Books Should Be Free
Loyal Books
Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads
Search by: Title, Author or Keyword

Non-fiction

Results per page: 30 | 60 | 100
  • <
  • Page 65 of 74 
  • >
Book type:
Sort by:
View by:

By: Various

Book cover Why do we need a public library?

Internet Archive, which hosts our audio books, is in the midst of their annual fund-raising. They have also begun a drive to provide a mirror site in Canada to ensure IA's availability to all users. The IA is a vast library with millions of public domain books, audio, film, radio, and other media. They also maintain an open library of copyrighted books one can 'check out' by becoming a member with a virtual library card. This collection is devoted to the concept of why we need a public library, the title taken from an essay by Chalmers Hadley, which will be the first entry in this audio book...

By: Zorro A. Bradley

Book cover Canyon de Chelly; The Story of its Ruins and People

A 1973 U.S. government publication describing the history and physical characteristics of this Arizona national monument within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. - Summary by david wales

By: Albert Keim (1876-1947)

Book cover Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur famously said, "In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind." Pasteur brought to the study of chemistry, microbiology, and applied immunology, a mind open, innovative, and insightful. Born of peasant stock in the French Jura, he worked with dogged determination all his life and often in the face of strenuous opposition. Through an unbroken succession of rigorously designed and meticulously performed experiments, Pasteur developed veterinary vaccines and halted grievous losses in the French wine, silk, and dairy industries...

By: Unknown

Book cover Mabel Ross, the Sewing Girl

Orphaned Mabel struggles to raise her sisters by working as a sewing girl for long hours and low wages. She meets her challenges with a calm steady faith while her younger sister chafes against the injustice of their lot in life. She is determined to uncover the mystery she thinks is lurking behind their misfortune. This book will appeal to those who love intimate family dramas, light mysteries, scathing social commentaries, or sewing machines!

By: Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

Book cover Palmetto Leaves

After the Civil War, Harriet and her husband Charles bought an Orange Plantation in Mandarin, on the upper east coast of Florida, where they lived during the winter months. Over the years they expanded their cottage to accommodate many guests . They opened schools to educate and churches to care for the recently freed negros pouring into Florida seeking refuge and opportunity. These charming essays, each describing a largely undeveloped rural land, became one of the first travel guides written about Florida and stimulated the first boom of tourism and residential development to that area...

By: Oliver Optic (1822-1897)

Book cover Watch and Wait; The Young Fugitives

One soft summer evening, when Woodville was crowned with the glory and beauty of the joyous season, three strangers presented themselves before the Grant family, and asked for counsel and assistance. The party consisted of two boys and a girl, and they belonged to that people which the traditions of the past have made the "despised race;" but the girl was whiter and fairer than many a proud belle who would have scorned her in any other capacity than that of a servant; and one of the boys was very nearly white, while the other was as black as ebony undefiled...

By: John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922)

Book cover Peeps at People - Being Certain Papers from the Writings of Anne Warrington Witherup

Written by a fictitious first-person narrator, this book puts a humorous spin on encounters with several famous people of the time. "I set forth from my office in London upon my pilgrimage to the shrines of the world's illustrious. Readers everywhere are interested in the home life of men who have made themselves factors in art, science, letters, and history, and to these people I was commissioned to go." -- Summary by TriciaG and from the book.

By: Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)

Book cover Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits upon the Human Body and Mind, with an Account of the Means of Preventing, and of the Remedies for Curing Them

Written when the United States extended only to the Mississippi River, by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, this short work explores the physical, social, and mental effects of distilled liquors; the classes of people prone to intoxication by them; suggested drinks to use instead of them; and remedies for intoxication and for their habitual use. He takes a medical view of alcoholism, exploring the physical causes rather than blaming moral failure as the cause. Alcoholic drinks that are not distilled are viewed as wholesome drinks, and opium is suggested for pain as being without bad effects or addictive qualities.

By: United States Department of Commerce

Book cover Report of the Airship ''Hindenburg'' Accident Investigation

“Oh my!”-Herbert O. Morrison, WLS News, ChicagoThursday, 6 May, 1937: It is early evening at a remote airport in central New Jersey. It’s starting to rain again. Suddenly, much to the surprise of the dozens of spectators gathered below, a gigantic diesel powered balloon blows up as it tries to land after crossing the ocean from Germany. In less time than it takes to read this summary, this proud machine, the quintessence of aerostatic technology, is re-forged forever into a twisted, smoking metaphor...

By: Frank G. Carpenter (1855-1924)

Book cover Carpenter's Geographical Reader: South America

In this book the children are taken by the author upon a personally conducted tour through the most characteristic parts of the South American continent. The book will, it is believed, aid in putting flesh and blood on the bones of the geographies, and will give a living interest to geographical study.

By: Various

Book cover Mentor 2

The Mentor Association was established to increase interest and knowledge among the public in the areas of art, literature, science, nature, history and travel. The association published a magazine twice monthly, each dealing with a different topic and often written by a recognized authority of the day. They were easy to read, visually appealing and affordable. This collection includes selections from issues dating from 1913-1919. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

By: François Fénelon (1651-1715)

Book cover Lives of the Ancient Philosophers

François Fénelon became a priest in 1675, Archbishop of Paris in 1679, was spiritual advisor to Madame Guyon, and was appointed tutor to Louis, Duke of Burgundy by Louis XIV in 1689. He wrote Dialogues of the Dead, and The Lives of the Ancient Philosophers as well as The Adventures of Telemachus expressly for his instruction. Fenelon wrote against the Jansenists and in favor of the Jesuits. He is also known for his Christian Perfection: Devotional Reflections on the Christian Life and Treatise on the Education of Girls.. - Summary by Wikipedia

By: Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie (1837-1919)

Book cover Mrs. Dymond

Susanna Holcombe, a very sensitive and free spirited young lady, tries to fit in to society. But it is very hard for a Victorian woman to carve her own path, and she is almost forced to marry colonel Dymond. This book tells about her trials and tribulations. Can she find her place at last? Perfect for fans of Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Anthony Trollope, and those who want a Jane Austen novel with a twist. Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie was the eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, author of Vanity Fair. - Summary by Stav Nisser.

By: Various

Book cover Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 048

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include philosophy and thought--Phtah-Hotep, Petrarch, Diderot, Bertrand Russell, and the Weymouth New Testament; adventure and travel--a survival story by Mark Twain and a woman's sojourn in Saltillo, Mexico; immigration and war--Benjamin Franklin on the assimilation of German speakers, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the League of Nations, and an essay on potatoes and war; geology--on the origins of chalk; a critique of one-act plays, a biography of H...

By: J. M. Barrie (1860-1937)

Book cover Little Minister

Before "Peter Pan" came "The Little Minister", J.M. Barrie's first published novel. This is not a children's book, but reflections on life in a remote village in Scotland. The story opens with the minister and his mother moving into the village of Thrums, where the minister must earn the respect of the villagers, threading his way through class differences, politics and suspicion of the travelling gypsies. But what would happen if the newly respectable minister of Thrums fell in love with a gypsy woman? And how will her secret impact upon them all?

By: Leslie Buswell (1890-1964)

Book cover With The American Ambulance Field Service In France; Personal Letters Of A Driver At The Front

This 1915 publication collects letters written by a driver for the American ambulance service. The incidents they relate occurred before the entrance of the United States into World War I as a combatant. “These letters, according to ordinary ethics in such matters, should not, perhaps, be published. They were merely intended as tributes of friendship and remembrance. Casually written — in pencil often — at moments between duties, with no thought of their being destined to any further purpose than that distance and absence might count a little less through the pictures they would give of a day's work far away.” - Summary by Book Preface and David Wales

By: Unknown

Book cover Tales Of The Royal Irish Constabulary

The Royal Irish Constabulary was the armed police force of the United Kingdom in Ireland from the early nineteenth century until 1922. About seventy-five percent of the RIC were Roman Catholic and about twenty-five percent were of various Protestant denominations, the Catholics mainly constables and the Protestants officers. In consequence of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the RIC was disbanded in 1922 and was replaced by the Garda Síochána in the Irish Free State and the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland...

By: Rodris Roth (1931-2000)

Book cover Tea Drinking In 18th-Century America: Its Etiquette And Equipage

The title of this 1961 Smithsonian Institution bulletin says it all. “In 18th-century America, the pleasant practice of taking tea at home was an established social custom with a recognized code of manners and distinctive furnishings. Pride was taken in a correct and fashionable tea table whose equipage included much more than teapot, cups, and saucers. It was usually the duty of the mistress to make and pour the tea; and it was the duty of the guests to be adept at handling a teacup and saucer and to provide social ‘chitchat...

By: Helen Hill

Book cover Charlie and His Kitten Topsy

A darling story of little Charlie and his adventures with cats and kittens and how he became many things. Also how the kitten Topsy, unhappy with being a kitten and having his face washed, tries different life styles with different animals but finally makes the right choice. - Summary by Phil Chenevert

By: Jean Webster (1876-1916)

Book cover Wheat Princess

Marcia Copley, an American Heiress, comes to Rome. Typically for the period, she may want to attract an aristocrat. He brings the title, she brings the money to support it. Her adventures in Rome are different than she anticipated. Rich and poor live side by side, and the author does her best to describe both walks of life vividly and truthfully. Jean Webster is the author of Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy. This particular novel would also please fans of Henry James and George Gissing. - Summary by Stav Nisser.

By: Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler (1860-1929)

Book cover Concerning Isabel Carnaby

Isabel Carnaby returns from India. She starts looking for a place in upper class British society. At the begining, people are sceptical of her because she is an orphan. But she will surprise everybody. - Summary by Stav Nisser.

By: Frank G. Carpenter (1855-1924)

Book cover Carpenter's Geographical Reader: Europe

The book tries to give its young readers a living knowledge of Europe. The author conducts tours through various parts of Europe giving a glimpse of the people and their lives and livelihoods. He includes as well information on the natural resources and physical geography of those many countries. Summary by BettyB and preface.

By: Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon (1829-1879)

Book cover Armand Durand

Armand Durand, published in 1868, was written by Rosanna Leprohon, an English-speaker with an insider’s knowledge of French Canada, thanks to her Montreal education and marriage to a man from an old Québécois family. Paul Durand, a prosperous Québécois farmer, marries in quick succession two very different wives, and fathers two very different sons. The first son, Armand, delicate and bookish, is destined for a legal career in the city; the second, Paul Junior, tougher and down-to-earth, continues life on the farm...

By: John Farrar (1896-1974)

Book cover Bookman, March 1921

This precursor to The New Yorker magazine features several Algonquin Roundtable regulars, including Broun, Woolcott, and Morley. Editor is John C. Farrar, an American editor, writer and publisher. Farrar founded two publishing companies — Farrar & Rinehart and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

By: Various

Book cover Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 049

Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include science and natural history--carnivorous plants, tadpoles, tent caterpillars, flights of birds, horse training, dogs, children's sign language, trees in winter, and night noises in the woods; philosophy--Roger Bacon and Nicholas of Cusa; satire and literary criticism--the movies as "stupies," bustles, and facetious plots for short stories by Dorothy Parker; also an appraisal of Conrad Aiken's poetry, and an intimate look at Abraham Lincoln's early life in Illinois.

By: Robert Vashon Rogers (1843-1911)

Book cover Law and Medical Men

The idea that in the library of nearly every prac­ti­tion­er in the pro­fes­sions of both Physic and Law there has been for some time a small gap among the books, which could be filled by a little work like this now submitted, has induced the author to prepare and publish the following pages. While it is hoped that this little work will prove of use to the members of the Legal and Medical Professions, it is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive—a primer not an encyclopædia; and...

By: Various

Book cover Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 050

Seventeen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include science and natural history--the donkey, forestry, grape vines, astronomy, historian Agnes Mary Clerke, and Greek botanist Theophrastus ; philosophy-- Nicholas of Cusa and Emmanuel Kant; Sommerset Maugham's reminiscences of Spain; Joseph Conrad's sea stories; an encounter with a long-ago companion who has contracted leprosy ; working in the dead-letter office; a dinner the painter Benjamin Hayden hosted for Wordsworth, Keats, and Charles Lamb; a portrait of Margaret Fuller by R...

By: Harvey Jerrold O'Higgins (1876-1929)

Book cover Smoke Eaters

This book vividly brings to life the unimaginable risks of fire-fighting and the bravery and personal interactions of Captain Meaghan and the crew of Hook & Ladder Company No. 0 in New York City. A 1905 review in the New York Times notes: “’The Smoke-Eaters’…is one of those rare good treats that fall to the reviewer’s lot…. There is enough humor and pathos of a grim and rugged sort, enough tense life and excitement and thrilling heroism to make a dozen...of the ordinary run of books, and it is all told with a straightforward simplicity that well accords with the single-hearted devotion to duty of the men who...

By: Jean Craighead George (1919-2012)

Book cover Everglades Wildguide

This is a United States National Parks guidebook written by a popular young people's nature writer, Jean Craighead George. It covers the Everglades in detail, from its mangrove swamps to its sawgrass prairies.

By: S.E. Kiser (1862-1942)

Book cover Father

A tribute to fatherhood by a little known author, - Summary by David Lawrence

By: Johanna Spyri (1827-1901)

Book cover Little Miss Grasshopper

The Feland family go on a holiday in Switzerland. While there, their impulsive younger daughter gets into a scrape that teaches the whole family a lesson in love and faith. Summary by Devorah Allen.

By: Various

Book cover Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 051

Seventeen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include philosophy--Bertrand Russell, Spinoza, and Epictetus; science and invention--the Wright brothers, Leibniz, arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, spider webs, and cylindrical silos; plays and cinema--Lillian Gish and Friedrich Schiller; satire--selections from Ambrose Bierce, Robert Benchley, and Seneca; biographies--Aaron Burr, and Sophia Packard of Spellman College; the murder of Archbishop Charles Seghers in Alaska in 1886; and a history of Torre Abbey in England. Summary by Sue Anderson Against the Epicurean and Academics was translated by T. W. Rolleston.


Page 65 of 74   
Popular Genres
More Genres
Languages
Paid Books