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This pamphlet was published in the early 20th century by the United States Rubber Company so that coming generations of our country ... have some understanding of the importance of rubber in our every day life... We believe the rubber industry will be better off if the future citizens of our country know more about it. Learn about Christopher Columbus's discovery of rubber, how the crafty British entrepreneur, Wickham, managed to smuggle rubber seedlings out of Brazil, and how rubber manufacturing came to be a peculiarly American industry. The myriad uses of rubber from a century ago are also elaborated in considerable detail - everything from submarines to Keds to dentures. (Summary by Judy Bieber)...

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Nature

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A few years before James E. Talmage was called to serve as an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon church), he gave a series of lectures at universities such as the University of Michigan and Cornell, describing the history of the Church. These lectures were later compiled and published as 'The Story of Mormonism.' It is a concise, yet informative summary for all interested in learning the history and beliefs of the Mormon church. (Summary by Nathan Markham)...

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Religion

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The Two Paths is a collection of five lectures delivered in 1858 and 1859 by John Ruskin on art and architecture. This is how the author himself presents the book: The following addresses, though spoken at different times, are intentionally connected in subject; their aim being to set one or two main principles of art in simple light before the general student, and to indicate their practical bearing on modern design. The law which it has been my effort chiefly to illustrate is the dependence of all noble design, in any kind, on the sculpture or painting of Organic Form. The most famous of these, the fifth lecture, is commonly known simply as The Work of Iron (Summary by Leni)...

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Art

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Gilbert Keith Chesterton was among the world's most prolific writers who incorporated relentless logic, wonderful humor, and a clear view of truth into an amazing tool for exposing the foolishness of the policies of the world around him through the device of paradox. It is always great fun, and certainly always a learning experience to read Chesterton. A Miscellany of Men may be his hardest work to define, as it deals with a huge array of issues, using personal types as illustration. It would only be bewildering, if there was not these common threads: First that these types still exist, and the same faulty reasoning applies to issues of our day, and second, that underlying all of this is a firm and reasoned defense of democracy in a sense very close to that of the American Founding Fathers. (Summary by Ray Clare)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Saint Catherine of Genoa (Caterina Fieschi Adorno, born Genoa 1447 – 15 September 1510) is an Italian Roman Catholic saint and mystic, admired for her work among the sick and the poor. She was a member of the noble Fieschi family, and spent most of her life and her means serving the sick, especially during the plague which ravaged Genoa in 1497 and 1501. She died in that city in 1510. In 1551, 41 years after her death, a book about her life and teaching was published, entitled Libro de la vita mirabile et dottrina santa de la Beata Caterinetta de Genoa. This is the source of her Dialogues on the Soul and the Body and her Treatise on Purgatory, which are often printed separately. Her authorship of these has been denied, and it used to be thought that another mystic, the Augustinian canoness Battistina Vernazza, who lived in a monastery in Genoa from 1510 till her death in 1587 had edited the two works, a suggestion discredited by recent scholarship, which attributes a large part of both works to St Catherine, though they received their final literary form only after her death. In the first part of the Spiritual Dialogue, St. Catherin...

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Religion

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Subtitled, The principles on which a firm parental authority may be established and maintained, without violence or anger, and the right development of the moral and mental capacities be promoted by methods in harmony with the structure and the characteristics of the juvenile mind. This book gives practical advice on how to raise children using gentle measures that do not damage the children's emotions or self esteem. Most of the information is as relevant and practical today as it was when published in 1871. (Summary by TriciaG)...

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Instruction

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The writer believes that all attendants should be regularly instructed in their duties, and the highest standard of care can be reached only when this is done. He also believes that every person who is allowed to care for the insane will be greatly benefited by such instruction, and will be able to learn every thing taught, if the teacher uses simple methods and is patient to instruct. As this manual was originally written in 1886, the basic medical instruction IS out-of-date and should not be used to diagnose any medical problem, nor should be used in the case of an emergency. It has been recorded for entertainment purposes only! (Summary from the Introduction and by Ann Boulais)...

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Psychology

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At the Court of Liang at the period of Yang Chu, about 300 B.C., the philosophers were treated as guests of the reigning king, who reserved for them lodging and maintenance, and encouraged all who had any pretence to the pursuit of truth and wisdom. Whether or not Yang Chu was actually a native of the Wei State, or whether he came there drawn by the attraction of a critical and unrivalled audience, it is at least certain that he settled there as small proprietor, probably in the reign of King Hwei, and continued there till his death, about 250 B.C. One may imagine a condition of life in many respects somewhat analogous to the life of Epicurus in his famous Athenian Garden. To the philosopher of pleasure and contentment came pupils and disciples, discourses were held in much the same way as at an identical period discourses were held in the garden at Athens, and it is to these discourses, memorised and recorded by his favourite pupil Meng-sun-Yang, that we most probably owe the single fragment of the teaching of Yang Chu that remains, a fragment complete and explicit enough to enable us to form a clear estimate of his teaching and ph...

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Philosophy

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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. Volume I covers the period (up to the year 57BC) of Cicero’s education, his rise through the courts and offices of state to the Consulship, and his exile. Please note that footnotes - predominantly bibliographical citations and Latin quotations - are omitted unless explicitly referred to in the main text; the appendices, which consist mainly of more substantial extracts from other works, are likewise omitted. Summary by Philippa...

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Biography

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The writer of this letter instructs the early Christians on the value of showing patience, controlling an unruly tongue and treating all people with kindness without respect to their social position. It also provides the basis for the practice of blessing the sick with an anointing of oil. The book has been historically controversial because of its teaching that both faith and works are necessary to salvation. The great promise in the book is that those who are honestly seeking wisdom may receive it by asking for divine help.” Summary by Susan Denney...

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Religion

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Learn how to accomplish your goals through increasing your mental power, avoiding energy drains, and becoming more mentally efficient. (Summary by Andrea Fiore.)...

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Instruction, Psychology

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Learn more about the famous and respected Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This book is the personal recollections of one ‘Mountie'; his life, experiences and trials as an officer in a new frontier – The Canadian Northwest....

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History, Biography, Memoirs

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Through delightful outings with her students, a teacher introduces her class to the fascinating world of insects. She encourages her students to observe and ask questions. This is a wonderful science text for young children. (Summary by Laura Caldwell)...

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Children, Science

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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....

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Languages, Instruction

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In this celebration of diversity, learn about the myriad histories and cultures behind our volunteers. (summary by Eric Ray)

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Poetry, Short stories

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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.(Summary by Timothy Ferguson)...

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Literature, Essay/Short nonfiction, Instruction

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The writer is as earnest in recommending ladies who belong to the higher class of settlers to cultivate all the mental resources of a superior education, as she is to induce them to discard all irrational and artificial wants and mere useless pursuits. She would willingly direct their attention to the natural history and botany of this new country, in which they will find a never-failing source of amusement and instruction, at once enlightening and elevating the mind, and serving to fill up the void left by the absence of those lighter feminine accomplishments, the practice of which are necessarily superseded by imperative domestic duties. To the person who is capable of looking abroad into the beauties of nature, and adoring the Creator through his glorious works, are opened stores of unmixed pleasure, which will not permit her to be dull or unhappy in the loneliest part of our Western Wilderness. The writer of these pages speaks from experience, and would be pleased to find that the simple sources from which she has herself drawn pleasure, have cheered the solitude of future female sojourners in the backwoods of Canada. Summary fr...

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History, Biography, Memoirs

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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. ... the Father waits to hear every prayer of faith, to give us whatsoever we will, and whatsoever we ask in Jesus’ name. (Andrew Murray, quoted from the Preface of this book)...

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Religion, Instruction

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In 1894, Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) published two collections of aphorisms: A Few Maxims For The Instruction Of The Over-Educated, in the Saturday Review newspaper, and Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young, in the Oxford student magazine The Chameleon. By turns witty, intellectual, counter-intuitive and obtruse, the collections came to be seen by many as emblematic of Wilde's style, and countless collections of Wildean aphorisms have since been published. (Summary by Carl Manchester)...

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Teen/Young adult, Humor, Satire

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When you dive into Mark Twain’s (Samuel Clemens’) The Innocents Abroad, you have to be ready to learn more about the unadorned, ungilded reality of 19th century “touring” than you might think you want to learn. This is a tough, literary journey. It was tough for Twain and his fellow “pilgrims”, both religious and otherwise. They set out, on a June day in 1867, to visit major tourist sites in Europe and the near east, including Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, “the Holy Land”, and Egypt. What Twain records, in often humorous, sometimes grotesque but always fascinating detail, are the day-to-day ups and downs of discovering the truth about people and places. The truths they learn are often far different than their education and rumor have made them preconceive. This is a voyage of discovery. It’s long and, in places, tiresome. But it’s revelatory about so much. As with some of his other works, Twain includes popular prejudices of his time, which are today considered socially unacceptable. His references to “Indians”, “Negroes” and “infidels” come to mind. Beyond the lows, though, there are the highs of Twain’s cutting wit and insight a...

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Adventure, Memoirs