Showing results by narrator "Jim Killavey" in All Categories

This book is considered by many to be the finest literary biography ever published. Samuel Johnson was the leading literary scholar and critic of his age, helping to define the Augustan Age of English Literature. He is as celebrated for his brilliant conversation as he is for his writing.

Robert Louis Stevenson, know mostly for his tales of adventure and horror, also had a humorous side. This black comedy of errors deals with a coffin that keeps disappearing, and then showing up again in very strange places.

Philip K. Dick was an award-winning giant of American science fiction, right up there with Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov. He became the first science fiction writer ever to be included in The Library of America series. Although he died fairly young at 53, he created many incredible sci-fi stories - 44 published novels and over 120 short stories! These 14 selections represent some of his most imaginative work. Included in this collection are: "Adjustment Team", "The Golden Man", "A World of Talent", "The Last of the Masters", "The Crystal Crypt", and more.

A Christmas Carol is undoubtedly the most famous supernatural story in English. However, it was not the only supernatural story of the season that Charles Dickens wrote. In Victorian England, Christmas was the time to explore the supernatural in stories, and Charles Dickens was one of the best at it. Included in this volume are a full-cast dramatization of A Christmas Carol, plus three more of Dickens' best stories of the season.

While portraying life in a new settlement on New York's Lake Otsego in the final years of the 18th century, Cooper deftly explores the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of the American experience. He contrasts the natural codes of the hunter and woodsman, Natty Bumppo, and his Indian friend John Mokegan with the more rigid structure of law required by a more complex society.

William James, brother of novelist Henry James, was an American philosopher as well as a psychologist. He was the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James was one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th century and is one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced. He has been called the "Father of American psychology".

When a volcano suddenly seems to erupt and threaten a mountain town of North Carolina, Inspector Strock is sent to determine the danger. When an automobile race in Wisconsin is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of a vehicle traveling at many times the top speed of the entrants, Strock is again consulted. And when an odd-shaped boat is sighted moving at impossible speeds off the New England coast, Stock and his boss begin to wonder if the incidents are related.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (original French title, Notre-Dame de Paris) is set in 1482 in Paris, in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. It tells the story of a poor Gypsy girl (La Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo), one of the most colorful characters in literature, who falls in love with her. They are both victimized by a corrupt priest (Claude Frollo) and begin an adventure filled with great peril and great heroism.

For some, the Bible can be an intimidating book to dig into. Its pages reveal a history of days past, with practical application for the here and now. Every word inspired by God himself, penned by the hands of mere mortals. It contains stories, not of super-human people with amazing powers or special abilities that no one can possibly measure up too, but of real people. Just like us. Human beings who were lost and without hope until a savior was sent to shed his blood on a tree.

In its oppressive atmosphere of fog, mist, and mud, nothing conjures up the dreary days of November and its "implacable" weather like the celebrated opening of Bleak House, by Charles Dickens. The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (Jarndyce and Jarndyce) which has far-reaching consequences for all involved. Dickens' assault on the flaws of the British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk.

Compiled by Father Joseph De Beaufort, this book introduces us to a 17th century Carmelite monk known as Brother Lawrence. Lawrence worked in the kitchens and as a cobbler for the Carmelites. He rejoiced in everyday tasks, prayed constantly, and was known around the monastery for his kindness and willingness to help others. Brother Lawrence recounts in detail how to gain constantand comforting connection to the Almighty. Readers have treasured this little book for centuries because of Brother Lawrence's honest advice and his obvious passion for spiritual matters.

Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States Navy flag officer, who has been called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His concept of "sea power" was based on the idea that countries with greater naval power will have greater worldwide impact; it was most famously presented in The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783.

Although written in 1893, Murray's words remain as fresh and relevant as if they were written yesterday. They still hold a message for the troubled souls of today. Murray's preaching is simple yet profound. Understanding Jesus Himself can bring us closer to understanding God, Our Father.

Sir Walter Scott gathered a popular audience, larger than any audience before. A great innovator,he created one of the outstanding literary forms of the past 200 years - the historical novel. In Ivanhoe, Scott brings to life 12th century England.

Politics is the second half of a single treatise by Aristotle (384 B.C.E - 322 B.C.E.), Ethics being the first. Both deal with one and the same subject: what Aristotle calls the philosophy of human affairs. He also refers to it as political science and social science. Aristotle collected and studied the constitutions of over 150 city states before writing his Politics.

Wallace D. Wattles was an American author and a pioneer in the New Thought Movement. His most famous book is The Science of Getting Rich, which continues to be immensely popular today. The Science of Being Well is a follow-up to that book. Wattles approach to health is basically the same is his approach to prosperity. He suggests that the reader think and act in a "Certain Way," which he explains, and that thinking and acting in that way, along with a positive approach will "make it so." Wallace explains his fairly simple keys to getting well and suggests that with faith and discipline one can stay well once health has been achieved. To quote the author, this book is, “For those who want health, and who want a practical guide and handbook, not a philosophical treatise. It is an instructor in the use of the universal Principle of Life, and my effort has been to explain the way in so plain and simple a fashion that the reader, though he may have given no previous study to New Thought or metaphysics, may readily follow it to perfect health.”

Emerson's ideas are alive and well and very much with us today. Consider that Emerson, now an establishment figure, was a rebel in his time. He could find no relevance in established religion. But, unlike others, he set out to reform it. Many of his ideas now seem obvious and as American as apple pie.

The Altar of the Dead was first published in the collection Terminations in 1895. It is a fable of life and death significance which explores what happens when a man tries to keep the remembrance of his dead friends, to save them from being forgotten entirely in the rush of everyday events.

The Education of Henry Adams is among the oddest and most enlightening books in American literature. Henry Adams was the grandson of a president and the great-grandson of another one. He was also the son of the American Ambassador to England, and his secretery. As such he rubbed elbows, literally, with Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt and with many of the great figures of his time.

Neville Goddard was a profoundly influential teacher and author. He was not part of the "new age", "new thought", or any other such group. His writings are unique and powerful. This little self-help gem puts forth the idea that our feelings are far more powerful in shaping our lives than we think - and how, using an unusual method to control them, we can greatly improve our attitudes and our lives.