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
Has a Frog a Soul?
Thomas Huxley, known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” for his championing and development of Darwinism, was perhaps the most important Victorian biolog…
Coffee Break Collection
This is the eighth collection of our "coffee break" series, involving public domain works that are between 3 and 15 minutes in len…
Prime Numbers
A recording of the first 2000 prime numbers (2-17389). Recommended listening for all math geeks and insomniacs!
The Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is the most famous speech of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and one of the most quoted speeches in United States hist…
The Awful German Language
If you’ve ever studied German (and maybe even if you haven’t), you’re likely to find this short essay to be hilarious. Published as Appendix…
The Conduct of Life
This is the best of Emerson's later works, qualifying his earlier popular essays, series one and two, with the heavier hand of experience. T…
The Little Tea Book
After all, tea is the drink! Domestically and socially it is the beverage of the world. There may be those who will come forward with their …
Theory of Colours
Newton's observations on the optical spectrum were widely accepted but Goethe noticed the difference between the scientific explanation and …
An Address to Free Colored Americans
The first Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women met in New York City in May, 1837. Members at the Convention came from all walks of life…
English as She is Wrote
"...Showing Curious ways in which the English Language may be made to convey Ideas or obscure them." A collection of unintentional…
Supernatural Horror in Literature
“Supernatural Horror in Literature” is a long essay surveying the field of horror fiction. It was written between November 1925 and May 1927…
On the Nature of the Gods
De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods) outlines Stoic, Epicurean and Academic (Skeptical) views on religious questions. Problems discu…
The Ethics of Belief
The Ethics of Belief is a seminal essay by philosopher William Kingdon Clifford that explores the moral implications of belief and the respo…
Relativity
This is an introduction to Einstein’s space-bending, time-stretching theory of Relativity, written by the master himself. Special and Genera…
The Principles of Economics
Frank Albert Fetter was an American economist of the Austrian school, but referred to himself as a member of the “American Psychological Sch…
The Gettysburg Address
It was a cloudy November day in 1863 when thousands gathered to hear renowned orator Edward Everett dedicate a national cemetery at the site…
Metaphysics
Metaphysics by Aristotle delves into the fundamental nature of reality, exploring concepts such as substance, causation, and the existence o…
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding
John Locke's essays on human understanding answers the question “What gives rise to ideas in our minds?”. In the first book Locke refutes th…
Mutual Aid
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a book by Peter Kropotkin on the subject of mutual aid, written while he was living in exile in England…
The Conquest of Bread
In this work, Kropotkin points out what he considers to be the fallacies of the economic systems of feudalism and capitalism, and how he bel…