Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 085
Various
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
"A regard for decency, even at the cost of success, is but the regard for one's own dignity" was novelist Joseph Conrad's take on fame, a quote from the preface to his autobiography A Personal Record (1912). Other lives chosen by readers to examine in vol. 085 include the Borgias; the Cynocephali; Hermann von Helmholtz; Edgar Allan Poe; John Burroughs; a pre-Revolutionary War magnate named Browne, who built a mansion on the ridge of a hill; women as a social class; and an 1821 rabies victim named Thomas, who exhibited hydrophobia. Political history receives scrutiny in Some Materials and a Possibility; The House Famine; Cracow; The Dutch East India Company; and Across Africa by Air and Rail. The art of Japanning illuminates an ancient craft. Literature, by Irvin Cobb, is welcome humor. And for hungry souls, there are recipes for ice cream and for Army chow! Summary by Sue Anderson. (6 hr 17 min)
Chapters
| Across Africa by Air and Rail (1923) | 12:38 | Read by BettyB |
| The Borgias | 4:35 | Read by Dale Grothmann |
| John Burroughs' Memories of His Boyhood | 1:13:16 | Read by Sue Anderson |
| Browne's Folly | 7:10 | Read by Veronica Maresh Mead |
| Cracow (Pol. Kraków) | 10:09 | Read by Piotr Nater |
| The Cynocephali (From The Library of Photius) | 6:01 | Read by Craig Campbell |
| Dutch East India Company | 9:47 | Read by Piotr Nater |
| Edgar Allan Poe, Part 1, An Appreciation | 20:15 | Read by George Emerson |
| Edgar Allan Poe, Part 2, Life | 25:25 | Read by George Emerson |
| Edgar Allan Poe, Part 3, Death | 23:38 | Read by George Emerson |
| A Familiar Preface | 22:25 | Read by Peter Thomlinson (1940-2022) |
| Hermann Von Helmholtz, an Autobiographical Sketch | 39:37 | Read by Michele Fry |
| The House Famine | 2:55 | Read by Dale Grothmann |
| Hydrophobia | 2:24 | Read by Mary in Arkansas |
| Ice Cream and Ices | 14:22 | Read by BettyB |
| Japanning | 3:20 | Read by Availle |
| Literature | 24:02 | Read by Mary in Arkansas |
| Of Women | 5:07 | Read by Craig Campbell |
| Recipes Used in the Cooking Schools, U. S. Army | 49:47 | Read by James R. Hedrick |
| Some Materials and a Possibility | 20:38 | Read by Peter Thomlinson (1940-2022) |