An analysis of Johann Sebastian Bach's life and musical compositions, and of the artistic, philosophical, and religious world in which he acted. (Introduction by Kathleen Norland)

Surely the most deeply-rooted need of the human soul, its purest aspiration, is for the closest possible union with God. As one turns over the pages of this little work, written by Blessed Albert the Great towards the end of his life, when that great soul had ripened and matured, one feels that here indeed is the ideal of one's hopes. (From the Preface)

While Belgium is bleeding and hoping, while Poland suffers and dreams of liberation, while Serbia is waiting for redemption, there is a little country the soul of which is torn to pieces—a little country that is so remote, so remote that her ardent sighs cannot be heard.It is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw Abraham build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his only son, the country that Moses saw from a distance, stretching in beauty and loveliness,—a land of promise never to be attained,—the country that gave the world its symbols of soul and spirit...

The Bolshevik Myth is a book by Alexander Berkman who with his partner Emma Goldman was deported from the USA under the 1918 Anarchist Exclusion Act and shipped to the young Soviet Russia. He describes his experiences in Bolshevik Russia from 1920 to 1922, where he saw the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Written in the form of a diary, The Bolshevik Myth describes how Berkman's initial enthusiasm for the revolution faded as he became disillusioned with the Bolsheviks and their suppression of all political dissent...

A classic of Victorian travel writing, Kinglake’s book describes his journey through the Ottoman empire to Cairo, and his residence there in time of plague.

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian geographer, naturalist, explorer, and influential proponent of romantic philosophy. Many consider him to be the last of the great polymaths. After his death in 1859, the scientific world began to divide into separate disciplines, each with its own knowledgeable but narrowly defined experts. Humboldt’s mind encompassed all that was then known of nature in one great whole. He could well be considered the father of modern ecology and earth studies...

Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language -- has minced no words -- to describe the violent scenes of a violent time.In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true perspective, and in others the author makes unwarranted charges. The careful, mature reader, for whom the books are intended, will recognize, and allow for, this fact.The first volume comprises the annals of the Borgias and the Cenci. The name of the noted and notorious Florentine family has become a synonym for intrigue and violence, and yet the Borgias have not been without stanch defenders in history...

This volume was originally written in Dutch by John Esquemeling, and first published in Amsterdam in 1678 under the title of De Americaeneche Zee Roovers. It immediately became very popular and this first hand history of the Buccaneers of America was soon translated into the principal European languages. The first English edition was printed in 1684. Esquemeling served the Buccaneers in the capacity of barber-surgeon, and was present at all their exploits. Little did he suspect that his first hand observations would some day be cherished as the only authentic and true history of the Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main...

Ayres arranges usage problems alphabetically and treats certain areas in greater detail as he sees fit. For example, his first entry is A-AN (articles). His second is ABILITY-CAPACITY, in which he distinguishes between the meanings. The alphabetical arrangement continues through to YOURS. (Introduction by Bill Boerst)

Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French Army was court martialed in 1894 on a trumped up charge of treason and condemned to life imprisonment on Devil’s island, a penal colony off French Guiana. His prison diary, published as Five Years of My Life in 1901 is a heroic tale of survival against daunting odds: isolation, deprivation, torture . . Alfred left behind in Paris his wife Lucie, who, forbidden to join her husband in exile, struggled to protect their two children from the rampant anti-Semitism that swirled about them, while she begged her husband to hold onto life as she tried to clear his name...

Alfred J. Church created 26 stories from the original Greek version of Virgil's Aeneid. He included well-known ones, such as "The Horse of Wood" and "The Love and Death of Dido," as well as many others perhaps less well-known, such as "King Evander" and "The Funeral Games of Anchises."

In The Concept of Nature, Alfred North Whitehead discusses the interrelatedness of time, space, and human perception.The idea of objects as ‘occasions of experience’, arguments against body-mind duality and the search for an all-encompassing ‘philosophy of nature’ are examined, with specific reference to contemporary (Einstein, with whose theory of relativity he has some complaints) and ancient (Plato, Aristotle) approaches.

In 1907 Wallace wrote the short book Is Mars Habitable? to criticize the claims made by Percival Lowell that there were Martian canals built by intelligent beings. Wallace did months of research, consulted various experts, and produced his own scientific analysis of the Martian climate and atmospheric conditions. Among other things Wallace pointed out that spectroscopic analysis had shown no signs of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, that Lowell’s analysis of Mars’ climate was seriously flawed and badly overestimated the surface temperature, and that low atmospheric pressure would make liquid water, let alone a planet girding irrigation system, impossible.

A clear and delightful peek into the world of Japanese girls and women of the late 1800s: their childhood, education, marriage and intimate family life. And it is done by someone who admires the immense resources, abilities and strength shown by all of these girls and women. The intricate customs that bind the society together and must be learned by every girl, such as the annual Doll ceremony are explained as well as the difficult life of a Japanese wife of this period. Life among the nobles and upper class in the courts and castles, something long hidden away, is explored...

The Luck of the Dudley Grahams is the story of the four Graham children and their recently widowed mother, trying to make ends meet by taking boarders into their somewhat eccentric home, as told by 17-year-old Elizabeth to her diary. She chronicles their struggles with the boarders, housekeeping on a very tight budget, and the adventures of her three younger siblings. If the category existed at the time, this would be more of young adult novel than a children's book, as Elizabeth has her moments of angst and worry about herself, her family, and their future. - Summary by Colleen McMahon

These are Alice Lady Lovat's meditations on the treatise "Del Aprecio y Estima de la Divina Gracia," written by the prolific Roman Catholic theologian and mystic Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, S.J. (1595-1658). Nieremberg's treatise was published in 1638 in Madrid, where he taught Sacred Scripture at the Jesuit Colegio Imperial. Abbot Oswald Hunter-Blair, O.S.B. wrote the preface for Lovat's book, which bears an imprimatur. (Introduction by dave7)

CHAPTER I HOMES OF THE COLONISTS When the first settlers landed on American shores, the difficulties in finding or making shelter must have seemed ironical as well as almost unbearable. The colonists found a land magnificent with forest trees of every size and variety, but they had no sawmills, and few saws to cut boards; there was plenty of clay and ample limestone on every side, yet they could have no brick and no mortar; grand boulders of granite and rock were everywhere, yet there was not a single facility for cutting, drawing, or using stone...

“Secret Chambers and Hiding Places” is a collection of concealments and their uses, almost all within England, although a very few passages and chambers in continental Europe are mentioned, Jacobite hidey holes in Scotland, while the final chapter of the book covers Bonnie Prince Charlie’s wanderings around Scotland, among caves and other hiding places. Most chapters are devoted to historical events; such as the the seventeenth century persecution of roman catholics (with many large houses having specially constructed “priests’ holes”), or various unpopular monarchs and their hiding places...

"Mankind is constantly astonished by reports of mishaps and disasters of manifold character, when there is seldom room for astonishment. A large proportion of the calamities reported from day to day are directly due to the haste, greed, and heedlessness of man himself, and need no comment. But there is a large class of disasters, due solely to meteorological or geological conditions, which surpass all others in magnitude and appalling destruction. In such cases men insist on prating about “mysterious visitations,” as though these occurrences were subject to the dominion of no law. To an examination of such is this book devoted." From the preface.

Few stories of shipwreck and survival can equal that of the 16th century Spaniard Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who, cast ashore near present day (USA) Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1528, survived eight years of hand-to-mouth existence among the Indians of the South and Southwest, and who walked on foot across the plains to the Pacific Coast, arriving in Mexico in 1536. In 1542 he published an account of his adventures, and the present reading is based on Fanny Bandelier’s English translation of that text...

Witty, opinionated alphabetical examples of what Bierce considered poor (American) English and advice on alternatives – entertaining, thought-provoking, occasionally outdated but so interesting to see how style and taste have changed.

At the outset of the American Civil War, [the writer Ambrose] Bierce enlisted in the Union Army's 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment....In February 1862 he was commissioned First Lieutenant, and served on the staff of General William Babcock Hazen as a topographical engineer, making maps of likely battlefields. Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862), a terrifying experience that became a source for several later short stories and the memoir, "What I Saw of Shiloh". In June 1864, he sustained a serious head wound at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and spent the rest of the summer on furlough, returning to active duty in September. He was discharged from the army in January 1865.

Amelia B. Edwards wrote this historical travelogue in in 1873. The book describes her travels through a relatively un-visited area in the South Tyrol district of Italy. The Dolomites are a part of that most famous of mountain chains, the Alps.In this book, the Writer and her friend and companion, L., travel from Southern Italy, having over-wintered there, to visit the Dolomite district. Her chatty style, dry sense of humor, accuracy of facts, and sympathy for humanity set her works apart. The slice of Victorian British life presented is quite captivating...

American Cookery, by Amelia Simmons, was the first known cookbook written by an American, published in 1796. Until this time, the cookbooks printed and used in what became the United States were British cookbooks, so the importance of this book is obvious to American culinary history, and more generally, to the history of America. The full title of this book was: American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life. (Description from Wikipedia)

Praised by Oscar Wilde amongst other contemporaries, Amy Levy's first novel tells the story of the four Lorimer sisters, who decide to open their own photography business after the death of their father which has left them in poverty. The novel examines the opportunities and difficulties of urban life for the "New Woman" in the late nineteenth century. Not only was Levy unusual as a female novelist in this period, but she was also from an Anglo Jewish family. - Summary by Jane Gough

“In this book you will not find the stories of all God’s saints. I have gathered a few together, just as one gathers a little posy from a garden full of roses. But the stories I have chosen to tell are those that I hope children will love best to hear.” (excerpt from In God’s Garden by Amy Steedman)

This biography of the inventor James Watt covers his early years, successes and failures, and legacy.

This autobiography of Andrew Carnegie is a very well written and interesting history of one of the most wealthy men in the United states. He was born in Scotland in 1835 and emigrated to America in 1848. Among his many accomplishments and philanthropic works, he was an author, having written, besides this autobiography, Triumphant Democracy (1886; rev. ed. 1893), The Gospel of Wealth, a collection of essays (1900), The Empire of Business (1902), and Problems of To-day (1908)]. Although this autobiography was written in 1919, it was published posthumously in 1920.

A non-fictional account of Burke and Wills’s 1860 expedition to cross the Australian continent from south to north and then return. Containing many excerpts from the diaries and accounts of the explorers, this book was published the year after the expedition met its disastrous end.(description written by trioptimum)

A Short History of Scotland is a consise introduction to the history of Scotland from Roman times to the last Jacobite rebellion, written by the author of a much longer Scottish history.

A book on the all importance of humility, how Jesus was humble, and how we also can become humble. Murray wrote “Without humility, there can be no true abiding in God’s presence or experience of His favor and the power of His spirit. Without it there can be no abiding faith or love or joy or strength.”

It is under a deep impression that the place and power of prayer in the Christian life is too little understood, that this book has been written. I feel sure that as long as we look on prayer chiefly as the means of maintaining our own Christian life, we shall not know fully what it is meant to be. But when we learn to regard it as the highest part of the work entrusted to us, the root and strength of all other work, we shall see that there is nothing that we so need to study and practise as the art of praying aright...

Andrew Murray describes the necessity and benefits of absolute obedience to God. He goes on to explain the way to achieve this level of obedience, which is required of all believers, and attainable through God’s provision.

If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would you be convicted? Christians have asked themselves this question, or ones like it, for millennia. In his book, The Deeper Christian Life, Andrew Murray helps us come to grips with those nagging insecurities in our Christian walk. A shallow relationship with God leads us down a road of doubt and insecurities. Can I be forgiven? How can I forgive? Murray tells us that we can go deeper in our relationship with God, and with that deeper relationship comes growing confidence and joy in the gospel. That joy springs from the knowledge of God's grace in forgiving us, and enables us to extend that grace to others in our lives.

Murray suggests that his devotional, The Lord's Table, is not meant to replace scripture, but rather to strengthen believers' appreciation of God's word. Murray's meditations provide a thoughtful guide for believers who desire to develop a deeper understanding of the Lord's Holy Supper. The devotional covers the week before, during, and after the Supper, and each entry is labeled with the day of the week so that readers can manage devotions with ease. Murray first explains how believers can prepare to receive God's blessing during the weeks before the Supper...

Andrew Murray's True Vine is a thirty-one day devotional focusing on Christ's Parable of the Vine and the Branches in John 15. The devotional for each day, though short, elaborates and expounds upon John 15, providing spiritual insight along the way. Murray repeats important themes--like abiding in Christ--throughout the different days. Noticing how they develop and grow with each successive read, countless small groups and individuals have found Murray's keen spiritual teachings fruitful. An excellent devotional, True Vine is recommended for daily spiritual nourishment.

Here is a book of devotions that will bring joy and strength. Its chapters provide vital keys to living and enjoying the Christian life. It covers important disciplines such as prayer, study, meditation and feeding on the Scriptures as a means of maintaining intimacy with God - without which our spiritual lives can all too easily become impoverished. Andrew Murray shows in this book a number of steps by which we can be wonderfully renewed in our inner life day by day.

In all the writings of the late nineteenth century minister and writer Andrew Murray, we see his passion for reality in the lives of Christian believers. In this series of addresses he explains how, in various areas of the spiritual life, one may grow in God and experience more of his power. In particular he shows the importance of Christ truly being given his rightful place in the believer’s life. There are chapters on: carnal Christians, the self life, waiting on God, entrance into rest, the...

The Lives of the Queens of England is a multi-volumed work attributed to Agnes Strickland, though it was mostly researched and written by her sister Elizabeth. These volumes give biographies of the queens of England from the Norman Conquest in 1066. Although by today's standards, it is not seen as a very scholarly work, the Stricklands used many sources that had not been used before.Volume one includes the biographies of Matilda of Flanders, Matilda of Scotland, Adelicia of Louvaine, Matilda of Boulogne and Eleanora of Aquitaine.(Introduction by Ann Boulais)

1862 Anna Leonowens accepted an offer made by the Siamese consul in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching, to teach the wives and children of Mongkut, king of Siam. The king wished to give his 39 wives and concubines and 82 children a modern Western education on scientific secular lines, which earlier missionaries’ wives had not provided. Leonowens sent her daughter Avis to school in England, and took her son Louis with her to Bangkok. She succeeded Dan Beach Bradley, an American missionary, as teacher to the Siamese court...

Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) was a German Augustinian nun who had visions about Christ's life and death. This book relates her visions regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary, from her marriage to St. Joseph to the events surrounding the birth of Christ.(Introduction by Ann Boulais)

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.

A collection of letters from Anne (MacLanahan) Grenfell, future wife of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, regarding her year of missionary service at the orphanage in St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

In her autobiography, Annie Besant poignantly writes of her search for the truth of what she believed in, leaving Christianity behind to embrace Atheism, and ultimately finding her peace in Theosophy, which she became interested in after meeting Helena Blavatsky. She moved to India to better study Theosophical ideas and this is where she made her home until her death. She was a gifted orator and writer, often speaking and writing on her religious beliefs, as well as women's rights and social reform...

My Path to Atheism is a remarkable document in many ways, not least that it was written by a woman in Victorian England, not the most open free-thinking of societies, especially for women at that time. It needed a remarkable woman to write such a revolutionary and to 19th century minds, heretical document in a society where the Church had such a stronghold. Besant herself was originally married to a clergyman, but her increasingly anti-religious views and writings led to a legal separation. She went...

In the previous book in this series, Lloyd was the maid of honor, but now it will be the Little Colonel's turn to be the bride. But who will be the groom? Will it be one of our old friends from previous books such as Malcolm MacIntyre, Rob Moore, Alex Shelby, Phil Tremont, or Jack Ware . . .or perhaps a new Knight that comes riding!

In this latest and most delightful book Mary's desire to visit "The Locusts," the old home of the "Little Colonel," is gratified, and the environment of green fields and spreading trees and all the charm and freshness of the beautiful Kentucky country itself throughout the entire story. In the end will Mary's "Knight Come Riding"? This is the last book in the "Little Colonel Series", and the third featuring Mary Ware.

A continuation of the adventures of Mary Ware, the chum of the Little Colonel and the heroine of the tenth volume in the "Little Colonel" series. Mary Ware goes to Texas where during a winter with her mother and Jack in San Antonio and the hill country she has new and varied experiences which are entertainingly set down for the enjoyment of young readers.

It need hardly be said that the woman by whom these letter were written had no thought that they would be read by anyone but the person to whom they were addressed. But a request, conveyed under circumstances which the writer herself would have regarded as all-commanding, urges that they should now be given to the world; and, so far as is possible with a due regard to the claims of privacy, what is here printed presents the letters as they were first written in their complete form and sequence. From book explaination

This book, a reprint of a successful English publication, has been so enlarged as to be to all intents and purposes new. It has been carefully revised by a Reverend gentleman, who for some time filled the chair of Physics and Chemistry in one of our colleges. Recent inventions and improvements are described in a simple, popular style, so as to be easily understood by all, and short notices are given of prominent inventors and scientists. The paragraphs relating to doctrinal matters conform in every respect to the teachings of the Church...

This cookbook and reference guide leads the American Housewife through how to make everything from Meat to Common Drinks, as well as helpful tips and tricks for any housewife! Also included in this fine text are sections on Cooking for The Sick, and how to make your own: Essences, Perfumes, Dyes and Soaps. This work also features an extensive section on The Art of Carving-Which covers anything you might need to carve!

"...Showing Curious ways in which the English Language may be made to convey Ideas or obscure them." A collection of unintentionally humorous uses of the English language. Sections of the work: How she is wrote by the Inaccurate, By Advertisers and on Sign-boards, For Epitaphs, By Correspondents, By the Effusive, How she can be oddly wrote, and By the Untutored.

An adorable picture book with 29 little lessons in German. Learn many simple and useful phrases, such as "How big the sea is!" and "Have you ever been to the farm?" The English parts of the book are read by Kara, and the German parts by Elli.

The Cloud of Unknowing (Middle English: The Cloude of Unknowyng) is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer in the late Middle Ages. The book counsels a young student to seek God, not through knowledge and intellection (faculty of the human mind), but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought. This is brought about by putting all thoughts and desires under a "cloud of forgetting", and thereby piercing God's cloud of unknowing with a "dart of longing love" from the heart...

Excerpted anecdotes from the biographies of Swift, Curran, O'Leary and O'Connell, relating humorous snippets of politics in 18th and 19th century Ireland. For some these may be poignant in addition to being humorous and for others they may be humorous in addition to being poignant. (

37 short pieces perfect for newer recorders. These one page Stories of (mostly) Wonderful Deeds were written for Little Folk to teach them about famous incidents in their history. Bonnie Prince Charlie, Nelson and Hardy, Bruce and the Spider, David Livingston, Canute, Sir Philip Sydney, and Elizabeth and Raleigh are just some of the well known people and incidents covered in short stories.

Here is a collection of 365 short spiritual reflections and moral admonitions of Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) and other notable Franciscans. One might conclude that, while some of these admonitions are applicable to almost anyone, others seem too rigorous, or at least inappropriate for certain vocations or stations in life. This may be explained by recalling that these words of advice and spiritual direction were directed primarily to friars and cloistered nuns. Thus, we detect in these words a great concern for the development of profound personal humility, meekness, celibate chastity, and sorrow for sin...

"The Curtezan unmasked or, the Whoredomes of Jezebel Painted to the Life: With Antidotes against them, or Heavenly Julips to cool Men in the Fever of Lust" is a fire-and-brimstone polemic by "A Spiritual Physician" to persuade young men not to succumb to harlotry and its accompanying perils. (Introduction by Denny Sayers)

A catechism is a summary of the principles of Christian religion and articles of the faith. The Baltimore Catechism specifically was the de facto standard Catholic school text in the United States from 1885 to the late 1960s. It was the first such catechism written for Catholics in North America, replacing a translation of Bellarmine's Small Catechism. The Baltimore Catechism remained in use in nearly all Catholic schools until many moved away from catechism-based education, though it is still used up to this day in some. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Go through the year in the footsteps of the saints. This book emphasizes one virtue for each month with quotes and stories from the lives of the saints to help teach and inspire that particular virtue in us.For January, Perfection; February, Humility; March, Mortification; April, Patience; May, Meekness; June, Obedience; July, Simplicity; August, Diligence; September, Prayer; October, Confidence; November, Charity; and December, Union.

The title is, I think, self explanatory. The nurse in question went out to France at the beginning of the war and remained there until May 1915 after the second battle of Ypres when she went back to a Base Hospital and the diary ceases. Although written in diary form, it is clearly taken from letters home and gives a vivid if sometimes distressing picture of the state of the casualties occasioned during that period. After a time at the General Hospital in Le Havre she became one of the three or four sisters working on the ambulance trains which fetched the wounded from the Clearing Hospitals close to the front line and took them back to the General Hospitals in Boulogne, Rouen and Le Havre.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC) was an orator, statesman, philosopher and prolific correspondent, who rose as a ‘new man’ in Rome in the turbulent last years of its republican government. Anthony Trollope, best known as a novelist, admired Cicero greatly and wrote this biography late in life in order to argue his virtues against authors who had granted him literary greatness but questioned his strength as a politician and as a man. He takes a personal approach, affording us an insight into his own mind and times as well as those of his subject...

MANUAL OF SURGERY, OXFORD MEDICAL PUBLICATIONSBY ALEXIS THOMSON, F.R.C.S.Ed.PREFACE TO SIXTH EDITION Much has happened since this Manual was last revised, and many surgical lessons have been learned in the hard school of war. Some may yet have to be unlearned, and others have but little bearing on the problems presented to the civilian surgeon. Save in its broadest principles, the surgery of warfare is a thing apart from the general surgery of civil life, and the exhaustive literature now available on every aspect of it makes it unnecessary that it should receive detailed consideration in a manual for students...

Anthony Trollope's autobiography will delight you whether or not you've read (or listened to) any of his many works. His honest if self-deprecating tone is at times hilarious and at times piteously moving. His detailed descriptions of his writing process and his philosophy of writing as work rather than art are fascinating. Fans of Trollope will enjoy learning the man's perceptions of his novels' shortcomings and triumphs. Anyone will appreciate learning about his years devoted to churning out literature for profit while working full time with the post office.

An ordinary village girl's plans for the future with her long-standing beau are threatened when he is seen to be an attractive prospect by a local noble family Trollope's novella works through the consequences with typical affection and sensitivity. - Summary by Anthony Ogus

The Author sings the praises of Chocolate. “By the wise and Moderate use whereof, Health is preserved, Sicknesse Diverted, and Cured, especially the Plague of the Guts; vulgarly called _The New Disease_; Fluxes, Consumptions, & Coughs of the Lungs, with sundry other desperate Diseases. By it also, Conception is Caused, the Birth Hastened and facilitated, Beauty Gain’d and continued.”

Arabella Buckley had a great love of nature and wished to impart that love to children. Birds of the Air will encourage children to observe birds in their natural environment and notice the habits of each particular bird they encounter.

Wild Life in Woods and Fields by Arabella B. Buckley is a collection of stories that will encourage children to become little naturalists and explore the majesty of the great outdoors. This is science taught in such a charming, delightful way that children will learn without even realizing it!

In By Pond and River, another of Arabella Buckley’s wonderful science books for children, she explains the habitats of ponds and rivers, exposing children to the animals and plant life that are found there.

The First Anglo–Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company.

Archibald Geikie was a geologist in Scotland by profession, and a writer. While most of his writings were professional, this is a more personal book telling some of the history of Scotland, Archibald's memories, experiences and recollections there as well as stories he was told by people he met. He has a good sense of humour which shines through. - Summary by Jmbau13

The work consists of ten books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes said to be from his lectures at the Lyceum which were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son, Nicomachus. In many ways this work parallels the similar Eudemian Ethics, which has only eight books, and the two works can be fruitfully compared. Books V, VI, and VII of the Nicomachean Ethics are identical to Books IV, V, and VI of the Eudemian Ethics. Opinions about the relationship between the two works, for example which was written first, and which originally contained the three common books, is divided...

The Rhetoric was developed by Aristotle during two periods when he was in Athens, the first between 367 to 347 BCE (when he was seconded to Plato in the Academy), and the second between 335 to 322 BCE (when he was running his own school, the Lyceum). The Rhetoric consists of three books. Book I offers a general overview, presenting the purposes of rhetoric and a working definition; it also offers a detailed discussion of the major contexts and types of rhetoric. Book II discusses in detail the three means of persuasion that an orator must rely on: those grounded in credibility (ethos), in the emotions and psychology of the audience (pathos), and in patterns of reasoning (logos)...

Categories is the first of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon. In Categories, Aristotle enumerates all the possible kinds of things that can be the subject or the predicate of a proposition. Aristotle places every object of human apprehension under one of ten categories (known to medieval writers as the praedicamenta). Aristotle intended them to enumerate everything that can be expressed without composition or structure, thus anything that can be either the subject or the predicate of a proposition. The ten categories, or classes, are: Substance, Quantity, Quality, Relation, Place, Time, Position, State, Action and Affection.

Aristotle's On Interpretation (Greek Peri Hermeneias) or De Interpretatione (the Latin title) is the second of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon. On Interpretation is one of the earliest surviving philosophical works in the Western tradition to deal with the relationship between language and logic in a comprehensive, explicit, and formal way. The work begins by analyzing simple categoric propositions, and draws a series of basic conclusions on the routine...

Metaphysics is essentially a reconciliation of Plato’s theory of Forms that Aristotle acquired at the Academy in Athens, with the view of the world given by common sense and the observations of the natural sciences. According to Plato, the real nature of things is eternal and unchangeable. However, the world we observe around us is constantly and perpetually changing. Aristotle’s genius was to reconcile these two apparently contradictory views of the world. The result is a synthesis of the naturalism of empirical science, and the mysticism of Plato, that informed the Western intellectual tradition for more than two thousand years...

Posterior Analytics is the fourth of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). Posterior Analytics deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. Demonstration is distinguished as a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge, while Definition is marked as the statement of a thing's nature, a statement of the meaning of the name, or of an equivalent nominal formula.

Prior Analytics is the third of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). In Prior Analytics Aristotle conducts a formal study of arguments. In logic an argument is a series of true or false statements which lead to a true or false conclusion. Aristotle identifies valid and invalid forms of arguments called syllogisms. A syllogism is an argument consisting of three sentences: two premises and a conclusion. Of the entire Aristotelian corpus, Aristotle gives priority to the study of his treatises on Logic.

The Topics is is the fifth of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). The Topics constitutes Aristotle's treatise on the art of dialectic—the invention and discovery of arguments in which the propositions rest upon commonly-held opinions or endoxa. Topoi are "places" from which such arguments can be discovered or invented. In his treatise on the Topics, Aristotle does not explicitly define a topos, though it is "at least primarily a strategy for argument not infrequently justified or explained by a principle."

De Sophisticis Elenchis is the sixth of Aristotle's six texts on logic which are collectively known as the Organon ("Instrument"). In De Sophisticis Elenchis Aristotle identifies 13 falacies. Verbal Fallacies are: Accent or Emphasis; Amphibology; Equivocation; Composition; Division and Figure of Speech. Material Fallacies are: Accident; Affirming the Consequent; Converse Accident; Irrelevant Conclusion; Begging the Question; False Cause and Fallacy of Many Questions.

On the Soul (Greek Περὶ Ψυχῆς (Perì Psūchês), Latin De Anima) is a major treatise by Aristotle on the nature of living things. His discussion centres on the kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, distinguished by their different operations. Thus plants have the capacity for nourishment and reproduction, the minimum that must be possessed by any kind of living organism. Lower animals have, in addition, the powers of sense-perception and self-motion (action). Humans have all these as well as intellect...

On the Heavens (Greek: Περί ουρανού, Latin: De Caelo or De Caelo et Mundo) is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise. In it Aristotle argues that the Earth is a sphere by pointing to the evidence of lunar eclipses. Aristotle also provides a detailed explanation of his theory of 'gravity' arguing that things which contain 'earth' fall towards the centre of the Universe because 'earth' is naturally attracted to the centre of the Universe. Aristotle argues that if the planet Earth was moved to the location of the Moon then objects which contain 'earth' would not fall towards the centre of the Earth but rather towards the centre of the Universe...

On Generation and Corruption (Ancient Greek: Περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς, Latin: De Generatione et Corruptione, also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away) is a treatise by Aristotle. Like many of his texts, it is both scientific and philosophic (although not necessarily scientific in the modern sense). The philosophy, though, is essentially empirical; as in all Aristotle's works, the deductions made about the unexperienced and unobservable are based on observations and real experiences...

Parva Naturalia [the "short treatises on nature" (a conventional Latin title first used by Giles of Rome)] is a collection of books by Aristotle, which discuss natural phenomena involving the body and the soul. The books are as follows:I - On Sensation and the SensibleII - On Memory and RecollectionIII - On Sleeping and WakingIV - On DreamsV - On Prophecy in SleepVI - On Longevity and Shortness of LifeVII - On Youth and Old Age, Life and Death VIII - On Respiration

Book I Grouping of animals and the parts of the human body. Book II Different parts of red-blooded animals. Book III Internal organs. Book IV Animals without blood . Books V & VI Animal reproduction. Book VII Human reproduction. Book VIII Habits . Book IX Social behavior. Book X Dealing with barrenness in women was excluded from the translation of D'Arcy Thompson for being spurious so the translation of the Clergyman Richard Cresswell is used instead. Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson was a biologist, mathematician and classicist who also wrote On Growth and Form which discusses the mathematical patterns and structures formed in plants and animals.

Generation of Animals ; Latin: De Generatione Animalium) Book 1: Sexual Parts, Semen & Sexual Generation Book 2: Sexes, Embryo Development & Sterility Book 3: Birds, Fish, Cephalopods, Insects, Bees & Testacea Book 4: Causes of Sex, Heredity & Teratology Book 5: Distinction between Necessity and the Final Cause Charles Darwin wrote: "Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods, though in very different ways, but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle." - Summary by Geoffrey Edwards

This book is a classic piece on self improvement teaching you to live to the fullest. Judging from the title of the book, the reader might expect that the book is a manual on how to manage your time better. Nothing could be further from the truth, this book is a flowery and witty self help book aimed at helping readers improve the quality of their lives, in fact it is one of the firsts of its kind in the world. Bennett describes the twenty four hours in a day as a miracle and that it should be used for the betterment of health, wealth, respect, pleasure and contentment...

Arnold Bennett describes a method for enjoying literature, and suggests the contents of a comprehensive library. Chapters 1-10 and 14 describe his method for learning to enjoy literature. Chapters 11, 12, and 13 contain detailed lists of the 337 volumes required to complete a comprehensive library of English works. This reading is from the 1913 version at Project Gutenberg, and so does not contain the revisions made by Swinnerton for the 1939 edition, which included authors of the early Twentieth Century. Swinnerton’s revisions are available from Wikipedia.

Bennett's essays always provide food for thought and bring a wry smile to the lips. Human nature, it appears, changes little over the ages, and Bennett's writing stands the test of time, though in the case of some of the essays in this eclectic collection, it is well to remember that they were written at the time of the First World War and the fight for women's suffrage.

In The Feast of St. Friend, a Christmas book, Arnold Bennett shares his views on Christmas as the season of goodwill. As always, Bennett's writing includes some thought-provoking ideas liberally spiced with his wry sense of humour, and as always too, you can barely believe it was written so long ago. This was published exactly 100 years ago, in 1911. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)

After a number of deaths in his close family, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turned to spiritualism in hope of finding proof of the afterlife. Being open in this way, he wanted to believe that spirits and other supernatural being including fairies were real. Because of this he believed the photographs of fairies taken by the Cottingley girls were proof of the existence of such beings. In this book he presents his stance on the issue. Eventually it was proven that the photographs were indeed a hoax.

Published posthumously in 1919, this collection of diary entries presents a scathing picture of army life and is said to be one of the most vivid accounts of daily life in the trenches. It chronicles West's increasing disillusion with war and his move toward pacifist and atheist beliefs. The final part consists of his powerful war poems, including God, How I Hate You, You Young Cheerful Men, and Night Patrol. West was killed by a sniper in 1917. In view of some of his poems, one wonders if death was not unwelcome. (Introduction adapted from Wikipedia by Ruth Golding)

After all, tea is the drink! Domestically and socially it is the beverage of the world. There may be those who will come forward with their figures to prove that other fruits of the soil—agriculturally and commercially—are more important. Perhaps they are right when quoting statistics. But what other product can compare with tea in the high regard in which it has always been held by writers whose standing in literature, and recognized good taste in other walks, cannot be questioned? (From the Preface) A Little Tea Book is a clever book about all things tea- Eastern and Western tea history, stories, culture, quotes, and even poetry. A good little read for tea lovers everywhere.

In 1880, the New York Times reported a curious story from St. Albans, Vermont, about a mysterious figure, an attorney and Democratic operative named A. P. Hinman. Hinman privately told local Democratic leaders that he had been hired by the Democratic National Committee to obtain evidence that Vice-President-elect Chester A. Arthur was not qualified to hold the office of Vice President, but rather that Arthur was a Canadian-born alien. President Garfield was assassinated in 1881 and Arthur became twenty first President of the United States, and a pretty good one by all accounts...

In the following pages an attempt has been made to examine anew in the light of God's Word some of the profoundest questions which can engage the human mind.

Schopenhauer used the word "will" as a human's most familiar designation for the concept that can also be signified by other words such as "desire," "striving," "wanting," "effort," and "urging." Schopenhauer's philosophy holds that all nature, including man, is the expression of an insatiable will to life. It is through the will that mankind finds all their suffering. Desire for more is what causes this suffering. He used the word representation (Vorstellung) to signify the mental idea or image of any object that is experienced as being external to the mind...

Enter Pleasant Valley, the home of the interesting and entertaining creatures and adventures born of American author Arthur Scott Bailey. The Tale of Paddy Muskrat is one of many works penned by Bailey that are part of his Sleep-Time Tales set intended for young children. Come enjoy the turns of luck and whims of the laziest member of the valley. - Summary by Bill Turns Prooflisteners: KevinS and MaryinArkansas

As that heavenly bit of chocolate melts in our mouths, we give little thought as to where it came from, the arduous work that went in to its creation, and the complex process of its maturation from a bean to the delicacy we all enjoy. This “little book” details everything you have ever wanted to know (and some things you never knew you wanted to know) about cocoa and chocolate from how the trees are planted and sustained to which countries produce the most cacao beans. Do cacao beans from various...

A life of King Alfred of England originally composed in Latin, possibly sometime around 888 A.D. by the Monk and Bishop Asser, although some scholars contend that the work was actually composed much later by an unknown hand.

Contra Gentes is the first of a two volume work published by Athanasius of Alexandria prior to the outbreak of the Arian controversy (ca. 319). It focuses especially on pagan beliefs and worship concluding with a defense of the Christian view of God and creation -- especially creation by the eternal Word. In this way, the ground is prepared for the second volume of his work, now published separately under the title De Incarnatione Verbi.