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...

The Atlantic was a popular periodical with a wide range of essays and stories. In an effort to remain current, many strong and valid submissions ended up being pushed aside. The Atlantic Classic was an experimental publication, drawing on some sixteen of these good but rejected essays. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

An example of one of the leading literary magazines of the early 20th Century. Poetry by e.e. cummings and Louise Bryant , a short story by Sherwood Anderson, a memoir of the late poet James Flecker, theater and book reviews by Gilbert Seldes, and other critical works.

This is the sixteenth collection of our "coffee break" series, involving public domain works that are between about 3 and 15 minutes in length. These are great for study breaks, commutes, workouts, or any time you'd like to hear a whole story and only have a few minutes to devote to listening. The theme for this collection is "Crime", where crime or criminals are significant. readers have chosen a combination of social commentaries, newspaper reports of true crimes and criminals, letters, fictional accounts of the life of the criminal and short 'whodunnit' mysteries. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

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...

This is the seventeenth Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is health and fitness... views on these, including physical activity, nutrition and sport, have changed drastically over the years. Readers have chosen selections on subjects ranging from judo and walking to advice for the nutrition and education of children, Summary by Lynne Thompson

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...

The Coffee Break Collections are themed anthologies, selected and read by readers. Each short piece is fifteen minutes long, or less -- perfect for coffee breaks, commutes and work outs. Essays, prose, fiction, non-fiction, poetry -- who knows what gems will be uncovered? Spring is the time we see plants and flowers, dormant over the cold winter months, burst into life; and they make their appearance here. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

The Coffee Break Collections are themed anthologies, selected and read by readers. Each short piece is fifteen minutes long, or less -- perfect for coffee breaks, commutes and work outs. Essays, prose, fiction, non-fiction, poetry -- who knows what gems will be uncovered? In this collection, we explore old age -- grandparents, retirement, wisdom, decline. It is an opportunity to reflect on mortality and depth of experience. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

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 essays regarding the pros and cons of prohibition of alcoholic beverages, principally in the United States. - Summary by KevinS

This is the twenty-first Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is fairy tales... traditional children's tales, tall stories and notorious scams and the authors of thm may be uncovered! Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose, essays... all are welcome here.

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...

This is the twenty-second Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is Days Gone By. All pieces were of a historical nature at the time written . Ancient Rome, Greece or Egypt, medieval Europe, the early days of the American colonies.

"It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place" is the way 15-year old Alexander Hamilton described living through a hurricane . Other natural and man-made disasters chronicled in vol. 069 are "The Eruption of Mt. Asama of 1783," "The Great Chicago Fire," and "The Siege of Nicaea ." Society and social reform are treated from a variety of viewpoints: "Tatlings: Epigrams ," "Wooed a 'Marjorie Daw' for 14 Years," Petty Management" , "The Public Schools of Today," "What a Colored Man Should Do to Vote," "Patriotism and Government" , the "Prison Journal of Stephen F...

This is the twenty-third Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is Mysteries, Riddles and Conundrums. Short mystery fiction, puzzles that have baffled generations, whether solved or unsolved and anything our forefathers have struggled to explain. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose, essays...who knows what you will discover?

This is the twenty-fourth Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is Ghosts, Ghouls and Spooky Things in honor of Halloween. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose, essays... all chill and perplex.

This is the twenty-fifth Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is water, a subject that has attracted Archimedes, Shelley and Masefield, to name but a few.

This is the 26th Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select and read poems, fiction and non-fiction pieces of fifteen minutes' duration or less. The subject for this collection is "It's a Small World". Readers have interpreted this in their own way, so we have selections such as Asteroids, Small Country Houses of Today and stories for "small people", such as Jack and the Beanstalk.

This is the 27th Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select and read poems, fiction and non-fiction pieces of fifteen minutes' duration or less. In honor of the Super Bowl, the subject for this collection is "Sports".

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...

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. "Our constitution is color-blind... the law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights...are involved." Justice Harlan's eloquent defense of equal rights for Black citizens in his 1866 dissent to Plessy v. Ferguson is one of several Vol. 076 selections which explore social issues and politics: John Adams; Gettysburg Address; Civil Rights Bill ; First Philippic of Demosthenes; Manifesto of the Humanitarian League; and Acadian Reminiscences...

This is the second issue of a monthly agricultural magazine for the year 1820. From the introduction: "A leading object of the Rural Magazine will be to furnish correct views of the science of Agriculture, and the various improvements which are daily made or suggested in it. For this purpose the best and most recent European works on the subject will be consulted, and selections made from the American newspapers that are devoted or friendly to the cause. The best information on the subject will thus be condensed in a form less unwieldy than a newspaper, and more popular than in scientific books...

This is the 29th Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select and read stories or poems, fiction or non-fiction pieces of fifteen minutes' duration or less, suitable for short commutes and coffee breaks. The subject for this collection is "DOGS"... and the collection is full after 20 pieces have been submitted. - Summary by ~ Michele Fry

Soporific dullness is in the ear of the listener, and what's tedium incarnate to one person will be another person's passion and delight. However, it is hoped that at least one from the range of topics here presented will lull the busy mind to a state of sweet sleep.Introduction by Cori Samuel.

Twenty short nonfiction works, chosen by the readers. "That thing up there on the stand with the American flag on top is a machine gun, and those are bullets hitting the house. And that means your country is shooting at you." These are a mother's words to her six-year old daughter, recalled by Dr. Olivia Hooker testifying about the horrific destruction of Black-owned homes and businesses in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. Strife and good will, the complexity of human society is the theme of many vol. 078 readings: . A change of pace is found in The Lake Biwa-Kioto Canal, The New Madrid Earthquake, The History of Games, Rendering Clouds and Water, and Food in Little Italy. Summary by Sue Anderson

"It was about the month of May...that I received information ...that two photographs of fairies had been taken in the North of England under circumstances which seemed to put fraud out of the question." . Differing foundational beliefs and the varied ways men and women seek truth, whether through science, faith, philosophic speculation or political involvement, are highlighted in the selections for vol 079: The Cottingley Fairies; Scientific Ghosts; Matter and Memory; A Village Discussion; The Early Narratives of Genesis; The Connection Between Church and State; The Prince; Miss Morrison's First Visit to the Petit Trianon; The Scientific Work of Miss N...

This is the 30th Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select and read stories or poems, fiction or non-fiction pieces of fifteen minutes' duration or less, suitable for short commutes and coffee breaks. The subject for this collection is "MYTHICAL CREATURES"... leprechauns, unicorns, angels, demons, ghosts, fairies, gnomes, dragons, mermaids, centaurs, werewolves . . . the list goes on and on. There are 21 stories in this collection.

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. "Not one of us actually thinks for himself, or in any orderly and scientific manner. The pressure of environment, of mass ideas, of the socialized intelligence... is too enormous to be withstood." The individual and society were central to several vol. 080 reads: The Genealogy of Etiquette; A Lounge on the Lawn; Alexander Pushkin; Princess Zizianoff; The Hanseatic League; and The Limits of Atheism. Science and the inventive mind were covered in "On the Science of Experiments; Coffey's Science of Logic; Medicine and It's Subjects; How a Fast Train is Run; and The Telephone...

This is the 31st Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select and read 20 stories or poems of their choice, fiction or non-fiction pieces of fifteen minutes' duration or less, suitable for short commutes and coffee breaks. The subject for this collection is SPRINGTIME.

This is the 32nd Coffee Break Collection, in which readers select and read stories or poems, fiction or non-fiction pieces of fifteen minutes' duration or less, suitable for short commutes and coffee breaks. The subject for this collection is WILDERNESS. The collection is full after 20 pieces have been submitted.