Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 082

“Is sin a necessary stage in the development of humanity, or a yawning chasm in the very structure of the universe?? Theologian J. Gresham Machen’s exploration of “eternal ideas” is joined, in vol. 082, by readings in philosophy and psychology by Immanuel Kant, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Johnson. Insights from forestry, geography, astronomy, and zoology expand the view (Save the Redwoods; We Are Going to be Inspected; Along the Florida Coast; The Red Fox; and The World as Known to the Ancients). Human resiliency, inventiveness and heroism are exemplified in A Heroine of the Black Hole; The Great Yorkshire Llama; The Terry Touch Alphabet; The Man O’War’s ‘Er ‘Usband’; and a biography of pioneering physician Elizabeth Blackwell. James Hazen Hyde’s Costume Ball showcases hubris. On a lighter note, are Robert Benchley’s Bicycling the New Craze, and Call for Mr. Kenworthy; and Oscar Wilde’s An American Invasion. Summary by Sue Anderson

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 084

Ghosts everywhere, and of any colour,” was the promise of Spectropia, a book of “surprising spectral illusions” published in 1863. Optical illusions were among the twenty vol. 084 topics, chosen by their readers, which were concerned with science, technology, and medicine, including the societal implications of decision making in these fields: (The Equality of Inertial and Gravitational Mass; The Machine That Thinks; Rocks For Homes; Ottawa Illinois Radiation Area; Florence Nightingale to Her Nurses; Cincinnati’s “Old Cunny; and Buck v. Bell). This Troubled World, a 1938 essay by Eleanor Roosevelt, is joined by others with a sociological focus: (The Graves of the Fallen; The American Indian in the Great War (1921); A Letter to a Hindu: The Subjection of India (1908); and Not Revolution, but Evolution). Rational thought is explored in both philosophic and religious contexts (Ascending Forms and Powers; The Four Gospels from a Lawyer’s Standpoint). Foibles and quibbles get their due (Mr. Flannery Finds Himself; On Being Bored). The collection is then rounded out with a history of Danzig and letters relating to the Hamilton-Burr duel. Summary by Sue Anderson

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 085

“A regard for decency, even at the cost of success, is but the regard for one’s own dignity” was novelist Joseph Conrad’s take on fame, a quote from the preface to his autobiography A Personal Record (1912). Other lives chosen by readers to examine in vol. 085 include the Borgias; the Cynocephali; Hermann von Helmholtz; Edgar Allan Poe; John Burroughs; a pre-Revolutionary War magnate named Browne, who built a mansion on the ridge of a hill; women as a social class; and an 1821 rabies victim named Thomas, who exhibited hydrophobia. Political history receives scrutiny in Some Materials and a Possibility; The House Famine; Cracow; The Dutch East India Company; and Across Africa by Air and Rail. The art of Japanning illuminates an ancient craft. Literature, by Irvin Cobb, is welcome humor. And for hungry souls, there are recipes for ice cream and for Army chow! Summary by Sue Anderson.

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 086

“The democracy of the future will sicken of a chronic and mortal boredom,” was Aldous Huxley’s prophecy for the United States in 1923. You won’t be bored listening to these 20 recordings, selected by their readers, with topics ranging from Leacock’s humorous Manual of Education to Unamuno’s Tragic Sense of Life. There’s an artist’s diary (Thomas Cole); an after-dinner speech (Mark Twain); reflections on Beauty by John Burroughs; Willa Cather and Christopher Morley on writing; and Leibniz on the Origin of Things. Political topics include the Power of Third Parties; the House of Commons; the 1904 South Dakota Land Lottery; and an NAACP anti-lynching poster. The 1918 Influenza Epidemic mirrors today’s Covid quarantine and mask requirements; while virtual adventure beckons in K?nigstein Fortress; an Equatorial Chinese Wedding; Nellie Bly; and An Humane Skeleton of Extraordinary Size. Finally, acts of heroism are celebrated in A Pioneer Girl and in Poland’s Tadeusz Ko?ciuszko. (Summary by Sue Anderson)

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 087

“Certitude is not the test of certainty.” This pithy phrase is from Jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr’s essay on Natural Law, one of twenty nonfiction pieces chosen by their readers for inclusion in volume 087. Selections from Pascal, Josiah Royce, and C.S. Peirce also delve philosophical themes. Builders, warriors, artists, and activists, the many faces of mankind, are illuminated in selections on Ferdinand De Lesseps, Stanislaus Koniecpolski, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, Frederic Edwin Church, the 14th century citizens of Li?ge, who vanquished Sir Radus’ castle, and Simon Pokagon’s The Red Man’s Rebuke. Major moments in U.S. history are visited in the Civil War Battle of Chickamauga and the Great Chicago Fire. An oft forgotten player in history, the mule, is not neglected, nor are the small turning points along the road of life, epitomized by a New England farm auction. For those in search of humor, there is The Senator’s Offer and The Proper Way to Sit. Armchair travelers can visit The Old Town of Edinburgh. And, for the weary, there is a monograph On Being Tired. Summary by Sue Anderson

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 088

“With opinions, possession is more than nine points of the law. It is next to impossible to dislodge them.” Woodrow Wilson’s Study of Administration examines public opinion’s role in politics. It is one of 20 nonfiction readings chosen by the readers. Other faceted topics in volume 088 include culinary taste (Stewed Eels) the existence of the supernatural (Mayo v. Satan; Previsionary Dream); slavery (The Constitution and the Slave; A Scrap of Curious History); peace and war (Bumping into the Bolshevists; Russians as I Knew Them; Bogdan Chmielnicki; Armistice; International Peace) and culture (Who Thinks Abstractly; Apollo or Dionysus; Landscape Painting; the College Glee Club; Tagore’s Reminiscences; and Frances Burnett). Rounding out the volume are a survey of Martinique, and a medical treatise on the Organs of the Human Voice. (Summary by Sue Anderson)

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 089

“From vocalists you may learn much, but do not believe all that they say.” Robert Schumann’s Advice to Young Musicians is replete with good counsel. How, what, and from whom we learn is thematic to many of these 20 nonfiction selections, chosen by their readers. We learn from the lives of valorous persons (Sim?n Bol?var; Jos? de San Mart?n; Booker T. Washington; Ishi, the last Yana Indian); from literature (Political Naturalism in England; Editorial Prejudice Against the Occult; Barbara Frietchie); from journalists, activists, and the opinionated (America and the English Tradition; Interned by the Bolshevists; The Cholera; Chimney Sweeping; Diet & Hygiene; Progress in Dairy Farming; Concerning Tobacco; Beer & Cider), and from nature (Duck Hawks of Taughannock; Sponges & Sponge Fisheries; The Grand Canyon; and Social Wasps Polistes). Summary by Sue Anderson

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 090

In his autobiographical essay “The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob,” Booker T. Washington wrote: “It is not argument, nor criticism, nor hatred, but work in constructive effort, that gets hold of men and binds them together in a way to make them rally to the support of a common cause.” Individual and group dynamics are at the core of most of the reader-chosen nonfiction pieces in Vol. 090. (Rugby School; Questions of Divorce; The Sage of Vienna, Popular Folk Poetry, The Use and Abuse of Church Bells, Superstition and Crime, Social Control, The Importance of Marking Historic Spots, The Pirates Who’s Who, Catherine Tegahkouita, the Iroquois Mission of Sault St. Francois Xavier, and The Declaration of Independence.” For nature lovers, there are Birds as Flying Machines and Weather Prophets in Furs and Feathers. Scenic sites and history feature in Caerhays, Cornwall; and Caerhays Castle Excursion; while old-time glass making methods are explained in Clay Melting Pots. Summary by Sue Anderson

Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 091

“Pneumatic tubes, instead of store wagons, will deliver packages and bundles.” Store purchases by tube was one of John Watkins Jr’s predictions for What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years, written in 1900. Man and womankind’s achievements, and their failures, are central to many of the reader chosen nonfiction pieces in vol. 091 (Racial Geography, Airmail Pilots, The Skeleton in the Closet, On Noise, Progressive Party Platform, Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, Haroun Al-Raschid, Plea for Atheism, Cry of the Children, Address to Medical Students, The Brotherhood of the Kingdom, Fallacy of Success, and Carranza’s Tragic Flight). Broadening the gaze are selections on science, poetry, myth, art, and imaginative writing (Evolution of the Stars, Solar Myths, Landscape Painting, Robert Burns, and Algeron Blackwood). Summary by Sue Anderson

Short Poetry Collection 001

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 001: a collection of 29 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 002

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 002: a collection of 22 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 005

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 005: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 006

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 006: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 009

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 009: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 010

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 010: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 011

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 011: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 012

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 012: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 013

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 013: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 014

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 014: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 015

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 015: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 016

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 016: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 017

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 017: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 018

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 018: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 019

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 019: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 020

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 020: a collection of 20 public domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 021

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 021: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 022

Librivox?s Short Poetry Collection 022: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 023

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 023: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 024

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 024: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 025

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 025: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 028

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 028: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 029

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 029: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 030

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 030: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 031

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 031: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 032

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 032: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 034

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 034: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 035

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 035: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 036

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 036: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 037

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 037: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 038

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 038: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 039

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 039: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 040

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 040: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 041

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 041: a collection of 20 public-domain poems

Short Poetry Collection 043

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 043: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 045

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 045: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 047

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 047: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 048

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 048: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 049

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 049: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 050

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 050: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

Short Poetry Collection 051

LibriVox?s Short Poetry Collection 051: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.