歴代中国王朝が鋳造した数千億枚に上る銅銭．世界史上極めてユニークなこの小額通貨は，やがて海を越え，日本を含む中世東アジアの政治・経済・社会に大きなインパクトをもたらした．銅銭はなぜ，各国政府の保証なしに商取引の回路を成り立たせてきたのか．

個々の物語は聞いたことあるけれども？体系的にすべてを学んだことはあまりないのではないでしょうか？

【内容紹介】高野山で生まれ育った宗教学者の松長有慶が、密教を日本に伝えた弘法大師・空海の生涯と密教について詳しく、わかりやすく解説。人生を幸福に生きるために必要な教えが散りばめられています。 【講師紹介】総本山金剛峯寺座主 松長有慶- 1929年、和歌山県生まれ。高野山大学密教学部卒業。ネパール・インド・パキスタンで密教の現地調査などのフィールドワークを行った。著書『空海・心の眼を開く』など多数。

【内容紹介】玄奘三蔵が、国禁を侵してまで天竺へと向かい、持ち帰り広めたいと切望したブッダの心。玄奘の過酷な旅とブッダの教えについて、臨済宗僧侶の松原哲明氏が数々の公案を例示しながらわかりやすく語ります。 【講師紹介】龍源寺前住職 松原哲明- 1939年、東京都生まれ。ブリヂストン退社後、静岡県の龍澤寺にて禅修業。著書『松原哲明西域仏教の旅』など多数。

"If you want to know what anthropology is, look at what anthropologists do," write the authors of Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. This engaging overview of the field combines an accessible account of some of the discipline's guiding principles and methodology with abundant examples and illustrations of anthropologists at work.

Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.

This Very Short Introduction introduces listeners to the key concepts of political philosophy: authority, democracy, freedom and its limits, justice, feminism, multiculturalism, and nationality. Accessible and assuming no previous knowledge of the subject, it encourages the listener to think clearly and critically about the leading political questions of our time. Miller first investigates how political philosophy tackles basic ethical questions such as "how should we live together in society?"

Paul Auster's signature work, The New York Trilogy, consists of three interlocking novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room - haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller.

Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.