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

Nineteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include wives, widows, and women scorned--the "Baby Doe Tabor" scandal, the trials of literary marriages, and colonial women; history--Wounded Knee, the Underground Railroad, Edward Bellamy's "nationalism," and English railroads; inspiring places--the Alhambra and Squaw Rock; invention--the marine chronometer; and essays on the Constitution, the natural equality of men, old age, the consolation of reading, and on the fantastic imagination...

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...

A series of letters on the early occupation of the colony, the Aborigines, etc addressed by Victorian pioneers to his Excellency Charles Joseph La Trobe Esq. , Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Victoria in response to a circular letter sent by him to a number of early settlers dated 29th July 1853. - It cannot be claimed for these papers that they are infallible records of our early history at every point. , The last section ends with lists of Aboriginal words and phrases as were collected by a lady...

A selection of eight short works, chapters, or poems about Christmas. - Summary by david wales

Eighteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include philosophy and thought -- Plato, Aristotle, Leonhard Euler, Henri Amiel, and the French Rights of Man; adventure and mystery -- the ascent of Aconcagua and the mystery ship Mary Celeste; science -- a new comet and lichen dyes; portraits of the seasons by Lucy Maud Montgomery: biographies of Charles Dickens and Clara and Robert Schuman; a history of the Transcendental utopia Fruitlands by Louisa May Alcott, and an essay on reading by Isaac Disraeli. summary by Sue Anderson

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...

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

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...

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.

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...

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.

Seventeen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include Nature and Science--fall scenery, rose oil, large type books for low vision, the pulmotor, and the method of scientific investigation; Philosophy and Thought--Joseph Priestly, Kierkegaard, Rousseau, and A.C. Bradley on poetry; History and Travel--John Johnston founder of Sault St. Marie, eating in Berlin, and Sir John Mandeville's travels; a Japanese folk tale; a defense of Lady Bryon by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and a Virginia slave narrative by Minnie Fulkes. "Preparation for a Christian Life" was translated by Lee M. Hollander.

Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include History--Jocelyn de Brakelond's 13th century chronicle of the Bury St. Edmund monastery, Lorenzo de Medici's Florence, the voyage of the Mayflower, and Mark Twain's essay Stirring Times in Austria; Philosophy--Kierkegaard and Leibniz; Speeches, Sermons, and Diary Entries from Abraham Lincoln, Robert Ingersoll, and Queen Victoria; Literature--a tribute to George Meredith and a critique of Mencken's The American Language; and Nature and the Natural World--George Mallory outlining the route to the summit of Mt...

Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include Science and Exploration--a tribute to Egyptologist Amelia Edwards, and discourses on gravitation and relativity by Georges-Louis Le Sage and Ralph Sampson; Sociology and Society--Julio Guerrero on the Mexican character, reflections on life from Kierkegaard's Diapsalmata, Immanuel Kant on religious education, the fate of romance in the King of Siam's harem, nickelodeons, and the tragic results...

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include Philosophy and Psychology: selections from Kierkegaard's "Preparation for a Christian Life" and Jung's "The Hymn of Creation," and an exploration of Hegel's psychology; Arts and the Avant-garde: critiques of Kreymborg by Lola Ridge and of Pablo Picasso by Marius de Zayas, the rationale behind "1001 Afternoons in Chicago" by Ben Hecht, and notes on the 15th century inventors of moveable type;...

"Birds and Nature" was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds, animals and other natural subjects with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1897-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." - Summary by J. M. Smallheer

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include the impact of World War I on human society and endeavor: In 1916, Woodrow Wilson declares that "real glory" comes from wartime "self-sacrifice," and Wilson's call is taken up by an American officer on the front ranks who writes that he could "not have wished a better way to die than for a righteous cause and one's country." Meanwhile, German industrialists experiment with textile fibers made from...

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Natural cataclysm is the subject of several readings: the 1899 Alaskan earthquake, which uplifted cliffs at Yakutat Bay 47 feet; a terrifying forest fire in Northern Wisconsin in 1899; the fiery sunsets which followed the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883; a storm at sea which sank the English frigate Anson in 1807; and the explosion of a hydrogen-filled dirigible over Chicago in 1919. Natural beauty, also a topic, includes a guide to the Antrim coast of Ireland, observations on Black Walnut trees and the communal life of Yellow-Jacket wasps, and an essay on how to paint reflections...

Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. The human condition is variously explored in Chesterton's essay "The Contented Man," Shōtoku Taishi's "Laws" outlining the proper relationships between rulers and governed in 7th century Japan, the Egyptian "Story of Sinuhe" composed circa 1800 B.C. with its theme of divine providence and mercy, "The Four Minute Men of Chicago" invoking patriotism during World War I, and in Arthur Moss' secularist essay "Natural Man...

Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Volume 59 contains an eclectic mix of readings, ranging from a description of a Coney Island elephant colossus to meditations on mental telepathy and baseball. Philosophical essays by Leibniz, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Francis Bacon and William Blake touch on the topics of truth, prejudice, poetic genius, suicide, and preparation for a Christian life. An educator at a women's college in the early 1920's bemoans the decline in the way high school girls dress for school and recommends a "serge jumper dress, made with a washable under blouse...

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain independently chosen by the readers. Volume 60 features excerpts from two German philosophers, Christian von Wolff and Hegel, as well as British theologian Edward Stillingfleet. It contains essays on women as inventors , Uruguayan society , political economy pipe smoking and personal dislikes . Days to remember are chronicled in first hand accounts of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake , and a 1830's hydrogen balloon ascension over New York City ...

Seventeen short nonfiction works in the public domain independently chosen by the readers. Volume 61 features articles and essays on both current and timeless topics, ranging from whether marijuana is addictive to what constitutes foolish behavior . Sermons in Stone, an essay by Oscar Wilde on classic sculptures displayed at the British Museum, is complemented by an actual sermon , while Frederick William Shelton muses on the fleeting beauty of a ripe peach . Truth and lies, luck, and individuality are essay topics by Mark Twain and John Stuart Mill...

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Volume 62 features several introspective essays: by T. S. Eliot , Stephen Leacock , Carlyle , and Jonathan Swift . Life questions are further explored by theologians Agrippa von Nettesheim and Spurgeon , while spiritualist Andrew Jackson Davis presents his understanding of death and dying . Public and political life are examined by Eltwood Pomeroy , Henry Ward Beecher , Franklin Hanford , and Nicolas de Condorcet ...

Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Volume 63 features essays on a variety of topics: the emotion of the multitude in drama , audience , corpulence and diet , charity , the forgotten man , murder , suicide , free masonry , the poetic principle , and the evils of slavery . Excerpts from Kierkegaard explore his philosophy. Biographical sketches include Calamity Jane, Joseph Glidden, Lucy Bakewell Audubon, and J. M. W. Turner, while Joseph Conrad speaks to his own life in A Familiar Preface. Rounding out the volume is a fascinating 1674 meet-up with a miraculous sea-monster . Summary by Sue Anderson

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. Eucken's "The Failure of Speculative Philosophy," is one of several essays devoted to timeless questions. Others are by James Howell on man, nature and the universe, Samuel Johnson on procrastination and the flight of time, Schleiemacher on the social element in religion, Ambrose Bierce on immortality, and Thomas Paine and Jonathan Swift with their famous essays, "The Age of Reason" and "A Modest Proposal" . Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor "Day of Infamy" speech is one of various commentaries on war, politics and the polity...

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. A review of William Carlos Williams' "Kora in Hell" by Robert McAlmon is one of several selections devoted to literature and learning. Others are H. P. Lovecraft's "Literary Composition;" George Herbert Betts's "The Mind and Its Education;" William Wells Newell's "Michelangelo as Poet;" and Thoreau's "Wild Apples." Humor receives its due in "The Methods of Mr. Sellyer: A Book Store Study" ; "The Plumber" ; "The Yawn of the Computer Age" ; and an unnamed boy's "Essay on Girls...

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. "Why Women Should Vote" is one of several selections devoted to women's interests, as are Martha Foote Crow's "The Young Woman on the Farm" , Alice Freeman Palmer's "Three Rules for Happiness," and Myrtle Reed's recipes for "Coffee Cakes, Doughnuts, and Waffles." Tradition and belief are treated in two selections from Kierkegaard, a letter from Japan , a creation myth , and an essay by Mark Twain on "Mental Telegraphy." Topics in history and political...

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. Two U.S. Presidents are remembered in "A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison" and Washington's "Address to Congress on Resigning His Commission ." Other topics in history and political theory include two of George W. Ball's memos about the Vietnam War from 1965, "Irish Marriage Rites," "Celts and Celtophiles," Kropotkin on "Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution," a tragedy at sea , and a look back at "The Passing of the Sailing Ship." Religion and philosophy are represented with two selections from Kierkegaard's "Preparation for a Christian Life" and a sermon by Spurgeon ...

A collection of pieces, both fiction and non-fiction, that have as its subject a word beginning with a specific letter of the English alphabet. Subjects can range from coffee to tea, animals to vampires, law to emotions.

Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain. "The Regulation of Time" and "Uniform Standard Time" are two of several readings which touch on social regulation, societal norms, and individual expression. Others examine dancing mania ; gender conformity ; race laws ; etiquette and social class "; "Opportunity" ; organized religion ; oratory and persuasion ; legal protection for original ideas ; and an exhortation to judge men by their deeds, not their names . Music and books are celebrated in "Fidelio;" "The Function of a National Library;" "Books in the Wilderness;" and Oscar Wilde's "To Read or Not to Read...

Twenty short nonfiction works selected by the readers. “Shall we ever be able to visit the moon?” queries journalist Charles Nevers Holmes in 1920. Holmes was hopeful. Technology had come a long way since 1862, when balloonist James Glaisher made a daring ascent to 37,000 feet above the earth and passed out for lack of oxygen [Travels in the Air]. Glaisher had to best-guess the altitude to which his balloon had climbed while he was unconscious. Technology requires a rational system of accurate measurement [A Metric America]...

2019 collection of items with a Christmas theme containing traditional stories, Christmas traditions, Christmas cakes. We hope you will enjoy it.

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. "Suffrage for women will not usher in a millennium of peace and leisure" was the editorial opinion of the Boston Cooking School Magazine in May, 1914. [Woman's Problems]. Disillusionment with easy answers is the theme of several Vol. 071 readings [On Thinking for Oneself; Limitations of Truth-Telling; On Demagogues]. Rebellion and war, heroics and aftermath, are treated in Alexander at Gordium; Before Grant Won His Stars; Draft Riots in Wisconsin; The Truth About Greece; and Sophie Treadwell Interviews Pancho Villa...

Twenty short nonfiction works, individually chosen by the readers. "The ground rose and fell in successive furrows, like the ruffled waters of a lake, and I became bewildered in my ideas..." John James Audubon's vivid recollection of the 1812 New Madrid earthquake is one of several Vol. 072 selections with a scientific focus. Others include Luminous Plants; The Sunbeam and the Spectrascope; and biographies of two shipbuilders: Robert Fulton and Thomas Andrews. The emotive and rational sides of human nature are evinced in essays ; treatises ; and the records of two very different murder trials: John Kimber ; and James Sullivan ...

This collection showcases fabricated documents and stories throughout history, and the diversity of purposes and contexts they were deployed in.The "Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal" is a fabricated anti-Catholic eye-witness account, published in 1836 and purporting to reveal the horrors of life in a convent. The Donation of Constantine is a forged imperial decree, supposedly enacting a perpetual transfer of authority over the western part of the Roman Empire from the emperor to the Pope...