Free Audio Books
	Free Audio Books Art of War by Sun Tzu A sophisticated treatise on philosophy, logistics, espionage, and strategy and tactics known as The Art of War. The core text was probably written by one person during a time of expanding feudal conflicts but the exact century is uncertain. Most authorities now support a date early in the Warring States period (c.453-221 B.C.). This work has deeply influenced Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese military thinking and has enjoyed growing popularity among businessmen. It stresses the unpredictability of battle, the importance of deception and surprise, the close relationship between politics and military policy, and the high costs of war. The futility of seeking hard and fast rules and the subtle paradoxes of success are major themes. The best battle, Sun Tzu says, is the battle that is won without being fought.   Mark of the Beast by Rudyard Kipling A famous fictional story by Rudyard Kipling with its setting in India. The story is simple. Fleete, a landowner newly arrived in India, overindulges in alcohol at a New Year's party, and commits an outrage against the Indian ape-god Hanuman by grinding his cigar into the forehead of a temple-statue in Hanuman's likeness. He then announces drunkenly, "Shee that? `Mark of the B--beasht! I made it. Ishn't it fine?". Abruptly, a naked and leprous "Silver Man" steps out from behind the image and, before the narrator or his friend Strickland can intervene, touches his head to Fleete's chest. Strickland and the narrator carry the still-drunk Fleete home, and now begins the gradual transformation of Fleete into a beast: his sense of smell grows keener, he eats raw meat, his horses shy when around him, he grovels on hands and knees in Strickland's garden, and he finally loses the power of speech and howls like a wolf. At the same time, a mark appears on his chest--presumably where the Silver Man touched him--and it is similar to the spots on a leopard's hide.   Sherlock Holmes-Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle A fictional story from the memonairs of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which was supposed to narrate the last problem solved by the legendary fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. The problem which ended his life. In 1893 Conan Doyle visited Reichenbach Falls in the northern Swiss Alps. After seeing the magnificent falls he decided the place would make a worthy tomb for Sherlock Holmes. The Adventure of the Final Problem was published in December of 1893 in The Strand magazine. People were so upset that more than twenty thousand of them cancelled their subscription to The Strand magazine. In 1901 Arthur Conan Doyle brought Sherlock Holmes back. He reappeared in The Hound of the Baskervilles. However Conan Doyle made it clear that Holmes was not alive. This story took place before the incident at Reichenbach Falls.