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Written in 1910, this cyclopedia is full of information that was quite useful at the time. A hundred years later, its text is more humorous than practical -- although some advice never goes out of style. (Summary by Rachelellen)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Mark Twain pulls no punches while exposing the real Percy Shelley in this scathing condemnation of Edward Dowden's Life of Shelley. Even though, as Twain writes, Shelley's life has the one indelible blot upon it, but is otherwise worshipfully noble and beautiful, Twain shows how Shelley's extra-marital conduct might easily be seen to have been the cause of his wife Harriet's suicide. (Introduction by John Greenman)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Collection of 32 essays by American authors ranging from Benjamin Frannklin to Emerson to Whitman to Henry James to Theodore Roosevelt. On subjects from the gout to insects with a 24 hour life span to old bachelors to leaves of grass to the odes of Horace. It seems to be an attempt to show off the Americans as writers. (Summary by JCarson)...

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Garasudono uchi' is Natsume Sōseki's last essay, which was written between 'Kokoro' & 'Michikusa'. 『硝子戸の中』（がらすどのうち）は、『こゝろ』と『道草』の間に書かれた夏目漱石最後の随筆である。

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid 19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid 1800s. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of informal essays about books in his library. He combines commentary, translations, and humorous asides about authors and their subjects

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of reprinted articles on a wide-range of subject, all in the unique style of G. K. Chesterton. Using wit, paradox, and good humor he “defends” a series of seeming harmless things that need no defense, and in so doing he exposes many of the broken assumptions and dogmatic notions of secular humanism and other trends of his age and of ours. (Summary by Ray Clare)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Humor

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The Plain Speaker: Opinions on Books, Men, and Things is a posthumous collection of essays by William Hazlitt, organized by his grandson, William Carew Hazlitt. The book contains some of Hazlitt's more famous essays that couldn't be found in book format. (Summary by Leni)...

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A collection of sometimes biting, always clever commentaries on some of life's foibles -- as apt today as when Ms. Repplier wrote them in 1912. Though less know to modern readers, Repplier was in her prime ranked among the likes of Willa Cather. Note: Section 13 contains the word niggards. I put it in print here so that it will not be mistaken for a racial epithet when heard. (written by Mary Schneider)...

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The [five] lectures were written primarily to be delivered at the summer sessions of the University of California, at Berkeley and at Los Angeles, in the summer of 1918. . . they are the outgrowth of almost a quarter of a century spent in work for the blind, and were written from the standpoint of a blind person, seeking to better the condition of the blind. They were addressed not to the blind, but to the seeing public, for the benefit that will accrue to the blind from a better understanding of their problems. (Extract from the Forward by Milton J. Ferguson)...

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Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Baghdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro. His book, Laugh and Live, is a book about positive virtues and advice for leading a good, healthy, and successful life. An advisory about this book is in order. Published in 1917, it was written at a time when “men went to work, women kept house, and supported their man”. Some of the writing and references are old-fashioned by today’s standards. Several ideas may be at odds with plans for successful lives today, especially for female listeners. Listeners should still find many valuable common-sense suggestions for leading a wholesome life. (Introduction from Wikipedia and Tom Weiss)...

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“When Fame comes upon a man well before death then must he most particularly beware of it, for is it then most dangerous. Neither must he, having achieved it, relax effort nor (a much greater peril) think he has done his work because some Fame now attaches thereto.” -- Hilaire Belloc...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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These eleven files are miscellaneous short essays or stories from G.K. Chesterton. They were chosen for not only their brevity but also for being shining exemplars of Chesterton's wit and whimsy. A fun but powerful introduction into the mind of the man that is G.K. Chesterton. (Summary by GK Cleveland)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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This is a collection of essays by Natsume Soseki. They were published in the Asahi Newspaper in 1909. Included are essays about daily life in Tokyo and his experiences in London. これは、夏目漱石の随筆集です。1909年に朝日新聞に連載されました。東京での日常生活、ロンドンでの経験などが含まれています。(Summary by ekzemplaro)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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“We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul”. (From Essay 9, ‘The Over-Soul’)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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The Hunter Thompson of the 19th Century, de Quincey is best known for his Confessions of an English Opium Eater (an activity shared with his hero, Samuel Coleridge, much to Wordsworth’s dismay). However, de Quincey’s literary genius is best captured in his essays, which, according to Wikipedia: His immediate influence extended to Edgar Allan Poe, Fitz Hugh Ludlow and Charles Baudelaire, but even major 20th century writers such as Jorge Luis Borges admired and claimed to be partly influenced by his work. (written by TTM)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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This is the first collection of short essays/commentaries by Lu Xun. It contains 41 articles he published between 1918-1924. Sharp, poignant, varying vastly on their topic, length, and style, these articles redefined the genre of essay in Chinese literature, as well as played an important part in the new cultural movement. 《热风》是鲁迅的第一本杂文集，收录了41篇他于1918－1924年间发表的短文。这些文章长短不一，题材广泛，灵活多变，风格辛辣尖锐，大大发展重塑了杂文这一文学体裁，在新文化运动中起了重要作用。 (Summary by Jing Li)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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“Now that story is a symbol, and tells the truth. We see some one thing in this world, and suddenly it becomes particular and sacramental; a woman and a child, a man at evening, a troop of soldiers; we hear notes of music, we smell the smell that went with a passed time, or we discover after the long night a shaft of light upon the tops of the hills at morning: there is a resurrection, and we are refreshed and renewed.” - Hilaire Belloc...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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This is a collection of public domain works either published in 1912, or written in 1912 and published before 1923. The accent is on non-fiction but I will include short stories, poems, one-act plays, as well. (Summary by Bellona Times)...

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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....

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Essay/Short nonfiction