In 1860 Baltimore, Benjamin is born with the physical appearance of a 70-year-old man, already capable of speech. His father Roger invites neighborhood boys to play with him and orders him to play with children's toys, but Benjamin obeys only to please his father. At five, Benjamin is sent to kindergarten but is quickly withdrawn after he repeatedly falls asleep during child activities.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Short Story)

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, along with many others, have referred to the influence that this work, written by Leo Tolstoy, has had on their psyche, and subsequent permanent change in their state of mind. The selected excerpt, from this much larger writing, reveal Tolstoy's philosophy regarding the literal interpretation of Christ's teachings and his fundamental ideas on nonviolent resistance.

The Kingdom of God is Within You

Phineas Taylor Barnum is best remembered for his entertaining acts and for founding the circus that eventually became Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Through his entire life, fraught with many failed ventures, Barnum remained a resourceful entrepreneur with a deep conceptual understanding of the use of advertising. This story is filled with entertaining and insightful exploits of his troupe, the towns he visited and the ventures he attempted on the road to becoming "the Greatest Show on Earth".

The Life of Phineas T. Barnum

This story is from the book the Happy Prince and other Stories. In these tales, most of them being sad and even very sad, Oscar Wilde looks for a way to save one's soul in front of the misery of the world. In these tales the character will manage to obtain their salvation from their upper class blindness, by opening their eyes to misery and suffering and by doing what they can to repair these pains and evils.

The Nightingale and the Rose

These four excerpts, from the writings of John Muir, document his naturalist studies in a number of different settings. These highly descriptive stories detail his expeditions in the rugged outdoors. His documented studies led him to an awe of the natural splendors of the earth, and eventually to a position of preservation. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas. Four Excerpts are included: A Geologists Winter Walk A Perilous Night on Shasta Summit Nevada's Dead Towns People and Towns of Puget Sound

Steep Trails (Excerpts)

No book from the Bible is more controversial than the Book of Revelation. For many, the purpose of the book of Revelation is a message of comfort during a time of conflict, which ultimately results in a conquest and a victory over the oppressor. Although directly written to the Christians of the First Century, the message is applicable throughout the ages.

The Book of Revelation

This short story begins on a yacht anchored off the Florida coast where a young woman, Ardita, and her Uncle are engaged in a heated discussion about her dating decisions. Ardita, independent and stubborn, is set on marrying a young man who her uncle believes does not have the highest character values. She refuses to leave the yacht they are on to go to town with him and meet someone who he believes is a better match for her. So she stays behind. But while he is gone, the boat is overtaken by a band of pirates. Ardita is unwilling to surrender the vessel so they take her to sea with them and that is where the rest of the story unfolds. This short story is from the book "Flappers & Philosopers"

The Offshore Pirates

From Book IV of the Republic. Plato's description of the effects of knowledge and how it is to be gained. It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and Socrates.

The Allegory of the Cave

Call of the Wild is the story of Buck, a magnificent dog who is stolen from his idyllic life and sold for use on a Yukon dogsled team. His travels are not only of a physical nature, as he learns hard discipline from men who must discipline their dog teams, but his own journey back to his primordial roots in the frozen tundra – the roots of wolf. This amazing story of transformation is beautifully written and provides a glimpse of the hard life in the Yukon Territory during the 1900s.

The Call of the Wild

A poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge after awaking from an opium induced dream of Xanadu, the summer palace of the Emperor Kublai Khan. A much more extensive poem came to him upon awaking, but he was interrupted while writing it down and then could not remember the remaining lines.

Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment

This is a charming tale from H.G. Wells about a young boy named Gip who visits a magic shop for his birthday with his father. But this is not just any magic shop – the shopkeeper insists that this is a genuine magic shop. The story is an entertaining adventure as Gip, like any young boy of his age, experiences the pure enjoyment of true magic while his skeptical father grapples with having to draw the line between slight of hand and genuine magic.

The Magic Shop

This story begins at an observatory in England where the narrator witnesses explosions on Mars. This event is followed by what is thought to be a meteor landing not far from the observatory. Once the narrator travels to the spot of the meteor landing he discovers it is actually a cylinder and the cylinder contains Martians. The story chronicles the Martian attacks throughout many parts of England, even devastating London and the narrator escapes with many chilling and near death adventures.

The War of the Worlds

This short story is about the stressful relationship between a son and his father. The family lives in a small house in the Russian countryside. Poverty has played a toll on how the father reacts to his childs need for money to attend college. An emotional conversation ensues.

Difficult People

Julius Caesar is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time,  a brilliant politician, and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders. Caesar was proclaimed dictator for life, and heavily centralised the already faltering government of the weak Republic. However, Caesar's friend Marcus Brutus conspired with others to assassinate Caesar in hopes of saving the Republic. The dramatic assassination on the Ides of March, ushered in Octavian (later known as Caesar Augustus) as the first emperor and undisputed leader of the Roman world.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar

In this autobiography, the American industrialist Henry Ford wrote, 'Repetitive labor… is a terrifying prospect to a certain kind of mind… but to other minds, perhaps I might say the majority of minds, repetitive operations hold no terrors.' Pushing the 'efficiency of movement' system of Frederick Winslow Taylor to its ultimate realization, Ford tirelessly toiled to reduce factory and assembly line work to its essential operations. This, in turn, reduced factory workers to automatons, seemingly nothing more than extensions of the machines for which they labored. Ford was not bothered by the prospect of reducing people to machines, since he firmly believed that it did not bother them and that they could do no better. But, paradoxically, and like all the great American industrialists, Ford feared the prospect that these 'mindless automatons' might get organized and demand their rights. So along with efficiency of movement came a system of indoctrination and punishment to insure that workers obeyed orders. In short, the industrialized west was built on the systematic oppression of its working people.

The Terror of the Machine

William Blake is known for some very mystical hard-to-understand poetry, but his "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience" is very different from his other work. Innocence was printed five years before Experience, but the books complement each other: the first consisting of poems telling of the innocence of the world, and the second tempering these poems with contrasting tales about experience. Here in beautiful, almost child-like simplicity, he describes childhood and purity, as well as the darker realities of corruption and disillusionment.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

A Letter to a Hindu was written in 1908by Leo Tolstoy to Tarak Nath Das, an Indian revolutionary and internationalist scholar. The letter was translated and reprinted by Mohandas Gandhi, who used the ideas of love revealed through non-violent resistance in his own ideological teachings. Non-violent resistance was a principle of Tolstoy's christian belief.

Leo Tolstoy Collection

A Letter to a Hindu

The Prince is a political treatise by Machiavelli that is not considered to be representative of the work published during his lifetime, but is the most remembered. The theories in this book describe methods that an aspiring prince can use to acquire the throne, or an existing prince can use to maintain his reign. These theories include defense and military, perceived reputation, generosity, cruelty versus mercy, gaining honors, fortune and a number of other discourses.

The Prince

These charming Japanese Fairy Tales were translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki in 1908. Although taken from actual Japanese folk stories, these Westernized versions are not literal translations. These stories combine fictitious creatures and magical animals with the lives of normal humans and provide an insight into a piece of ancient Japan. The stories in this volume include: My Lord Bag of Rice, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad

Children's Classics

Japanese Fairy Tales

Kahlil Gibran (author of The Prophet) was a Lebanese-American philosophical essayist, novelist, mystical poet and artist. During the last 20 years of his life, he lived in the United States, where his works gained recognition and influence within the American popular culture. This abridged audio of The Madman communicates in stories and metaphors Gibran's belief that if a sensible way of living and thinking could be found, people would have mastery over their lives.

The Madman

This classic short story is a fleeting look at the relationship between a Prussian Captain and his orderly. While the Captain exhibits sexual tension towards the young orderly, the feeling is not reciprocated. As a result, the psychological pressure between the two men escalates to an explosive and devastating conclusion.

The Prussian Officer

This is a short story about a poor, young, married couple who both sell their most prized possession in order to purchase a holiday gift for the other. A lesson in sacrifice and the true meaning of giving is beautifully told in this classic tale with a heart wrenching ending.

The Gift of the Magi

In this story a young man, recently broken off from a long engagement, attends a gala costume party dressed as a camel. There he is approached by his gal, who does not recognize him in his camel garb, and the comical escapade ensues. This light and amusing story will keep you entertained, right up to the surprise ending.

The Camel's Back

Like many other philosophical writings, the Tao Te Ching is a timeless Chinese treasure. These ancient writings are credited to Lao Tzu, although some believe them to be authored by a number of persons writing under the Lao Tzu pen name. Nevertheless, this audio gives the listener a taste of the wisdom of age and the important values of human existence.

The Tao Te Ching

Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian-born artist, was one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. His forms evolved from fluid and organic, to geometric, and finally to pictographic. Kandinsky was also an accomplished musician and believed in the concept that color and musical harmony are linked. He even claimed that when he saw color he heard music. Listen to this abridged audio of his insightful writing.

Concerning The Spiritual In Art

This short poem explores the death of a woman that the narrator loved so much that even the angels envied their love. This was the last complete poem written by Poe before his death.

Annabel Lee

This classic tale of intrigue, mystery and adventure takes place on the ivory harvesting and trade route in the Congo, in the depths of Africa. In this book, Marlow, a sea captain on a ship at anchor, retells a story of his assignment upon a steamer ship in the Congo to a group of his ship mates. During his mission he is asked to retrieve and return Kurtz, an ivory hunter with a resounding reputation where ever his name is mentioned, who delivers more ivory than all the other stations combined, and who has a reverenced effect on the natives. Passages and references from the book are sprinkled through other writings and The Heart of Darkness was the base content for the movie Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola.

Heart of Darkness

The Book of wisdom is one of the Old Testament books of the Bible and is classified with a number of other books that have the main purpose of instruction . The author, although many times wrongly attributed to Solomon, was an Alexandrian Jew who was attempting to strengthen the religious commitment of the Hellenistic Jewish community and, if possible, to convert the Gentiles. The Book Of Wisdom has three main parts: chapters 1 – 5 stress the superiority of the pious and wise over the godless; chapters 6 – 9 praise personified Wisdom; and chapters 10 – 19 illustrate the marvels of Wisdom.

The Book of Wisdom

This is a story of a bourgeois British family and their attempts to contain and control the actions of their relations. The story opens with the widow Lilia Herriton embarking on a trip with her traveling companion Caroline Abbott. In reality Lilias family connived her into going on a trip to distract her from a relationship with a gentleman who does not meet their social scrutiny. But while in Italy a worse disaster befalls the family as Lilia falls in love and marries a younger Italian man. When Lilia dies during child birth the family must somehow retrieve the child, who is but a mere pawn in their charade of control and manipulation.

Where Angels Fear to Tread

One of the most fascinating psychological struggles of the modern world revolves around the competing tension between existential philosophy and metaphysical spirituality. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man beautifully encapsulates the extremes of both points of view and provides the listener a front row seat to a battle that still rages today.

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

Contents: 1. Alice in wonderland 2. Heart of darkness 3. Don quixote 4. Curious case of benjamin button 5. The Raven 6. The metamorphosis 7. The call of the wild 8. The art of war 9. The war of the worlds 10. Apology of socrates

10 Masterpieces You Have To Listen To Before You Die: Vol. 1

This is a short story of Georg Bendemann and his relationship with his aging father. While Georg is telling his father of his friend in Russia his father goes into a rage, ridiculing and degrading his son. Then at the end of his rant he issues his final judgment – death by drowning.

The Judgement

This book of Hermetic Philosophy claims to be the essence of the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. One of the foundations of the book is the dedication to the Seven Principles and there is a complete chapter describing each one in detail. Each one of the Seven Principles brings to light a number of ways to become more familiar with your self and become a better and more enlightened individual.

The Kybalion

This is a fantastical comedy about an old man who has read so many books about knights errant that he is convinced that he is one himself. He sets out on a series of adventures with his trusted and true servant Sancho Panza. But with every adventure it is amazing that he is able to survive the story itself.

Don Quixote

This account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic was written by Lawrence Beesley and was first published in 1912. The interesting element is that Lawrence Beesley was a survivor of the Titanic disaster and provides a realistic account of some of the events leading to and following the sinking of the Titanic. The RMS Titanic was an Olympic class passenger liner that became infamous for its collision with an iceberg and dramatic sinking in 1912. The second of a trio of superliners, she and her sisters, Olympic and Britannic, were designed to provide a three-ship weekly express service and dominate the transatlantic travel business for the White Star Line. Built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of her sinking. During Titanic's maiden voyage (from Southampton, England; to Cherbourg, France; Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland; then New York), she struck an iceberg at 11:40 PM (ship's time) on Sunday evening April 14, 1912, broke into two pieces, and sank two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20 AM Monday morning. According to the US Senate investigation, 1,523 people perished in the accident, ranking it as one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history and by far the most famous. Titanic's design used some of the most advanced technology available at the time and the ship was popularly believed to be "unsinkable". It was a great shock that, despite the advanced technology and experienced crew, Titanic sank with a great loss of life. The media frenzy about Titanic's famous victims, the legends about what happened on board the ship, the resulting changes to maritime law, and the discovery of the wreck in 1985 by a team led by Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel have made Titanic persistently famous in the years since. This account by a survivor of the Titanic disaster was first published in 1912.

The Loss of the SS Titanic

In the modern era, we take the concept of Enlightenment for granted. The concepts of personal freedom, liberty and the ability to think for one-self have become a personal choice and fundamental to our everyday lives. Yet in 1784, when the essay was written, the concept of Enlightenment was an emerging idea and still a vague notion to most people. What is important for the modern listener in this essay is how Kant outlines those things that discourage enlightenment as well as those things that can enhance it on a personal and social level. The WIKIPEDIA link below provides a more detailed analysis of the essay, although the listener will appreciate how many of the issues defined by Kant are still relevant in today's world.

What is Enlightenment?

The Apology of Socrates is one of the earliest existing documents of Greek philosophy – everything earlier was lost and is known only through quoted fragments in later works, like those of Plato himself. Rightly so, the Apology is still, all by itself, an excellent introduction to Western philosophy and traditionally the first complete text read in the formal study of Classical Greek. Although the meaning has changed through time, the Greek word apología simply and precisely meant a defense, or a defense speech. At the trial for his life in 399 BC, Socrates astonished his listeners by appearing, despite his vigorous "Defense Speech", to deliberately get himself found guilty and condemned to death. Plato, who's presence at the trial is mentioned twice in the Apology, provides us with the only witnessed recording of the trial proceedings and the historic Apology of Socrates

The Apology of Socrates

This short story is about a man who is brought in front of the Spanish Inquisition and judgment passed upon him to suffer the horrors of the Pit in Toledo. Toledo, Spain is located just south of Madrid and was the center of the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition was originally intended to ensure the belief and practices of those who converted from Judaism and Islam, but the methods used for those who were judged to be heretics was torture. His torture involved being thrown into a pit, being drugged and strapped to a table where a large pendulum blade is slowly lowered directly over his awaiting body. Poe brings a real sense of fear during an intense episode of this single prisoner.

Horror Classics

The Pit and the Pendulum

A man alone on the Yukon Trail, except for his husky dog, is planning on meeting friends on a day in which he encounters severe cold that reaches 75 degrees below zero. His troubles worsen when he falls through the snow and gets his feet and lower legs wet. His only hope of surviving is to build a fire, but his lack of ample supplies, extreme elements and his own diminishing senses prove to be an impenetrable barrier to his existence.

Jack London Collection

To Build a Fire

Anthem is set in a distant collectivist future, when every form and emblem of individualism has been erased and society has reverted to a preindustrial level. In this novella, as many of her writings, Ayn dramatizes her philosophy of Objectivism in the main character. Its hero is a scientist in a world where the pursuit of knowledge is a crime, and he struggles against the established society to discover the meaning of individual freedom.

Anthem

The ancient texts we call Greek Myths are our window into the distant past, a view of a world that existed not only in the mind of the poets, but also in the hearts of the humble natives of ancient Greece. Listen to the wonderful journeys and adventures of these ancient Greek Gods and heroes.

Greek Myths

While many elements of civilized culture provided much comic fodder for Mark Twain, detectives occupied a portion of his observations and writing for a time. The story of the Stolen White Elephant, though entirely preposterous, is rumored to be modeled after real life efforts of an actual police department who misplaced the body of a deceased victim. This audio story will leave you laughing out loud.

Mark Twain Collection

The Stolen White Elephant

This well-known short story tells of an adulterous affair between a Russian banker, Dmitry Gurov and a young lady he meets while vacationing in Yalta, Anna Von Diederitz. The couple spend much time together but since Anna is married and lives far away, Gurov has obstacles to overcome in formalizing this relationship.

The Lady with a Dog

CONTENTS: 1. The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs 2. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 3. The Judge's house by Bram Stoker 4. Legend of sleepy hollow by Washington Irving 5. The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe 6. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe 7. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

Classic Spooky Stories For Halloween

The Happy Prince

This humorous short essay is written with all the wit and biting sarcasm that is one of the trademarks of Mark Twain. The Decay of the Art of Lying does not reveal why one should not lie, but reveals in detail the proper way to lie – told from a true expert.

On the Decay of the Art of Lying

Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was first published in the November 18,1865, edition of The New York Saturday Press, under the title "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog." The story is set in a gold-mining camp in Calaveras County, California, and has its origins in the folklore of the Gold Rush era. It was one of Twain's earliest writings, and helped establish his reputation as a humorist. He eventually included it as the title story in his first collection of tales.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Gallegos represents the genre of independent writers that follow in the classic vein of story telling. Bar Room Brawls is an eclectic sampling from his latest collection of short stories and poems. The stories address the modern dilemmas of life, occasionally tapping into surreal metaphysical absurdities, yet always nested in a familiar and contemporary setting. Titles in this Collection: Then is Now Alligator College Bound Happy Hour Debris Myth of Etan

Bar Room Brawls

This story is told by Theodor Fischer, a boy who lives in a small Austrian village and quietly exists with his friends, relatives and community. One day a stranger appears in the village and befriends Theodor and his chums. He tells them that his name is Satan and he is the nephew of "the Satan". He is capable of all types of magic, predictions and apparitions that he reveals in various ways to the boys. But throughout the story Satan expels his wisdom on the character and futility of mankind. While the book contains the wit and humor typical of Mark Twain, the story line is considered a serious social commentary on Twain's criticism of organized religion.

World Classics

The Mysterious Stranger

On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the United State Declaration of Independence. The document declared the independence of the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. The Declaration justified the independence of the United Sates by listing a number of grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural rights. The document was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson and signed by 56 of the most influential and well known politicians, statesman and delegates of the time including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock and Thomas Jefferson.

The Declaration of Independence

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