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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

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This is the first of what is intended to be three projects featuring journal articles which chart the development of psychology as an academic discipline in the United States during the twentieth century. This first collection begins with an appraisal of functionalism by William James and takes in: early contributions to educational psychology; works of early feminist psychologists; discussions of behaviourism and pragmatism. Also included is Watson and Rayer's famous 1920 Little Albert study. (Summary by Carl Manchester)...

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Psychology

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volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Pillow and Stone by Abram S. Isaacs. This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 24, 2011. Abram S. Isaacs (1851-1920) was an American rabbi, author, and professor. Isaacs received his education at the New York University, from which he was graduated in 1871. He became a Rabbi at Barnett Memorial Temple at Paterson, New Jersey. For thirty-five years he occupied a chair at the New York University, first as Professor of Hebrew, then of Germanic languages, and later of Semitics. (summary from Wikipedia)...

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Instruction, Philosophy, Religion, Poetry

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From the Preface of The Speaking Voice: principles of training simplified and condensed : This book offers a method of voice training which is the result of a deliberate effort to simplify and condense, for general use, the principles which are fundamental to all recognized systems of vocal instruction. It contains practical directions accompanied by simple and fundamental exercises, first for the freeing of the voice and then for developing it when free. Parts I and II of the book comprise advice on vocal production and techniques, while some chapters in Part III provide detailed guidance on the vocal interpretation of various literary genres, including the essay, various types of poetry, short stories, dramatic monologues and plays. Some chapters comprise mainly examples for practice, and include complete poems and stories. The reader has endeavoured to follow the author's instructions, but makes no guarantee as to her success, especially in the poetic realm....

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Advice, Instruction, Poetry, Short stories

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Genevieve Behrend was a teacher of Mental Science, a New Thought discipline created by Thomas Troward (1847- 1916). Your Invisible Power, published in 1921, is her first and most famous book. It is a guide to the use of visualization and other mental processes in life enhancement and the achievement of personal goals. (Summary by Algy Pug)...

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Philosophy, Psychology

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Back in the day before automobiles, a good horse trainer and veterinarian was the equivalent of “Mr Goodwrench”. A badly behaving or unhealthy equine was equivalent to breaking down on the highway or running out of gas on a lonely stretch of highway somewhere in Utah. My sources tell me that most of the training methods are ok, but stay away from the medical tips unless you are prepared to become the poster boy or girl for the local SPCA. Listen with tongue in cheek, and check with a professional before attempting any of these techniques on a real animal. Mike Vendetti, narrator...

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Advice, Animals, Instruction, Nature

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High Adventure A Narrative of Air Fighting in France by James Norman Hall; you will find this book although an exciting narrative has an unpolished feel because it was published in June of 1918 while Mr. Hall was a captive in a German POW camp. When he was captured behind enemy lines, the book was still a work in progress. The Armistice would not be reached until November of that year.Although he does not mention it in this book, Mr. Hall had already served the better part of 15 months with the British Expeditionary Forces, surviving the battle of Loos in Sept – Oct 1915, and upon which his excellent work “Kitchener’s” Mob is Based.The US did not enter the war until April 1917, and Hall had already served nearly three years as an American with British and French forces, as a machine gunner with the British, and as a pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille.Pilot training in the French Air Corps was primarily a matter of survival. Visualize if you will, a class of “Penguins”, aircraft with wings too short for flight scurrying about the airfield as student pilots learn to control these machines with no instructor on board, and for that matte...

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History, War stories

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Amory Blaine grew up in a wealthy family and was given an Ivy League education. Without a need to learn a profession, he chiefly dabbled in literature and partying. His school chums were of similar background, and the ideas they reflected to each other grew in their minds to be of the greatest importance. Amory began to think of himself as somewhat of a character in a Rupert Brooke poem (from which the book's title is taken). World War I intervened in this happy fog and brought focus to some, doubt to others. In the rapidly changing technology of the war era, the financial underpinnings of the Blaine fortune began to fall apart. The deaths of Amory's parents left the finances without a rudder and as Amory's situation deteriorated he came to realize he had only his interest in literature to fall back upon. Meanwhile, a series of young women traipsed through his life, attracted to his handsome face and bright wit like moths to a candle. But Amory could never master the role of being a real person... and, one by one, they traipsed out. This Side of Paradise was F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel and was one of the nation's most popular ...

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Fiction

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In the book's preface, the author writes: Let anyone stop to consider how he individually would be affected if all electrical service were suddenly to cease, and he cannot fail to appreciate the claims of electricity to attentive study. In these days when we take for granted all kinds of technology - communications, entertainment, medical, military, industrial and domestic - it is interesting to learn what progress had been made in the fields of electricity and technology by the beginning of the 20th century. Including the dawn of hydro-electric power, the x-ray, the phonograph, the telephone and the wireless telegraph, this book explains the pioneering work of the men who made our modern world possible, and sets us wondering what the next century may bring - providing that we do not manage to destroy our planet in the meantime. The Gutenberg text of the 1915 edition (as recorded) does not have the benefit of the book's many diagrams. Also available, however, is an http://www.archive.org/stream/storyofelectrici00munriala#page/n5/mode/2up online book scan of the 1912 edition which includes the illustrations and coincides largely with...

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Science, History

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A fascinating look back at the state of the art of chemistry 100 years ago, this book by James C. Philip, PhD, an assistant professor of chemistry at The Imperial College of Science and Technology, Kensington, provides a description in non-technical language of the diverse and wonderful way which chemical forces are at work, and their manifold application in modern life in 1910. Professor Philip relates many of the key chemical discoveries of early academic researchers in the context of the practical uses to which these discoveries were applied in the early 20th century. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Science