Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. Two U.S. Presidents are remembered in “A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison” and Washington’s “Address to Congress on Resigning His Commission (1783).” Other topics in history and political theory include two of George W. Ball’s memos about the Vietnam War from 1965, “Irish Marriage Rites,” “Celts and Celtophiles,” Kropotkin on “Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution,” a tragedy at sea (“The Titanic”), and a look back at “The Passing of the Sailing Ship.” Religion and philosophy are represented with two selections from Kierkegaard’s “Preparation for a Christian Life” and a sermon by Spurgeon (“Glorious Predestination”). Biographies pay homage to the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. How-to and guidance readings include farming advice from George Washington Carver (“Help for Hard Times”), “Teaching Mathematics with Paper Folding,” “Sexual Neuroses,” and “Elementary Lessons in Cookery.” “The Common Milkweed” celebrates one of summer’s roadside flowers. Finally Richard de Bury pens a tribute to books in a selection from the Philobiblon, written in 1345. Summary by Sue Anderson Selections from Kierkegaard were translated by Lee M. Hollander That the Treasure of Wisdom is Chiefly Contained in Books was translated by E.C. Thomas     [chương_files]  

Twenty short nonfiction works chosen by the readers. “Why Women Should Vote” (Jane Addams, 1910) is one of several selections devoted to women’s interests, as are Martha Foote Crow’s “The Young Woman on the Farm” (1910), Alice Freeman Palmer’s “Three Rules for Happiness,” and Myrtle Reed’s recipes for “Coffee Cakes, Doughnuts, and Waffles.” Tradition and belief are treated in two selections from Kierkegaard, a letter from Japan (“When the Dead Return”), a creation myth (“Sky Weds Earth”), and an essay by Mark Twain on “Mental Telegraphy.” Topics in history and political theory include “The Original Draft of the Declaration of Independence,” “An Audience with Abraham Lincoln,” “Government” (Bastiat), “Constitutional Law” (Bentham), “War Scenes Across the Canadian Border ” (1915), “Americans Lose Men in Fight in Siberia” (1919) and “Quentin Roosevelt’s Last Letter Home” (1918). Sport receives its due with a history of the bicycle, while “In the Land of the Wild Yak” portrays the hardships endured by 19th century explorer Sven Hedin. Finally, “Mr. NAMIKAWA Yasuyuki’s Cloisonné” celebrates the life of a Japanese artist and his exquisite enamel work. – Summary by Sue Anderson     [chương_files]  

Sixteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Volume 59 contains an eclectic mix of readings, ranging from a description of a Coney Island elephant colossus to meditations on mental telepathy and baseball. Philosophical essays by Leibniz, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Francis Bacon and William Blake touch on the topics of truth, prejudice, poetic genius, suicide, and preparation for a Christian life. An educator at a women’s college in the early 1920’s bemoans the decline in the way high school girls dress for school and recommends a “serge jumper dress, made with a washable under blouse.” In the same span of years, a female reporter, going undercover to research conditions in the Detroit House of Corrections has herself arrested and is “stripped to the skin and searched for narcotics” and then made to don prison garb: “a faded gingham coverall, prison-made and drab.” A medical doctor, writing in the 1870’s, examines the connection between clean living and longevity, while a historian discusses how slave labor was employed in the salines of Southern Illinois. Native American Indian speech patterns are explored in an essay on the evolution of language, while a a chapter from a children’s science book explains what happens “when the dew falls.” Lastly, a spirited defense of the Bodleian as a research institution rather than a circulating library rounds out this volume of the nonfiction collection. Preparation for a Christian Life III was translated by Lee M. Hollander.     [chương_files]  

Fifteen short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Natural cataclysm is the subject of several readings: the 1899 Alaskan earthquake, which uplifted cliffs at Yakutat Bay 47 feet; a terrifying forest fire in Northern Wisconsin in 1899; the fiery sunsets which followed the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883; a storm at sea which sank the English frigate Anson in 1807; and the explosion of a hydrogen-filled dirigible over Chicago in 1919. Natural beauty, also a topic, includes a guide to the Antrim coast of Ireland, observations on Black Walnut trees and the communal life of Yellow-Jacket wasps, and an essay on how to paint reflections. Two colloquies of Erasmus explore a young woman’s choice to become a nun and the “preposterous judgments” of people who value the names of things more than the Things themselves. Progress–envisioned as the age of electricity; changes in burglary; and Nostradamus’ prognostications for the future round out the volume. -summary by Sue Anderson Elizabeth G. Peckham was the co-author of “Communal Life of Yellow-Jacket Wasps” Fifty Quatrains of Nostradamus was translated by Theophilus de Garencières     [chương_files]