Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include ancient Greek thinkers--Parmenides, Demosthenes, Euclid; William Lloyd Garrison and the National Anti-Slavery Convention; 19th and 20th century philosophers, sociologists, theologians and essayists--Bertrand Russell, Walter Rauschenbusch, Kierkegaard, N.F.S. Brundtvig, Frederik Sibbern, Hans Lassen Martensen, Oscar Wilde; science and invention--sunspots, paper making, aviation; and the shipwreck adventures of Alexander Selkirk, the real Robinson Crusoe. Learning to Fly by William James Jackman was co-authored by Thomas Herbert Russell and Octave Chanute. Sibbern, Martensen, and Kierkegaard by Fredrika Bremer was translated by Mary Howitt. The Seerest of Prevost, Frederica Hauffe, by Justinus Kerner was translated by Catherine Crowe.