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Harvard Classics

Rich E Bookhc.richebook.net
Former President of Harvard University Charles W. Eliot wrote in his introduction to the Harvard Classics, "In my opinion, a five-foot shelf would hold books enough to give a liberal education to any one who would read them with devotion, even if he could spare but fifteen minutes a day for reading." Here you are, you can easily listen to his entire 15-minutes-a-day study guide while commuting to and from work (most of us spend far more than 15 minutes a day commuting each day), doing mundane work in the office, washing dishes at home, or doing most of the things day in and day out. It is so easy, so entertaining, and so educational that they can be listened to again and again, until they permeate into our own thinking and into our characters. Perhaps, in one year's time, you will become someone you barely recognize, all for the better. Who knows? -- Rich E Book
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Episodes

The Thousand and One Nights (The Story Told by the Christian Broker)

A handsome young man was seen to eat only with his left hand, which was contrary to the customs of Arabia. The youth, when urged, told why he used only his left hand, and revealed a story of love and adventure and the lover's need for gold - all happening in ancient Cairo. (Volume 16, Harvard Classics)

Jun 25, 202153 minSeason 1Ep. 595

Autobiography (Ch. I), by John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill – one of the greatest intellects in England – tells how his father educated him. At the early age of three years he began the study of Greek, and at twelve started writing a book of his own. (Volume 25, Harvard Classics) James Mill, father of John Stuart Mill, died June 23, 1836.

Jun 24, 202131 minSeason 1Ep. 593

Letters of Pliny (LXXXIII: Letter to Sura), by Pliny the Younger

Pliny, who lived in the first century after Christ, tells of a ghost who dragged his jangling chains through a house in Athens and so terrified the inmates that they fled panic-stricken. But the ghost met his equal. (Volume 9, Harvard Classics)

Jun 23, 20218 minSeason 1Ep. 591

Sesame and Lilies (Of Kings’ Treasuries), by John Ruskin

Why gossip with lesser persons when you might be talking to queens and kings? Just how we may get to talk to queens and kings, Ruskin delightfully points out and escorts us to the very doors of the audience chamber. (Volume 28, Harvard Classics)

Jun 22, 202131 minSeason 1Ep. 589

The Voyage of the Beagle (Ch. 17 and 18), by Charles Darwin

Galapagos Islands are the home of fearless birds, to which horses, cows, and men are only roosting places. Darwin saw the South Pacific when few travelers knew that wonderland. (Volume 29, Harvard Classics)

Jun 21, 202125 minSeason 1Ep. 587

Holinshed’s Chronicles (Ch. XV), by William Harrison

A writer of Elizabethan times said that no other country had as many dogs as England. Once Henry VII ordered all mastiffs to be hung because they "durst presume to fight against the lion," England's regal beast. (Volume 35, Harvard Classics)

Jun 20, 202115 minSeason 1Ep. 585

Cinderella, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Cinderella inspires all alike – the artist's brush, the author's pen, the child's fancy. To-day she is a living, vital character to be seen on stage and screen. No one ever forgets her lightning change. (Volume 17, Harvard Classics)

Jun 19, 202115 minSeason 1Ep. 583

John Eliot’s Brief Narrative, by John Eliot

John Eliot put his life at the mercy of the redmen to get them to listen to his preachings. He wrote vividly about his settlements of Christian Indians. Now villages and Indians have disappeared. Only his story remains. (Volume 43, Harvard Classics) John Eliot holds Indian prayer meeting June 17, 1670.

Jun 18, 202119 minSeason 1Ep. 581

Manfred (Act I Scene II, Act II Scene I), by Lord Byron

The inaccessible mountain tops were ever venerated as the haunts of all mysteries. Manfred, hero of Byron's play, seeks upon the high Alps the aid of spirits, specters, and goblins. What unearthly adventures await him! (Volume 18, Harvard Classics) Byron publishes "Manfred," June 16, 1817.

Jun 17, 202117 minSeason 1Ep. 579

The Chronicles of Froissart (Wat Tyler’s Rebellion), by Jean Froissart

Led by Wat Tyler in 1381, great troops of villagers and rustics marched on London - laid siege to the Tower – sacked the apartments of the King and murdered his ministers. Froissart gives first-hand information of this rebellion. (Volume 35, Harvard Classics) Wat Tyler's Rebellion suppressed June 15, 1381.

Jun 16, 202127 minSeason 1Ep. 577

Crito, by Plato

Socrates unceasingly strove for beauty, truth, and perfection. Sentenced to death on a false charge, he refused to escape from the death cell, even when opportunity was offered. (Volume 2, Harvard Classics)

Jun 15, 202136 minSeason 1Ep. 575

The Bhagavad-Gita (Ch. 1-2)

Two armies of ancient India were about to engage in a momentous battle. Arjuna, heroic leader of the Pandu hosts, foreseeing great slaughter, hesitates. He implores the divine Vishnu to intervene. The conversation of the warrior and the god is a gem of Hindu literature. (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)

Jun 13, 202127 minSeason 1Ep. 571

Epithalamion, by Edmund Spenser

To commemorate his marriage to the beautiful Elizabeth, Spenser wrote one of the most enchanting nuptial hymns. (Volume 40, Harvard Classics) Edmund Spenser married Elizabeth Boyle, June 11, 1594.

Jun 12, 202125 minSeason 1Ep. 569

Oedipus the King (Part I), by Sophocles

King Œdipus of Thebes as a babe was abandoned on Mount Cithæron to die. Years after he was thought dead he returns to Thebes and unknowingly slays his father, marries his mother – and thus fulfills the word of the oracle. (Volume 8, Harvard Classics)

Jun 11, 202127 minSeason 1Ep. 567
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