Showing results by author "Mentor New York" in All Categories

The author provides a fascinating look at the emerging science of bacteriology at the start of the twentieth century including early progress in understanding and preventing diseases such as tuberculosis and diphtheria. The book also includes chapters on the spread of disease through close contact with infected persons as well as from contaminated drinking water and milk. Water purification methods as well as the stability of various disease-causing organisms to extremes of heat and cold is discussed. The final chapter includes a very interesting discussion of the development of anti-venoms ...

The story of Richard Mahony, a doctor trained in Edinburgh who comes to Ballarat in the gold rush of the 1850s. At first he runs a shop but later he marries and returns to medical practice. His story is interwoven with that of his wife's brothers and sister. Even after his medical practice becomes successful he is still unhappy living in the colony and decides to return home to Britain. Richard is a restless irritable man whose character is said to be based on the author's own father. This book is the first of the trilogy 'The Fortunes of Richard Mahony', but stands well on its own. The other ...

Four poems by American Poets, including The River Path by John Greenleaf Whittier, Excelsior by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Rose by James Russell Lowell, and Baby Bell by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. - Summary by Krista Zaleski

"Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War" is an interesting read of the beginnings of air warfare in World War I. Anyone interested in early aviation and armament will find this a fascinating work. By William Tomcho.

This collection of 20 public domain newspaper articles comprises volume 2 of Historic Newspaper Articles in the LibriVox collection. Both U.S. and U.K. newspapers are represented here. The articles span from 1848 to 1920. Topics covered (e.g., the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire, the troubles of ‘Typhoid Mary’, how to dress for the seashore) vary in length and tone. Although the writers display a range of diverse styles, their words give today's readers a sense of the tenor of the times. (summary by Lee Ann Howlett)

This entertaining book of adventure, love and war was a Bestseller in 1900 and 1901. The heroine Alice Roussillon is a brave young woman who grew up in a small town on the Wabash River in Indiana during the revolutionary war. The characters are all distinctive and compelling. It gives a great insight into the frontier life of that era and includes true historical accounts and personages such as the wicked Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton and George Rogers Clarke who was responsible for expelling the British from Fort Sackville in Vincennes in 1779. From the foreword: " "Accept, then, this ...

The poems and stories in this collection were selected with the reader’s grandchildren in mind. “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphant Annie,” both by James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier Poet were favorites of the reader when she was a child on a farm in Indiana. Other favorites were picked up along the way as she read to her own daughter and to her students, while other gems were discovered while looking for poems and stories to include in this collection. It is hoped that this collection will bless the hearts of many children and parents alike as they listen together.

A selection of short works about Christmas. (Summary by david wales)

Simple and unpretentious as a statement by Francis d’Assisi, yet full of a gentle modern sophistication and humour, this little work will bring delight and refreshment to all who seek flight from the heavy-laden hour. It is, moreover, one of the most subtle and penetrating studies of the psychology of the dog that has ever been written—tender yet unsentimental, realistic and full of the detail of masterly observation and description, yet in its final form and precipitation a work of exquisite literary art. - Summary from the Foreword by Herman George Scheffauer

In this late work, Shaw examines many contemporary issues under the broad rubric of evolution and then illustrates his opinions in five brief plays set in widely separated historical periods, beginning in the Garden of Eden and ending in the year 31,920 A.D. The unifying principle in this historical survey is the notion that the survival of humankind depends on increasing our lifespan to at least 300 years, a period permitting us to grow to maturity. The ultimate question that the mature cast of characters grapple with is what is to be the next significant step in evolution. Mere longevity ...

Gaylord DuBois wrote juvenile literature for decades. This is a boys' adventure story about serving in the American World War II flying corps. - Summary by david wales

When a few men decide to go for looking for gold in the outback of Australia, days of extreme heat with no water and no rain in sight, make them turn back and give up the trip; all but two of them that is, Smith and Mandeville, aka the "Baker. Smith and Baker decide to tough it out and go after their dreams, chancing their lives to find "their luck". Little do they realize, they will put their lives in grave danger, and this quest for gold will turn into a nightmare. Life threatening food and water deprivation is a constant issue, and they had no idea they would stumble upon an unknown tribe ...

Seven stories, chapters, essays, or poetry about Christmas or around Christmas. - Summary by david wales

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, complains about, and shows how one might improve upon various aspects of the (awful) German language. His examples of precisely how the German language is awful include the famed “separable verb” – which allows one to put the first part of a given verb at the beginning – and its second part at the end – of a given clause or sentence (which may, indeed, be very long). He also makes fun of the extreme length of certain compound nouns (which are ...

I: ‘Pandemic’ by Jesse F. Bone A deadly pandemic consumes the world (blah blah blah - you know the rest). If only THAT was the cure to the real one? II: ‘2BR02B’ by Kurt Vonnegut I wanna live forever...and have kids...but what about the consequences? III: ‘The Beautiful People’ by Charles Beaumont Why would you not want to be beautiful? Like every else. Now, now, don't be difficult. IV: ‘Operation Distress’ by Lester del Rey One man alone in the depths of space...suddenly struck with illness...if he returns to Earth, he could infect the world! V: ‘Doctor’ by Murray Leinster...

Harry Wethermill, the brilliant young scientist, a graduate of Oxford and Munich, has made a fortune from his inventions, and is taking a vacation at Aix-les-Bains. There he meets, and immediately falls in love with, the young and beautiful Celia Harland, who serves as companion to the aging but warm-hearted Madam Dauvray of Paris. All this is observed by Julius Ricardo, a retired financier from the City of London, who spends every August at Aix, expecting there to find a pleasant and peaceful life. Imagine his consternation when he learns that Mme. Dauvray has been brutally murdered, and ...

Set in the early 22nd century: Dr. Daniel Feldman, stripped of rank and status and named pariah for violating Medical Lobby rules, stows away on a spaceship and flees to Mars Colony. There, while essentially practicing medicine without a license, he stumbles upon a plague organism indigenous to Mars, that threatens the whole colony and potentially the human race. Performing research to identify a cure, (also in gross violation of Medical Lobby rules) he must risk his life to buck the entrenched bureaucracy, bent on sweeping the whole matter under the rug in the name of political expediency. - ...

On the occasion of Walt Whitman's 70th Birthday a "Committee of Citizens" in Camden, NJ held a special commemoration in his honor. This slim collection includes a autobiographical note by Whitman and his response to those present as well as a full record of the the speeches and appreciations offered, along with the letters and telegrams that poured in from all over the world. Contributors include: Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Ernest Rhys, Horace Traubel, Hallam Tennyson, William Rossetti, Gabriel Sarazin, William Morris, Rudolf Schmidt, William Sloane Kennedy, John G Whittier, John Addington ...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (Wonderland) populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre, and its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in ...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the most characteristic examples of the "literary nonsense" genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre.(summary from Wikipedia)