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“I knew a man once, Maurice, who was at Oxford for three years, and after that went down with no degree. At College, while his friends were seeking for Truth in funny brown German Philosophies, Sham Religions, stinking bottles and identical equations, he was lying on his back in Eynsham meadows thinking of Nothing, and got the Truth by this parallel road of his much more quickly than did they by theirs; for the asses are still seeking, mildly disputing, and, in a cultivated manner, following the gleam, so that they have become in their Donnish middleage a nuisance and a pest; while he--that other--with the Truth very fast and firm at the end of a leather thong is dragging her sliding, whining and crouching on her four feet, dragging her reluctant through the world, even into the broad daylight where Truth most hates to be.” - Hilaire Belloc...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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As a Man Thinketh is a literary essay of James Allen, published in 1902. The title is influenced by a verse in the Bible from the Book of Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The main concepts of this book as as follows: * Men do not attract what they want, but what they are. * A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. * Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment, of these, if you but remain true to them your world will at last be built. * The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own. * Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound. * Every action and f...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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This is a series of short messages written by the South African minister, Andrew Murray. They deal with the necessity and joy of surrendering our lives completely to God. (Summary written by Joy Chan)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Religion

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In this collection of essays, Bruce Barton, considered to be among the most influential advertising men of the 20th century, uses history, religion and current events of the 1920s to teach common sense ideals. From Jesus to Beethoven to Napoleon to Abraham Lincoln, Barton uses stories of great individuals to encourage the reader to make the most of life and at the same time to build strong character traits. (Summary by Stephen Escalera)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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’s 2007 Christmas Short Works Colletion containing public domain short stories, essays, poems, and scripture passages recorded by a variety of members....

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Holiday, Essay/Short nonfiction, Religion, Short stories, Poetry

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's 2006 Christmas Colletion containing public domain short stories, essays, poems, and scripture passages recorded by a variety of members.

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Short stories, Essay/Short nonfiction, Religion, Poetry, Holiday

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With her usual wit and charm, Ms. Repplier recalls her days at Eden Hall, the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Torresdale, north of Philadelphia. She shares the highlights (and some of the low lights) of her time there. Perhaps this sharp eye, nurtured by her willfulness and independent spirit, was the reason she was not invited to return to Eden after her second year. Not only Catholics or boarding school alumnae will find this book entertaining; anyone who went to school or who looks back on their childhood will see their own experience somewhere in this memoir. ( Summary by Mary Schneider )...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Humor, Memoirs

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The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of anyone involved in the production of this book, and are not the views of . On the road to Cairo one may see twenty groups exactly like that of the Holy Family in the pictures of the Flight into Egypt; with only one difference. The man is riding on the ass. The real mistake of the Muslims is something much more modern in its application than any particular passing persecution of Christians as such. It lay in the very fact that they did think they had a simpler and saner sort of Christianity, as do many modern Christians. They thought it could be made universal merely by being made uninteresting. Now a man preaching what he thinks is a platitude is far more intolerant than a man preaching what he admits is a paradox. It was exactly because it seemed self-evident, to Muslims as to Bolshevists, that their simple creed was suited to everybody, that they wished in that particular sweeping fashion to impose it on everybody. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Religion, Essay/Short nonfiction

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St. Patrick's Breastplate - This prayer is attributed to St. Patrick and his diciples. It is written with some celtic pagan elements, but is definitely a Christian prayer asking God for protection through daily life. A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus - Patrick writes this letter to excommunicate the soldiers of Coroticus' army who pillaged villages in Ireland and forced many Christian converts into slavery. Confession - A short autobiography by St. Patrick who tells of being abducted into slavery and taken to Ireland, the growth of his faith, his ministry as a bishop in ordaining many priests and baptising thousands of people, and a trial where he had to defend himself against his accusers....

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Religion

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Diese Sammlung ist ein Adventskalender und enthält für jeden Tag vom 1. - 24. Dezember eine Aufnahme. (Zusammenfassung von Elli)

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Children, Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Holiday, Poetry, Religion, Teen/Young adult

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A second volume of lectures by the most famous orator of the 19th century. Ingersoll was a tireless crusader for the dignity of humanity, and a relentless opponent of organized religion. (Summary by Ted Delorme)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Philosophy, Religion

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A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, nature and religion. Included in this collection are...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, science, literature, sports, education, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in these collections are independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, nature, religion, etc....

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass law, history, science, travel, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass humor, history, politics, science medicine, nature, finance, cooking, film and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, science, cooking, economics, education, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The selections included in this collection were independently chosen by the readers, and the topics encompass history, science, cooking, economics, education, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, medicine, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

Description Details
A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, nature and religion. Included in this collection are...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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A collection of sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, articles, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass a diverse range of subject matter including history, science, nature, feminism, humor, religion and politics. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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“Now I have said again and again (and I shall continue to say again and again on all the most inappropriate occasions) that we must hit Capitalism, and hit it hard, for the plain and definite reason that it is growing stronger. Most of the excuses which serve the capitalists as masks are, of course, the excuses of hypocrites. They lie when they claim philanthropy; they no more feel any particular love of men than Albu felt an affection for Chinamen. They lie when they say they have reached their position through their own organising ability. They generally have to pay men to organise the mine, exactly as they pay men to go down it. They often lie about the present wealth, as they generally lie about their past poverty. But when they say that they are going in for a constructive social policy, they do not lie. They really are going in for a constructive social policy. And we must go in for an equally destructive social policy; and destroy, while it is still half-constructed, the accursed thing which they construct.” (Summary from Gilbert Keith Chesterton, d. 1936)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Humor, Religion

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A collection of ten short essays or other short nonfiction works in the public domain read by volunteers.

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Politics, Religion, Philosophy, Science

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The Golden Age is a collection of reminiscences of childhood, written by Kenneth Grahame and originally published in book form in 1895, in London by The Bodley Head, and in Chicago by Stone & Kimball. (The Prologue and six of the stories had previously appeared in the National Observer, the journal then edited by William Ernest Henley.)[1] Widely praised upon its first appearance—Algernon Charles Swinburne, writing in the Daily Chronicle, called it one of the few books which are well-nigh too praiseworthy for praise—the book has come to be regarded as a classic in its genre. Typical of his culture and his era, Grahame casts his reminiscences in imagery and metaphor rooted in the culture of Ancient Greece; to the children whose impressions are recorded in the book, the adults in their lives are Olympians, while the chapter titled The Argonauts refers to Perseus, Apollo, Psyche, and similar figures of Greek mythology. Grahame's reminiscences, in The Golden Age and in the later Dream Days (1898), were notable for their conception of a world where children are locked in perpetual warfare with the adult 'Olympians' who have wholly forgot...

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Children, Essay/Short nonfiction, Memoirs

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A collection of ten short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics science and religion. Included in this collection are Martin Luther’s “Ninety-five Theses,” Jefferson Davis’ speech before the United States Senate in 1861 “On Withdrawing from the Union,” William E. Gladstone’s address delivered in the House of Commons in 1893 on “Irish Home Rule” and Wendell Phillips speech in 1837 in Fanuiel Hall in Boston regarding “The Murder of Lovejoy.” You will also find here an epistolary essay by François Marie Arouet de Voltaire “On Lord Bacon,” a letter from Samuel Clemens commenting on the inclusion of Jesus in the list of “One Hundred Greatest Men,” “On Applauding Preachers” by Saint John Chrysostom, an essay by Alice Meynell on “Solitude,” and the entry on Captain Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) from “The Pirates Who’s Who” by Philip Gosse. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Biography, History, Politics, Science, Religion

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This short book was written in 1920, and in it Chesterton, with his usual wit and incisive logic, presents a series of articles defending marriage and indicating the weaknesses in divorce. He did this 16 year before the first Christian denomination in the world allowed it's members to divorce. Till then Christendom was unanimous in standing against it. Chesterton saw clearly the trends of this time, and delivered this defense. (Summary by Ray Clare)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Religion, Advice

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A collection of ten short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, nature and religion. Included in this collection are “The Emanicpation Proclamation” and Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln, “Prinicpal Doctrines” by Epicurus, “Fox and Hound” and the preface to “The Breath of Life” both by John Burroughs, “The Wentworth Letter” by Joseph Smith, and “The Rhythm of Life” by Alice Meynell. From the New York Times, April 10, 1817 is an account of the Canadian capture of Vimy Ridge, “Haig Strikes Near Arras” and from the September 1921 issue of Vanity Fair an article on “The Flapper - A New Type.” And for the those with more than a passing in the history of railways/roads, the “Report of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade” from February 1845 which impacted the ‘gauge wars’ of the mid-nineteenth century in England wraps up the list! (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, History, Politics, Philosophy, Nature, Religion

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A collection of ten short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, religion, science and humor. Included in this collection are the Oath of Hippocrates and The Funeral Oration of Pericles along with Patrick Henry's The Call to Arms, and Jack London's eyewitness account of the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. On the lighter side, we have Jerome K. Jerome's Should Women Be Beautiful, a short address by Mark Twain to The Author's Club in NYC, and the anonymous Miseries, a lighthearted lament on subjects such as the difficulties of eating a peach gracefully in public and finding a suitable length of twine when you need one. In this collection you will also find A Free Man's Worship by Bertram Russell, Obstacle-Cause from Sophisms of the Protectionists by Frédéric Bastiat, and an essay by T. H. Huxley on the science of palaeontology. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Humor, Science, Philosophy, Politics, History

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The book chronicles and vilifies its targets in three parts: National Delusions, Peculiar Follies, and Philosophical Delusions. The subjects of Mackay's debunking include alchemy, beards (influence of politics and religion on), witch-hunts, crusades and duels. Present day writers on economics, such as Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles. (summary from wikipedia)...

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History, Essay/Short nonfiction

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Religio Medici (The Religion of a Doctor) sets out Sir Thomas Browne's spiritual testament as well as being an early psychological self-portrait. In its day, the book was a European best-seller. It was published in 1643 by the newly-qualified physician, and its unorthodox views placed it swiftly upon the Papal Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1645. Although predominantly concerned with Christian faith, the Religio also meanders into digressions upon alchemy, hermetic philosophy, astrology, and physiognomy. Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk, was published in 1658. Its nominal subject was the discovery of a Roman urn burial in Norfolk. The discovery of these remains prompts Browne to deliver, first, a careful description of the antiquities found, and then a careful survey of most of the burial and funerary customs, ancient and current, of which his era was aware. The most famous part of the work, though, is the fifth chapter, where Browne quite explicitly turns to discuss man's struggles with mortality, and the uncertainty of his fate and fame in this world and the next, to produce a...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Philosophy, Religion

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A collection of eleven short nonfiction works in the public domain. The items included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, conservation, philosophy, politics, religion and cooking. Included in this collection are Thomas Jefferson's first Inaugural Address, Secession by Alexander H. Stephens, Of Truth and the preface to The New Organon, or True Directions Concerning the Interpretation of Nature by Francis Bacon, John Donne's last sermon delivered in March 1631, On Old Age by Cicero, a chapter from The Fight for Conservation by Gifford Pinchot, The Sacredness of Work by Thomas Carlyle and an essay On the Unjust Causes of War by Hugo Grotius. On the lighter side, try selections from Cocoa and Chocolate Recipes by Miss Parloa and a 1912 article from Scientific American on the amazing escapes of Harry Houdini. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Cookery, History, Philosophy, Nature, Religion, Politics

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“With the Greek civilisation beauty perished from the world. Never again has it been possible for man to believe that harmony is in fact the truth of all existence.” This elegantly-written work provides a splendid introduction to the Greeks of the classic period: how they thought, wrote, and organised their lives and loves. Although it dates from the 1890s, there is very little about it that has dated. To its author’s credit, the subject of “Greek love” is dealt with in a sane and factual context - despite the judicial assassination of Oscar Wilde going on in the background. A Cambridge don much admired by his students (including E. M. Forster), Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson belonged to the Apostles, a secret society with a strong ethic of male friendship. Alfred Tennyson and his beloved Arthur Hallam were early members. Dickinson is chiefly remembered as a historian and pacifist who played a significant part in the founding of the League of Nations. Inevitably, given his interests and intellectual background, he became a close associate of the Bloomsbury Group. The Greek View of Life is no dry academic tome. It is a popularizing work...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Religion, Politics, Philosophy, Art

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The Three Essays on Religion were written at different times during Mill's life, and only published after his death. The first two, 'Nature' and 'The Utility of Religion' date from the 1850s - the period between the publication of 'The Principles of Political Economy' and 'On Liberty'. The third longer essay, 'Theism' was written between 1868 and 1870. The three essays were published posthumously in 1874. (Summary by Justin Brett)...

Excerpt Details
Advice, Essay/Short nonfiction, Religion

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A collection of fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches, news items and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, philosophy, science and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, History, Philosophy, Politics, Science, Religion

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A collection of short nonfiction works in the public domain. The essays, speeches and reports included in this collection were independently selected by the readers, and the topics encompass history, politics, military history, humor, philosophy, nature and religion. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, History, Religion, Philosophy, Nature, War stories, Politics

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This audiobook is a collection of Mark Twain's anti-imperialist writings (newspaper articles, interviews, speeches, letters, essays and pamphlets). (Summary by Vineshen Pillay)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, History, Politics, Religion, Satire, War stories