows fictitious characters as they journey in search of wisdom and the fulfillment of their objectives. Set mainly in the fascinating university town of Leuven, Belgium, it revolves around the personal, social, political and academic aspirations of visiting scholars in the town. Richard Gutierrez from the USA needs to get tenure at his university. Jennifer Sydney from England is determined to advance her career. Aisling O’Shea and her six-year old son Philip from Ireland have different expectations of their trip. Piotr Malachowski wants to understand a life rooted in the bitter experiences of the internment camp of Majdanek in Poland. The nationalistic Fr Miguel Fuentes from the Philippines wonders what he can learn from a Western university to deal with the challenges in his country. What starts out as an academic sojourn for these individuals becomes a life-changing experience as their paths cross in Leuven and they learn about each other and themselves and about life itself.

“Distant Shores” can mean various things. Literally, distant shores refer to one’s travel destinations. Figuratively, they represent human desires, ambitions, or goals. But “distant shores” also stand for the human yearning, imbedded in everyone, for final fulfillment. Such yearning makes human beings fundamentally restless. This work is about all of these forms of restlessness. In story form, it explores a fundamental philosophical theme: human transcendence. The narrative follows the life-journeys of three Filipino boyhood friends who had different ambitions in, and dreams about, life. A parallel story of another young man from Spain, who is coming to grips with his father's philosophical views on life, links up with one of these Filipinos during a trip to Ireland. As the four characters’ respective and very different narratives unfold, their dialogues develop and their reflections deepen, one is caught up in the challenges they have had to face, the goals they have achieved, and the failures and successes they have encountered. In different, and at times unexpected, ways they illustrate the restlessness of human nature itself.

This book tells the story of Kwame Nkrumah, the first post-colonial president of an independent African country. The book utilizes previously unpublished and recently declassified IS State Department documents to give an analysis and a chronology of Nkrumah's fall. The book is written for a general audience and for academic historians and students.

International Poetry Anthology from Noel Lorenz House of Fiction featuring writers from the United States of America, Poland, Germany and India. In Greek mythology, the Pierian Spring of Macedonia was sacred to the Muses. As the metaphorical source of knowledge of art and science, it was popularized by a couplet in Alexander Pope's 1711 poem "An Essay on Criticism" "A little learning is a dang'rous thing; / Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring." Pierian Musings are the deep reflections that come under the influence of the Pierian Spring. www.noellorenz.com