The author U.G. Krishnamurti was a speaker and philosopher. This collection of talks from Amsterdam in the early 1980s has some of his best and most startling ideas. This interview transcript discusses these questions: Do you have the guts to question the spiritual journey you've been led to believe is the path to enlightenment? Is enlightenment even real? Where do these questions come from? What do you seek?

Matthew Lewis (17775-1818), author of The Monk—one of the most famous of gothic novels—is attracting increasing attention for his own talent and his pre-eminence in the gothic school. The gothic mode, aside from its intrinsic interest, is important because of its distinct influence in British, continental, and American literature. Yet a full-length biography of Lewis has not appeared since 1839. For the nonspecialist seeking an introduction to Romanticism and the Regency, Lewis is a valuable man to know, with his varied literary interests—poetry, the novel, drama—and his wide acquaintance: royalty, the peerage, literary celebrities like Byron, Scott, Shelley, Sheridan, and the theatrical world. As a writer he showed uncanny anticipation of popular literary trends and a talent for the spectacular. This new biography, based on information which has appeared since 1839 and on new material, presents the whole man, not a selection of eccentricities. It includes treatment of all his works and a section of newly edited correspondence.

Bob Houston, the youngest agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stepped out of the Department of Justice Building and turned toward home, his heart beating faster than it had in months. It hardly seemed real but he was now a full-fledged agent in the greatest man hunting division in the Federal Government.Bob paused a moment at the curb. Another man who had emerged from the justice building joined him. It was his uncle, Merritt Hughes, one of the most famous detectives in the department. He put his arm around Bobs shoulders and shook him in a rough but friendly embrace.Well, Bob, how does it feel to be a real federal agent? he asked.It was a moment before Bob replied, and when he finally spoke the words came slowly.I hardly know, he confessed, as yet it doesnt seem real, but there is one thing I do knowIm going to work night and day to make a success of this new job.Dont worry about making a success, advised his uncle. Youve got the stuff to make good or you wouldnt have been taken into the department.When do you think Ill get my first assignment on a new case? asked Bob.Thats hard to say, replied the famous detective, but if I were you Id go home now and get a good nights sleep. In this kind of a game youd better sleep when you can.Then Im headed for home now, said Bob. Good night, and thanks for all youve done for me.With that the young federal agent strode off down the avenue, his lungs drinking in great gulps of the cool air of the fall night.Merritt Hughes stood on the curb of the justice building watching his nephew until Bob turned the corner a block away. Anyone noticing the federal agent would have seen a slight smile of pleasure on his lips and he might have guessed that Merritt Hughes was greatly pleased by the events which had happened in the preceding hours.As a matter of fact, Bob Houston, a plain clerk in the archives division of the War Department, temporarily a provisional federal agent, had been the key figure in preventing the theft of some of Uncle Sams most valuable radio secrets.