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Through Time and Space

Posted on June 1, 2013 by | Posted in about LibriVox, Books, For Volunteers, Monthly Picks, News | Comments: Comments Off on Through Time and Space

Summertime – the perfect excuse for travelling and going somewhere new. Go to infinity or eternity – and beyond – with 10 gems from our catalog.

Aristotle wrote one of the first “scientific” works On the Heavens, where he proves that the earth is a sphere. He also introduces his theory of gravity – all things fall towards the center of the universe – and talks about a new idea of one of his colleagues: atoms.

More than two millennia later, Alfred North Whitehead refers to him as well as to Einstein to show that The Concept of Nature is all encompassing time, space, and human perception.

A poet’s approach to time and eternity must certainly differ from a scientific one and can be found in the forth part of Emily Dickinson’s Poems: Series One.

Time passes like an eternity on the ship from Australia to England, so Tourmalin accepts the offer to put all this unused time into an account for later. When he is cashing Tourmalin’s Time Cheques, things get complicated in F. Anstey’sbook.

In a story by Andre Norton, the Russians can go back in time to unearth lost secrets. Hence, the Americans have to catch up and send Ross Murdock to Bronze Age, where he, as one of the Time Traders, has to face Russians, prehistoric men as well as aliens.

Sooner or later, we may be able to travel freely in time and settle anywhere we like – as long as we don’t interfere with history and thus become the target of a Police Operation. H. Beam Piper depicts one day in the life of a time cop.

Jason dinAlt doesn’t want to settle on Pyrrus, charmingly dubbed Deathworld. All he wants is to find out where the money went he just won in gambling, but even with his psionic skills, this does not prove to be easy in Harry Harrison’s novel.

Dorothy also finds herself stranded in a new world. Together with Ozma of Oz, she sets out to rescue the royal family of Ev from captivity. Find out about her new adventures in our dramatic reading of L. Frank Baum’s children classic.

In Henry Kuttner’s novel The Creature from Beyond Infinity arrives on Earth to colonise it and to make it a new home. But right now, a deadly plague threatens to wipe out humanity. Has he just arrived to witness the destruction of another planet?

Is Mars Habitable is not a new question. About 100 years ago, Alfred Russell Wallace published a book on this question where he sums up his research on the matter and comes to a negative conclusion.

Enjoy – and stretch your boundaries!

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Underneath

Posted on June 1, 2013 by | Posted in about LibriVox, Books, For Volunteers, News | Comments: Comments Off on Underneath

The summer is almost here, a perfect time to hunt for treasures. Go on a search for the things that are hidden from view with 10 gems from our catalog.

Very hidden from view is a young lady who, because of an accident, is now invisible, at times at least. The British government is eager to exploit Miss Pim’s Camouflage and sends her behind the German lines as the latest spy in WWI. Her adventures there are told by Lady Dorothy Tennant.

Vera and the Nihilists, an underground group in Russia, are plotting the assassination of the Czar. But not everyone is who he seems in the drama by Oscar Wilde, and things get complicated when Vera falls in love with the man she must kill.

Certainly the right man for you is William Still – if you are a fugitive slave seeking to escape to Canada. The Underground Railroad, which helped hundreds of people gain their freedom, is also the name of a three volume book, comprised of Still’s own diaries and records.

Sir Stephen King-Hall has penned the Diary of a U-Boat Commander, and he depicts the skipper of the Kaiser’s Navy as a great swashbuckling can-, have-, and know-it-all above and under the waves – until he starts to pursue the girlfriend of another man.

A view on the mysteries of the ocean that is not limited by the porthole of a U-boat is presented by R. Cadwallader Smith. He describes in great detail the incredible animals and plants that live Within the Deep – a short, but fascinating book.

On the Nature of Things is a six books long poem by Titus Lucretius Carus. He is not literally talking about nature though, but aims to explain the Philosophy of the Epicureans.

No explanations about his musings offers an Englishman who takes a weekend society gathering as excuse to observe and judge the other guests. He considers himself as a master of psychology – but is he really? Read The Sacred Fount by Henry James to find out.

Hugo Münsterberg would have known immediately whether the guy was a fraud or not. After all, he wrote one of the first books on Psychotherapy, explaining what it is and how to use it to unlock the secrets people hide unwillingly.

Only a simple microscope is needed to find the hidden Girl in the Golden Atom in the novel by Ray Cummings. After the tiny world is discovered, a chemist and his three friends will do anything to shrink themselves and meet the beautiful girl.

Equally fantastic is Niels Klim’s Journey Under the Ground. Baron Ludvig Holberg describes how Niels is exploring a Norwegian cave and is promptly transported to a new planet where he becomes friends with strange creatures…

Enjoy – and happy discoveries!

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Love and Marriage

Posted on April 30, 2013 by | Posted in For Volunteers, Monthly Picks, News | Comments: Comments Off on Love and Marriage

May is a good time to fall in love – but not everything starting out on cloud #9 has a happy landing on the ground of reality, as 10 gems from our catalog show…

Abelard and Heloise are a medieval couple famous for their Love Letters. Starting out as teacher and pupil, they became lovers, were brutally separated and ended in monasteries, where they relive their love in their correspondence.

The next book by an unknown author, where a young knight falls in love with a former slave girl is not quite so tragic. Obviously his father is not happy with the match, and so begins a long period of trials for Aucassin and Nicolette – will they get their happy ending?

As an anonymous writer find out after the wedding, it’s better to marry a woman without family. This way, there will be no intrusions on happiness as That Mother in Law of Mine is doing during his honeymoon.

Not much longer lasts the happiness of Gwendolyn, who must marry because she lost her fortune. Her husband is cold and abusive, and Daniel Deronda is the only one she can reach out to – but he is in love with somebody else… Read about their fate in the famous novel by George Eliot.

A young woman falls for a vampire – not an unusual story these days, but at the time Joseph Sheridan LeFanu published his book, the shock was great – because the vampire is a woman called Carmilla.

Sex is still a taboo topic for many people. Clearly there must be a way to change this, thought Henry Stanton 90 years ago and he wrote Sex – Avoided Subjects Discussed in Plain English, where he discusses sex for all ages, from the young to the old.

No inhibitions whatsoever plague Kate Percival whose “autobiography” The Life and Amours of the Beautiful and Dashing Kate Pericival caused a mixture of embarrassment and mirth in the readers of our dramatic version.

No fun at all in her marriage has Rosalie. When her sister Bettina comes to visit her years later, she sets out to save Rosalie from her husband, but that is not as easy as she thought. Find out the details in The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The Pastor’s Wife is finally freed from her family life and now goes on to search out all things feminist. Written at the onset of WW I, the book by Elizabeth von Arnim may just as well be autobiographical.

What about you – still looking for somebody despite those warnings? To help you in your search, read The Spinster Book by Myrtle Reed who offers advice on how not to become a spinster yourself.

Enjoy – and go get your own happy ending!

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Mother Nature

Posted on April 1, 2013 by | Posted in about LibriVox, Blog, For Volunteers, Monthly Picks, News | Comments: Comments Off on Mother Nature

Mother Earth is celebrated wordwide on Earth Day, April 22nd. Have a great party with 10 gems from our catalogue!

No feat(ure) of nature is so widely discussed, praised and condemmed as – the weather. J. G. M’Pherson explains all its details in his 1905 science book Meteorology.

Mostly monotone weather is expected by Mary, who spends her Christmas vacation in dry Arizona. But she’s up for a surprise in Ethel Twycross Foster’s charming children’s book Little Tales of the Desert.

Another lovely read for children is The Book of Nature Myths, where Florence Holbrook collected stories told by the North American Indians to explain the secrets of nature and her animals.

A similar goal on a much higher level was Charles Darwin’s when he wrote his seminal book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Simply a must read!

Not quite so natural is the selection a gardener has to make to guarantee a satisfying outcome. In Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim, the protagonist learns gardening – and writes a diary about it.

But what to do with all the things you don’t want in your garden? Mother Nature will take care of it in The World’s Lumber Room. Selina Gaye wrote what can be seen as the story of the world’s rubbish – and it is fascinating!

None of those issues worry little Mary Lennox who is simply delighted about the Secret Garden she finds at her uncle’s place. This is our brand new dramatic reading of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic.

Freckles, the orphan, is not so lucky – he finds himself in Limberlost Swamp as guard for timber. But he soon begins to love the harsh environment in the novel by Gene Stratton-Porter.

Stewart Edward White tells a similar story about early lumbermen in Michigan. While focusing on the life of newcomer Harry Thorpe, the vanishing wilderness also plays a major part in The Blazed Trail.

The River Duddon once formed the boundary between Lancashire and Cumberland in north-west England. This is a collection of more than 40 Sonnets written about it by William Wordsworth.

Enjoy – and go outdoors!

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