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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

Buddhist Writings

The thousandth celestial wife of the Garland God slipped and fell to earth, where she took mortal form and served as an attendant in a temple. Death finally released her and she went back to heaven to tell her lord of the ways of men. (Volume 45, Harvard Classics)

Feb 19, 202215 minSeason 1Ep. 1075

Treaty with Great Britain (1814)

All Americans should know this treaty which finally inaugurated an era of peace and good understanding with England. For over a hundred years this peace has been unbroken. (Volume 43, Harvard Classics) Treaty with Great Britain proclaimed Feb. 18. 1815.

Feb 19, 202218 minSeason 1Ep. 1073

Tartuffe (Act I), by Molière

While acting in one of his own plays, Molière was suddenly stricken and died shortly after the final curtain. He took an important role in "Tartuffe" which introduces to literature a character as famous as Shakespeare's Falstaff. (Volume 26, Harvard Classics) Molière died Feb. 17, 1673.

Feb 17, 202224 minSeason 1Ep. 1071

The Origin of Species (Ch. VIII, Instinct), by Charles Darwin

Ants have slaves who work for them. These slaves make the nests, feed the master ants, tend the eggs, and do the moving when a colony of ants migrate. Darwin minutely describes the habits and lives of the industrious ants and their marvelous social organization --- a wonder to mankind. (Volume 11, Harvard Classics)

Feb 16, 202212 minSeason 1Ep. 1069

All for Love (Act III), by John Dryden

The romantic and heedless loves of Antony and Cleopatra figure prominently in history, literature, and drama. Dryden made a fascinating play from the story of Antony, who sacrificed the leadership of Rome, reputation, and life itself for love of the Egyptian queen, who followed him in death. (Volume 18, Harvard Classics) Mark Antony offers Cæsar crown at Rome, Feb. 15, 44 B. C.

Feb 15, 202230 minSeason 1Ep. 1067

Discourse on the Passion of Love, by Blaise Pascal

Pascal --- an original genius --- purposed to master everything that was new in art and science. He was a mathematician and scientist as well as a religious enthusiast and moralist, and he shows a decidedly human side of his nature in this superb essay on Love. (Volume 48, Harvard Classics) St. Valentine's Day.

Feb 15, 202221 minSeason 1Ep. 1065

Autobiography (Vol. I, Ch. XXXIV-XXXVIII), by Benvenuto Cellini

At the age of fifty-eight Benvenuto Cellini shaved his head and retired to a monastery to write his own story of murder, passion, and great deeds of the Renaissance. His life is a vivid picture of the most colorful period in history, a period when statecraft and religion and black magic and assassination were naively mingled in men's lives. (Volume 31, Harvard Classics) Benvenuto Cellini died Feb. 13, 1570.

Feb 13, 202223 minSeason 1Ep. 1063

The Gettysburg Address and Other Writings, by Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln himself thought his famous Gettysburg Address was a failure. To-day the whole world acclaims its greatness. Cast in bronze, it hangs on the wall of Balliol College, Oxford, regarded as the perfection of English prose. (Volume 43, Harvard Classics) Abraham Lincoln born Feb. 12, 1809.

Feb 12, 202211 minSeason 1Ep. 1061

Discourse on the Method (Part I-II), by René Descartes

Descartes was slain through the eccentric whim of a queen who demanded that he tutor her in the freezing dawn in the dead of winter. His philosophy lives in this essay. (Volume 34, Harvard Classics) René Descartes died at Stockholm, Feb. 11, 1650.

Feb 11, 202239 minSeason 1Ep. 1059

Letters on the English (XVIII-XIX), by Voltaire

Voltaire once visited Congreve. This famous dramatist requested to be regarded only as a plain gentleman. "Had you been that I should never have come to see you," Voltaire cynically replies. (Volume 34, Harvard Classics) William Congreve baptized Feb. 10, 1670.

Feb 10, 202231 minSeason 1Ep. 1057

Germany, by Tacitus

Tacitus, the historian, visited the virile German tribes in their primitive homes on the banks of the Rhine He was surprised to learn that the men so active and eager in war lolled in indolence during the intervals between. (Volume 33, Harvard Classics)

Feb 10, 202228 minSeason 1Ep. 1055

Poems, by Robert Burns

"But I, the Queen of a' Scotland, maun lie in prison strang." Burns sings of poor Mary bound by chains, yearning for the day when flowers would "bloom on her peaceful grave." (Volume 6, Harvard Classics) Mary, Queen of Scots, beheaded Feb. 8, 1587.

Feb 08, 202213 minSeason 1Ep. 1053

Letter to Lord Chesterfield, by Samuel Johnson

Johnson was not always a conventional guest. Graciously treated, he responded in like manner, but offended, Johnson could wield a pen dripping with vitriol. (Volume 39, Harvard Classics) Samuel Johnson writes to Lord Chesterfield, Feb. 7, 1755.

Feb 07, 20223 minSeason 1Ep. 1051

Edward the Second (Act V), by Christopher Marlowe

"The reluctant pangs of abdicating royalty in 'Edward' furnished hints which Shakespeare scarcely improved in his 'Richard the Second,' and the death scene of Marlowe's King moves to pity and terror." -CHARLES LAMB. (Volume 46, Harvard Classics) Christopher Marlowe born Feb. 6, 1564.

Feb 06, 202226 minSeason 1Ep. 1049
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