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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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A series of twenty lessons designed to help develop and improve the power of concentration. (Summary by Andrea Fiore)

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Instruction

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While describing his dining experiences throughout Bohemian San Francisco, Clarence Edwords paints an historic panorama of California cuisine with all its cosmopolitan influences. Best of all, he offers tantalizing recipes culled from conversations with the master chefs of 1914 in The City by the Bay. (Summary by Denny)...

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Cookery

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The Autobiography of Cockney Tom, Showing his Struggles through Life,and proving this Truth of the Old Saying that Honesty is the best Policy. Set in England, South Australia and the goldfields of Victoria Australia in the 1800's. (Summary from the book and Richard Schipper)...

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Biography

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Osmun arranges usage problems alphabetically and treats certain areas in greater detail as he sees fit. For example, his first entry is A-AN (articles). His second is ABILITY-CAPACITY, in which he distinguishes between the meanings. The alphabetical arrangement continues through to YOURS. (Introduction by Bill Boerst)...

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Instruction

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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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John Muir's adventure guide for the Yosemite Valley.

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Nature

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”Why do you choose such a title as The Valley of Vision for your book” said my friend; “do you mean that one can see farther from the valley than from the mountain-top?” This question set me thinking, as every honest question ought to do. Here is the result of my thoughts, which you will take for what it is worth, if you care to read the book. The mountain-top is the place of outlook over the earth and the sea. But it is in the valley of suffering, endurance, and self-sacrifice that the deepest visions of the meaning of life come to us. I take the outcome of this Twentieth Century War as a victory over the mad illusion of world-domination which the Germans saw from the peak of their military power in 1914. The united force of the Allies has grown, through valley-visions of right and justice and human kindness, into an irresistible might before which the German “will to power” has gone down in ruin. (From the Preface)...

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Formed during World War II, the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS), was organized for special operations and intelligence gathering and analysis. Included in its mission was the implementation of, and training of foreign forces in, propaganda, espionage, subversion, and sabotage. After the war, OSS functions were transferred to the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This Simple Sabotage Field Manual was used by OSS agents in training citizen-saboteurs in methods for inciting and executing simple sabotage to thwart industry and other vital functions in Axis-occupied areas. (Summary by James Christopher)...

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In 1879 John Muir went to Alaska for the first time. Its stupendous living glaciers aroused his unbounded interest, for they enabled him to verify his theories of glacial action. Again and again he returned to this continental laboratory of landscapes. The greatest of the tide-water glaciers appropriately commemorates his name. Upon this book of Alaska travels, all but finished before his unforeseen departure, John Muir expended the last months of his life. (Summary by William Frederic Bade)...

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Adventure, Memoirs, Nature, Travel

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A wickedly funny book of advice on women's dress. However old, fat or plain you are, Dorothy Quigley will tell you what not to wear. (Summary by Ruth Golding)...

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Advice, Humor

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Albert Bigelow Paine was Samuel Langhorne Clemens' (Mark Twain's) biographer. He lived with Twain, collecting ideas and material for a biography, for a few years before Twain's death in 1910. Six years later Paine published this story of a man who made the world laugh and love him. For those who have read or listened to Mark Twain's works, Paine's work is an invaluable resource to better understand Twain, the stories behind his stories and his life with those he loved and with whom he worked. (Summary by John Greenman)...

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Biography, Humor

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In The Feast of St. Friend, a Christmas book , Arnold Bennett shares his views on Christmas as the season of goodwill. As always, Bennett's writing includes some thought-provoking ideas liberally spiced with his wry sense of humour, and as always too, you can barely believe it was written so long ago. This was published exactly 100 years ago, in 1911. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)...

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Advice, Holiday, Humor

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Thomas Stevens was the first person to circle the globe by bicycle, a large-wheeled Ordinary. His journey started in April 1884 in San Francisco from where he cycled to Boston to take a steamer to England. Crossing England, France, Central Europe and Asia Minor before he was turned back at the borders of Afghanistan. He returned part of the way to take a ship to Karachi, from where he crossed India. Another steam ship brought him from Calcutta to Hong Kong, and from Shanghai he set over to Japan, finally ending his journey after actually cycling 13.500 miles in Yokohama, December 1886. This is the second volume (of two) relating his travel experiences, detailing the part of the journey from Teheran to Yokohama. (Summary by Availle)...

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Adventure, Memoirs, Travel

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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. (Summary by A. Gramour)...

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Nature, Instruction

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Serialized in Shadowland from November 1921 to February 1922, Hollywood: Its Morals and Manners is Theodore Dreiser's shocking four part expose on the motion picture industry. In it, he shares his observations from his extended stay in Los Angeles, and gives us an intimate look at the seedier underside of Hollywood. (Summary by ChuckW)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Memoirs

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Six poignant short stories reminiscent of life as a transport rider in the Transvaal veld in the days of the gold rush in South Africa at the end of the 19th century. From an early age Fitzpatrick believed that life should be enjoyed to the full and his honest and often moving style of writing leaves one richer for having known him. (Summary by SallyMc)...

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Fiction, Short stories

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Jack London died at the age of forty. In this autobiographical work, London describes his life as seen through the eyes of John Barleycorn (alcohol). There is much controversy about the cause of his death just as there is about alcoholism and addiction. London's brutally frank and honest analysis of his own struggles and bouts with alcohol was way before its time and more modern theories of addiction. With remarkable candor and insight, London describes the demons and gods he encountered through both friend and enemy, John Barleycorn. (Summary by Peter Kelleher)...

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Memoirs, Biography

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The Science of Being Great is the second book of Wattles' triology. In this volume he argues that the power of thought and positive self-esteem is the only true measure of a person's greatness. (Summary by Diana Majlinger) /the-science-of-getting-rich-by-wallace-d-wattles/ The Science of Getting Rich...

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Advice, Instruction

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In July 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson left Scotland to meet his future wife in her native California. Leaving by ship from Glasgow, Scotland, he determined to travel in steerage class to see how the working classes fared. At the last minute he was convinced by friends to purchase a ticket one grade above the lowest price, for which he was later thankful after seeing the conditions in steerage, but he still lived among the 'lower' classes. His comments on the experience make interesting reading. His father however was so shocked at the thought of his son associating with people 'beneath him' that the work was not published for a number of years, (Summary by annise)...

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Memoirs, Travel