The Prince (Italian: Il Principe) is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. The descriptions within The Prince have the general theme of accepting that ends of princes, such as glory, and indeed survival, can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends.
The miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold-hearted man of business and has little time for the good humor and charity of the Christmas season. But that's about to change. A visit from his deceased business partner sets in motion a night in which Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. Will his listen to their messages? Will he heed their warnings? Ebenezer Scrooge is about to take a Christmas journey that he won't soon forget.
Volunteers bring you 11 recordings of Old Chants by Walt Whitman. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for May 15, 2011.
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.
The first edition of Leaves of Grass was very small, collecting only twelve unnamed poems in 95 pages. Whitman continued to expand the editions until the ninth and final edition of almost 400 poems.
The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time.
First compiled in the 6th century BC, The Art of War presents a philosophy of war for managing conflicts and winning battles. It is accepted as a masterpiece on strategy and is frequently cited and referred to by generals and theorists since it was first published, translated, and distributed internationally. The book is not only popular among military theorists, but has also become increasingly popular among political leaders and those in business management. Despite its title, The Art of War addresses strategy in a broad fashion, touching upon public administration and planning. The text outlines theories of battle but also advocates diplomacy and cultivating relationships with other nations as essential to the health of a state.
In this popular American book from the 1920s, accomplished public speaker and self-help charlatan Elsie Lincoln Benedict outlines her pseudo-scientific system of "Human Analysis". She proposes that, within the human race, five sub-types have developed through evolutionary processes, each with its own distinct character traits and corresponding outward appearance. She offers to teach the reader how to recognise these five types of people and understand their innate differences. Her ideas have never been taken seriously by the scientific community, but this book is considered a classic within its genre and remains in print today
Volunteers bring you 8 recordings of To Autumn by John Keats. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for November 21st, 2010.
To Autumn" is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats's "1819 odes".
He composed "To Autumn" after a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening. The work marks the end of his poetic career as he needed to earn money and could no longer devote himself to the lifestyle of a poet. A little over a year following the publication of "To Autumn", Keats died in Rome.
"To Autumn" has been regarded by critics as one of the most perfect short poems in the English language and it is one of the most anthologised English lyric poems.
This book is "not written for professional musicians, but for untaught lovers of the art". It gives broad instruction on composers, styles, instruments, venues - and when to believe the critics.
Bob Brown, after living thirty years in as many foreign lands and enjoying countless national cheeses at the source, returned to New York and summed them all up in this book.
Born in Chicago, he was graduated from Oak Park High School and entered the University of Wisconsin at the exact moment when a number of imported Swiss professors in this great dairy state began teaching their students how to hole an Emmentaler.
After majoring in beer and free lunch from Milwaukee to Munich, Bob celebrated the end of Prohibition with a book called Let There Be Beer! and then decided to write another about Beer's best friend, Cheese. But first he collaborated with his mother Cora and wife Rose on The Wine Cookbook, still in print after nearly twenty-five years. This first manual on the subject in America paced a baker's dozen food-and-drink books, including: America Cooks, 10,000 Snacks, Fish and Seafood and The South American Cookbook.
The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and Joseph B. Esenwein is a manual for people who have to speak in public, and it is still in use today. Whether the occasion in question is sharing travel experiences with friends, a toast for newly-weds, or a public debate, the tips and tricks collected in this book will come handy anywhere.
The book describes how to make effective use of one's voice and gestures, how to gain and convey confidence in front of a large audience, and which methods to use to convert the listeners to one's own cause. Each chapter contains examples and a list of practice exercises. The last 15 sections are real speeches by famous men to function as a study aid.
This is the authoritative book written by Montessori to describe her methods. It gives an overview of the Montessori Method as developed for 3 to 6 year olds. It is a short work, intended as a manual for teachers and parents, detailing the materials used as well as her philosophy in developing them. "As a result of the widespread interest that has been taken in my method of child education, certain books have been issued, which may appear to the general reader to be authoritative expositions of the Montessori system. I wish to state definitely that the present work, the English translation of which has been authorized and approved by me, is the only authentic manual of the Montessori method ..." M. Montessori in the Preface
If you are seeking better health and ways to stay well…This book is for you! Wallace D. Wattles was an American author and a pioneer success new thought movement writer. His most famous work and first book is a book called The Science of Getting Rich in which he explains how to get rich. Additionally, In the Science of Getting Well, Wattles suggests the reader to think and ACT in a Certain Way. As with his first book, Wattles explains in simple concepts the keys to Getting Well. With faith and discipline, Wattles suggests you can stay well. Says Wattles “for those who want health, and who want a practical guide and handbook, not a philosophical treatise. It is an instructor in the use of the universal Principle of Life, and my effort has been to explain the way in so plain and simple a fashion that the reader, though he may have given no previous study to New Thought or metaphysics, may readily follow it to perfect health”.
Volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Spring by Christina Georgina Rossetti. This was the Fortnightly Poetry Poetry project for March 25, 2012.
Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She is best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.
How can you tell when your pig is fat enough? Why should you never buy mustard? What's wrong with eating potatoes? Which is better, beer or tea? And what type of straw makes the best bonnets? William Cobbett is the man to ask. Here is his book of practical advice to the rural labouring 'cottager' (first published as a part-work in 1821-22), the precursor in many ways to the handbooks on self-sufficiency that today entice so many city-dwellers.
A champion of the rural working class at a time of huge social and industrial change, a radical politician and a prolific writer, Cobbett is opinionated, passionate and enlightening, making 'Cottage Economy' a fascinating and entertaining window on daily life for the smallholders of his day, and still inspirational, almost 200 years later, to those who seek 'a good living' as the foundation of happiness.
Change your life by changing your thoughts. The Majesty of Calmness is your guide to attracting prosperity, manifesting opportunities, and managing stress—all while discovering the values most precious to you.
One of the beneficial results of the Great War has been the teaching of thrift to the American housewife. For patriotic reasons and for reasons of economy, more attention has been bestowed upon the preparing and cooking of food that is to be at once palatable, nourishing and economical.
In the Italian cuisine we find in the highest degree these three qualities. That it is palatable, all those who have partaken of food in an Italian trattoria or at the home of an Italian family can testify, that it is healthy the splendid manhood and womanhood of Italy is a proof more than sufficient. And who could deny, knowing the thriftiness of the Italian race, that it is economical?
It has therefore been thought that a book of practical recipes of the Italian cuisine could be offered to the American public with hope of success. It is not a pretentious book, and the recipes have been made as clear and simple as possible. Some of the dishes described are not peculiar to Italy. All, however, are representative of the Cucina Casalinga of the peninsular Kingdom, which is not the least product of a lovable and simple people, among whom the art of living well and getting the most out of life at a moderate expense has been attained to a very high degree.
Wells considered this book one of his most important, a natural follow-up to such works as his Man of the Year Million and The Time Machine. His goal was to get people to think and act in new ways. The book starts with a look at how humans get along socially and how they carry out their business ventures. It then discusses how these elements influence others, such as politics, the world of work, and education. H. G. tried to make clear how the current social order was disintegrating without preparing another to take its place. He then traced the roots of democracy, which in its present state he saw as unworkable. Instead, he proposed a new republic. He also critiqued modern warfare.
The happiness of all human beings, men and women, depends largely on their rational solution of the sexual problem. Sex and the part it plays in human life cannot be ignored.
English Synonyms and Antonyms is basically a vocabulary builder that students might use as they prepare for entrance or exit exams. Each entry gives a list of synonyms, followed by a paragraph that briefly explains or exemplifies the subtle distinctions between the listed words. The entries sometimes close with a few words on the prepositions that follow selected synonyms, but more often with a list of antonyms.
By "synonyms" we usually understand words that coincide or nearly coincide in some part of their meaning, and may hence within certain limits be used interchangeably, while outside of those limits they may differ very greatly in meaning and use. It is the office of a work on synonyms to point out these correspondences and differences, that language may have the flexibility that comes from freedom of selection within the common limits, with the perspicuity and precision that result from exact choice of the fittest words to express each shade of meaning outside of the common limits.
Volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Past Days by Emily Brontë . This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 28th, 2010
Anne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters (Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, 1846) and in short succession she wrote two novels. Agnes Grey, based upon her experiences as a governess, was published in 1847. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall appeared in 1848. Anne's life was cut short with her death of pulmonary tuberculosis when she was 29 years old. She published under the androgynous pen name Acton Bell.
Please note, at the time of this poetry project, the Gutenburg index was mis-interpreted and this poem was mistakenly attributed to Emily Brontë / Ellis Bell. The recorded LibriVox introductions will reflect this mistake.
As Russia goes to war against Japan, Tolstoy urges those at all levels of society, from the Tsar down to the common soldier, to consider their actions in the light of Christ's teaching. "However strange this may appear, the most effective and certain deliverance of men from all the calamities which they inflict upon themselves and from the most dreadful of all—war—is attainable, not by any external general measures, but merely by that simple appeal to the consciousness of each separate man which, nineteen hundred years ago, was proposed by Jesus—that every man bethink himself, and ask himself, who is he, why he lives, and what he should and should not do."
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 countries differ? What makes some types of chocolate higher quality than other kinds? Are there any health benefits to eating chocolate? Read on to learn the answers to these and many other questions about that wondrous little treat we call chocolate.
Faith and reason, love and virtue, morality and mortality! In these two short volumes the famous novelist, essayist, and playwright, Upton Sinclair, confided his most prized worldly wisdom for generations to come. His kind and witty personal advice both provokes and enlightens page by page.
The Englishman Harrison Weir organized the first cat show in England in 1871. In 1887 he founded the National Cat Club and was its first President and Show Manager until his resignation in 1890.
Our Cats and all about them is concerned with cats and all about them. It describes numerous breeds of cats and what to look for in a cat show champion, and deals with the general management and common diseases of cats, as well as how to raise healthy kittens.
But there is also a hodge podge of cat related stories, games, nursery rhymes, superstitions, as well as a list of cat lovers and a chapter of "The Cat in Shakespeare".
The international language Esperanto was first released to the world in 1887, when L. L. Zamenhof published his first book, "Dr. Esperanto's International Language". Since that time, many learning books have been developed to help the beginner attain a proficiency in the language. Helen Fryer's "Esperanto Teacher" is one of the earliest of these attempts in English. Divided into 45 short and easy lessons and supplemented with sections on joining words, exclamations, compound words, arrangement of words in a sentence, words used with the object, the 16 rules of grammar and list of common useful expressions, as well as a number of translated texts for the new Esperantist to practice his/her skills, this book contains everything one needs to gain a proficiency in the language.
Written in 1903, just sixty years after the word 'hypnotism' was coined, this book explores the contemporary understanding of the nature, uses and dangers of the technique. Hypnotism has been practiced for many centuries, but it was in the mid-to-late nineteenth century that it became a particularly fashionable way to explore the human mind. Although understanding of the subject has evolved considerably over subsequent years, this book remains a fascinating insight into a technique once thought to be at the forefront of medical science.
Starters, main courses and desserts from around the world, one dish for every day of the year. From Turkey to China, from India to England, from Austria to Egypt, a wide variety of mouth-watering cuisines are represented. Each recipe is described in one short paragraph, making this book perfect for dipping into when you’re seeking inspiration on what to cook.
Rufus Estes was born a slave in 1857 in Tennessee, and experienced first hand the turmoil of the Civil War. He began working in a Nashville restaurant at the age of 16, and in 1883 took up employment as a Pullman cook. In 1897, he was hired as principal chef for the private railway car of U.S. Steel magnates (the fin-de-siecle equivalent of today's Lear Jets for corporate travel). There he served succulent fare for the rich and famous at the turn of the 20th century.
Volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Petals by Amy Lowell. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 27, 2011.
Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Lowell was born into Brookline's prominent Lowell family, sister to astronomer Percival Lowell and Harvard president Abbott Lawrence Lowell.
She never attended college because her family did not consider that proper for a woman, but she compensated with avid reading and near-obsessive book collecting. She lived as a socialite and travelled widely, turning to poetry in 1902 after being inspired by a performance of Eleonora Duse in Europe. In the post-World War II years, Lowell, like other women writers, was largely forgotten, but with the renaissance of the women's movement in the 1970s, women's studies brought her back to light. According to Heywood Broun, however, Lowell personally argued against feminism. Her poem, “Petals” is published in her collection A Dome of Many-Colored Glass (1912).
Gardening expert Steve Solomon has written extensively on gardening techniques for the home gardener. Water conservation is the focus of this work, along with more information on how to have the healthiest plants in your garden through "fertigation", appropriate plant rotation, and soil preparation.
Wood and Garden reads like a walk through the garden with reknowned garden designer Gertrude Jekyll as she discusses her plant choices and placement, how she integrates nature into her design, and how she maintains and enjoys the garden.
H.G. Wells had so much fun playing with his children on the floor of their playroom, he decided to write a jovial little book to inspire other parents in their pursuit of quality time with the kids. While the raw materials available from hobby stores of his day were woefully short of the variety and quality of what can be bought easily now, he and his sons created their own worlds to rule. This short work describes two games of imagination played out upon the floor of his home - an archipelago of islands, and a thoroughly integrated city, conveniently organized with two mayoral positions for his sons “G.P.W.” and “F.R.W.” While the toy people appearing in their worlds were often of martial nature, Wells decided to leave decription of military games to a later book: “Little Wars.”
Volunteers bring you 14 recordings of Cheese Curd for Bait by James McIntyre. This was the Weekly Poetry project for September 23, 2012.
James McIntyre, born in Scotland, came to Canada in 1841. He finally settled in Ingersoll (a town in central Ontario on the banks of the Thames River), the then-heart of Canadian dairy country.
He was well loved in the community, from which he often received aid in hard times, due in part to his poesy and oratorical skills — he was called on to speak at every kind of social gathering in Ingersoll. The region seems to have inspired him, and it was in celebration of the proud history of Canada, the natural beauty and industry of the region, and especially its cheese, that the majority of his oeuvre was written.
Learn how to accomplish your goals through increasing your mental power, avoiding energy drains, and becoming more mentally efficient.
A collection of articles from Good Housekeeping magazine, The Good Housekeeping Marriage Book focuses on the subject of marriage. With instructions and advice from courtship to raising children, this collection aims to assist those with questions and concerns surrounding marriage and the ensuing relationship. Published in 1938.
This book presents a method of developing and strengthening the faculties of the mind, through the awakened will, by a simple, scientific process possible to any person of ordinary intelligence.
We cannot ignore the fact that we must eat, and that much as we dislike to acknowledge it, we are compelled to think a great deal about filling our stomachs. This is especially true these days, when prices have soared and soared and taken along with them, far out of the reach of many of us, certain articles of food which we heretofore have always felt were quite necessary to us.
About ten years ago the idea of writing a little cook book had its birth. We were in Almora that summer. Almora is a station far up in the Himalayas, a clean little bazaar nestles at the foot of enclosing mountains. Dotting the deodar-covered slopes of these mountains are the picturesque bungalows of the European residents, while towering above and over all are the glistening peaks of the eternal snows.
The people of India since Vedic times have eaten curry and always will.
The compiler of [this book] having entered early in life upon a train of duties, was frequently embarrassed by her ignorance of domestic affairs. For, whilst receipt books for elegant preparations were often seen, those connected with the ordinary, but far more useful part of household duties, were not easily procured; thus situated, she applied to persons of experience, and embodied the information collected in a book, to which, since years have matured her judgment, she has added much that is the result of her own experiments.Familiar, then, with the difficulties a young housekeeper encounters, when she finds herself in reality the mistress of an establishment, the Authoress offers to her young countrywomen this Work, with the belief that, by attention to its contents, many of the cares attendant on a country or city life, may be materially lessened; and hoping that the directions are such as to be understood by the most inexperienced, it is respectfully dedicated to those who feel an interest in domestic affairs.Summary by the Authoress.
Volunteers bring you 16 recordings of In Harmony with Nature. by Matthew Arnold. This was the Weekly Poetry project for July 8, 2012.
Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator. Matthew Arnold has been characterized as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues.
Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning.
This is a charming book on Art History for children (and everyone else). Each chapter focuses on a great painting, reproduced in color in the original text. The authors explain the story behind the paintings, as well as the life, times, and techniques of the artists.
A short look at building a rock garden, right from the rocks themselves and how to arrange them, to choosing and placing the plants, touching wall and bog gardens, too. In this little monograph, the author is trying to draw the eyes of U.S. gardeners in to the intimate beauty of this neglected hobby.
The poetry of childhood is full of attractiveness to the artist, and many and varied are the forms in which he interprets it. The Christ-child has been his highest ideal. All that human imagination could conceive of innocence and purity and divine loveliness has been shown forth in the delineation of the Babe of Bethlehem. The influence of such art has made itself felt upon all child pictures. It matters not whether the subject be a prince or a street-waif; the true artist sees in him something which is lovable and winning, and transfers it to his canvas for our lasting pleasure.
Volunteers bring you 5 recordings of To the Man of the High North by Robert Service. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for November 28, 2010.
Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) was a poet and writer, sometimes referred to as "the Bard of the Yukon".
His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector, not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was.
In addition to his Yukon works, Service also wrote poetry set in locales as diverse as South Africa, Afghanistan, and New Zealand.
Volunteers bring you 20 recordings of Best Way to Read a Book by Edgar A. Guest. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for September 12th, 2010.
The Ontario Readers is a school book first published in 1919, by the Ontario Ministry of Education, containing short excerpts of literary works, both stories and poems, geared to grade-school age children.
Olive Green is the pseudonym for the prolific late 19th Century/early 20th Century author, Myrtle Reed. She wrote over thirty-three books and hundreds of magazine articles and pamphlets during her short lifetime. Ms. Reed was best known for writing romance novels that often included themes of everlasting and unrequited love, ironic revenge, mystery, and the occult. Her best known book is Lavender and Old Lace, which later became the basis for Arsenic and Old Lace.
Ms. Reed used the name Olive Green to write books and articles about domestic homemaking and cooking. Her cookbooks include How to Cook Fish, What to Have for Breakfast, and One Thousand Simple Soups. Myrtle Reed committed suicide in 1911 just after the publishing of her last novel, A Weaver of Dreams.
Her collection of stories about women who led important and independent lives, The Spinster Book.
Volunteers bring you 14 recordings of The Snowman in the Yard by Joyce Kilmer. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for February 26, 2012.
Alfred Joyce Kilmer was an American journalist, poet, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his religious faith, Kilmer is remembered most for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914.
At the time of his deployment to Europe during World War I (1914–1918), Kilmer was considered the leading American Catholic poet and lecturer of his generation, whom critics often compared to British contemporaries G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) and Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953). A sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment (better known as 'The Fighting 69th), Kilmer was killed at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918 at the age of 31.
Volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Long Ago by Christina G. Rossetti. This was the Weekly Poetry project for December 9, 2012.
Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She is perhaps best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.
These 13 essays explore the fascinating world of insects all around us. Vernon Kellogg, an eminent entomologist and natural story teller, and his little friend Mary, start by collecting Tarantula Holes and proceed to observe spiders, ant lions, ants, wasps and many other tiny creatures in their daily life. Each creature has a wonderful story and it is told most entertainingly.