Essays & Short Works
- Philosophical Travelogues
- Essays on Society and Culture
- Essays for Personal Growth
- Explorations in Science and Thought
- Explorations in Psychology
- Political Essays and Reflections
- Political Essays and Manifestos
- Philosophical Essays on Existence
Crime
Clarence Darrow was an American lawyer. He remains notable for his wit and agnosticism, which marked him as one of the most famous American …
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke wrote four essays on human (or humane) understanding. Here are a few quotes from the book: "I see no reason to believe, that…
The World I Live In
The World I Live In by Helen Keller is a collection of essays that poignantly tells of her impressions of the world, through her sense of to…
The Early History of the Airplane
The Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight, on 17th December 1903. They…
Mysticism and Logic
This anthology collects a number of fascinating strands of Bertrand Russell's thought. "Mathematics and the Metaphysicians" detail…
The Awful German Language
This long essay is a work of mock philology, one of several appendices to Twain’s travel novel, A Tramp Abroad. In it, Twain explains, compl…
George Bernard Shaw
Chesterton and Shaw were famous friends and enjoyed their arguments and discussions. Although rarely in agreement, they both maintained good…
Magna Carta
The original document is in Latin so this can only be a fairly rough approximation of the actual content. The text used is the first version…
Psychological Types
Ever wondered if there is any "theoretical basis" for the well-known Myers–Briggs Type Indicator Personality Test? In this groundb…
Stories I Told Myself
Funny, moving and always exquisitely well-produced, this collection of short stories and essays from the award-winning Seanachai podcast is …
The Treaty with China
"A good candidate for 'the most under-appreciated work by Mark Twain' would be 'The Treaty With China,' which he published in the New Y…
The World as Will and Idea
In this work, Schopenhauer explains his fundamental idea that at the root of the reality we see around us is a Will that eternally, insatiab…
Tea-table Talk
As the New York Times said in 1903, this lesser-known work by Jerome K. Jerome does not display "the wit of Congreve or even the glitte…
Democracy in America
Democracy in America offers a profound exploration of the American political system as observed by French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville d…
The Golden Age
The Golden Age is a collection of reminiscences of childhood, written by Kenneth Grahame and originally published in book form in 1895, in L…
The Madman
Two short books by the Lebanese-American writer, poet, and mystic. Reflections on existence and life, purpose and meaning. His most famous w…
Revolution
A collection of 13 essays written between 1900 and 1908, published in 1910. The lead essay, "Revolution", outlines how and why Lon…
The World’s Story
This is the second volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March T…
Areopagitica
A prose tract or polemic by John Milton, published November 23, 1644, at the height of the English Civil War... Milton, though a supporter o…
The Seven Lamps of Architecture
The Seven Lamps of Architecture, published in May 1849, is an extended essay written by the English art critic and theorist John Ruskin. The…