Classic Audiobook Collection

Latest Episodes:

The Art of Conversation - Twelve Golden Rules by Josephine Turck Baker ~ Full Audiobook [self help] Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

The Art of Conversation - Twelve Golden Rules by Josephine Turck Baker audiobook.

Genre: self help

In The Art of Conversation - Twelve Golden Rules, Josephine Turck Baker turns the everyday act of talking into a practical craft, showing how small choices in words, tone, and attention can shape friendships, social ease, and first impressions. Written as a lively back-and-forth between two characters, the book teaches by example: a poised conversational guide offers candid corrections while her companion tests each principle in real time, uncovering why certain habits charm and others quietly exhaust the room. Across twelve clear rules, Baker tackles common pitfalls and social anxieties: drowning listeners in needless detail, interrupting, contradicting over trivialities, turning every story into a monologue, or asking questions that feel intrusive or indifferent. She also champions the habits that make talk feel effortless and generous - choosing topics of mutual interest, listening with intention, speaking in harmony with the moment, quoting aptly without mangling meaning, and cultivating tact as the final, essential grace. Part etiquette manual and part character study, this classic guide invites listeners to practice conversation as an art of empathy, restraint, and genuine curiosity.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:05:11) Chapter 02

(00:09:34) Chapter 03

(00:16:53) Chapter 04

(00:21:08) Chapter 05

(00:26:42) Chapter 06

(00:32:00) Chapter 07

(00:37:24) Chapter 08

(00:44:49) Chapter 09

(00:49:27) Chapter 10

(00:54:42) Chapter 11

(00:58:40) Chapter 12

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Twixt Land and Sea by Joseph Conrad ~ Full Audiobook [adventure] Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

Twixt Land and Sea by Joseph Conrad audiobook.

Genre: adventure

While the central figures in each of the three stories in this collection are sailing captains, the main action in two of them takes place on land, albeit in sight of the sea. In 'A Smile of Fortune', a naive young sea captain falls into grave moral peril when he locks horns with a wily ship chandler in Mauritius. In 'The Secret Sharer', a newly appointed sea captain is confronted with an altogether different kind of challenge when he attempts to haul in a rope ladder over his ship's side one evening and finds it much heavier than usual. In 'Freya of the Seven Isles', Jasper Allen, the captain of a lovely little brig, floats on a cloud of love, expecting soon to marry Freya, the daughter of an East Indies plantation owner, and not taking seriously the pretentions of an older Dutch naval officer who sees himself as Jasper's rival. The depth of psychological insight in these stories is variable, but each is a gripping and suspenseful example of Conrad's magazine fiction in the years immediately preceding the Great War.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:04:06) Chapter 02

(00:22:09) Chapter 03

(00:39:44) Chapter 04

(00:55:41) Chapter 05

(01:26:51) Chapter 06

(02:03:10) Chapter 07

(02:35:44) Chapter 08

(03:20:13) Chapter 09

(04:08:36) Chapter 10

(04:31:01) Chapter 11

(04:42:52) Chapter 12

(05:08:55) Chapter 13

(05:59:17) Chapter 14

(06:25:28) Chapter 15

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Daniel Boone by John S. C. Abbott ~ Full Audiobook [biography] Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

Daniel Boone by John S. C. Abbott audiobook.

Genre: biography

John S. C. Abbott's Daniel Boone brings listeners into the raw, perilous world of early America through the life of its most enduring frontier figure. Beginning with Boone's youth on the edge of settlement, the narrative follows his growth into an expert woodsman, hunter, and trailblazer whose quiet resolve draws him ever deeper into the Appalachian wilderness. Abbott traces Boone's long journeys through forest and mountain, his encounters with rival traders and hostile raiding parties, and his complicated relationships with Native American nations as pressure from expanding colonies intensifies. As Boone helps carve routes into Kentucky and becomes a leader in isolated stations, everyday survival turns into a test of endurance and character: securing food, protecting families, navigating political uncertainty, and deciding when to fight, negotiate, or retreat. Written in a vivid, moral-inflected style typical of Abbott, the book explores how legends are made, how communities form at the margins, and what it costs to pursue freedom on a contested frontier. The result is a brisk, dramatic portrait of a man caught between wilderness and civilization.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:42:33) Chapter 02

(01:36:50) Chapter 03

(01:57:52) Chapter 04

(02:27:13) Chapter 05

(02:55:56) Chapter 06

(03:27:32) Chapter 07

(04:11:44) Chapter 08

(04:51:46) Chapter 09

(05:21:02) Chapter 10

(05:49:01) Chapter 11

(06:20:45) Chapter 12

(06:51:40) Chapter 13

(07:31:51) Chapter 14

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Walpole by John Morley ~ Full Audiobook [biography] Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

Walpole by John Morley audiobook.

Genre: biography

John Morley turns his sharp, humane intelligence to the life of Horace Walpole - Whig politician, tireless letter-writer, connoisseur, and the restless wit who helped define the tone of 18th-century English society. Moving between Parliament and drawing room, Morley follows Walpole as he navigates patronage and party intrigue, cultivates a reputation for brilliant observation, and builds Strawberry Hill, the fanciful villa that mirrors his taste for the theatrical and the antique. Along the way, Morley explores the friendships and rivalries that shaped Walpole's world, the moral compromises of fashionable politics, and the private anxieties behind a public pose of amused detachment. Walpole emerges as both witness and participant: a man who records his age with unmatched sparkle even as he struggles to commit himself to anything beyond style, caution, and control. Rich in historical atmosphere and literary insight, this is a portrait of personality set against a Britain of empire, scandal, and change - and a study of how wit can illuminate a century while also shielding a life.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:32:41) Chapter 02

(01:18:11) Chapter 03

(01:58:40) Chapter 04

(02:48:05) Chapter 05

(03:24:54) Chapter 06

(04:35:12) Chapter 07

(05:02:43) Chapter 08

(05:31:07) Chapter 09

(06:04:47) Chapter 10

(06:37:38) Chapter 11

(07:22:57) Chapter 12

(07:49:08) Chapter 13

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The Airplane Boys among the Clouds by John Luther Langworthy ~ Full Audiobook [adventure] Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

The Airplane Boys among the Clouds by John Luther Langworthy audiobook.

Genre: adventure

In the early days of flight, cousins Frank and Andy Bird are the pride of Bloomsbury, and their friends Larry and Elephant can hardly believe their luck as they watch the boys test a new biplane over Sunrise Lake. For Frank and Andy, the sky is freedom - and a proving ground. A local rival, Percy Carberry, is eager to outdo them with his own machine, turning every public exhibition into a high-stakes contest of nerve and skill. But the danger is not limited to risky maneuvers and shifting winds. A mysterious gunshot and a whispering bullet close to the wings suggest that someone on the ground may want the Bird boys brought down. As storms gather around the rocky heights of Old Thunder Top and accidents threaten to turn competition into catastrophe, the young aviators must rely on quick judgment, mechanical know-how, and trust in each other to face threats from weather, terrain, and human jealousy. Packed with aerial stunts, narrow escapes, and frontier-style ingenuity, this classic adventure captures the wonder - and peril - of learning to live among the clouds.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:11:57) Chapter 02

(00:24:56) Chapter 03

(00:40:03) Chapter 04

(00:50:43) Chapter 05

(01:03:01) Chapter 06

(01:16:42) Chapter 07

(01:27:40) Chapter 08

(01:37:37) Chapter 09

(01:47:01) Chapter 10

(01:56:48) Chapter 11

(02:06:40) Chapter 12

(02:16:17) Chapter 13

(02:26:26) Chapter 14

(02:36:32) Chapter 15

(02:46:29) Chapter 16

(02:56:12) Chapter 17

(03:08:22) Chapter 18

(03:20:55) Chapter 19

(03:33:19) Chapter 20

(03:46:12) Chapter 21

(03:58:24) Chapter 22

(04:10:48) Chapter 23

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The Untempered Wind by Joanna E. Wood ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

The Untempered Wind by Joanna E. Wood audiobook.

Genre: drama

Set in a small Canadian village in the late 19th century, The Untempered Wind follows Myron Holder, a young woman forced to move through daily life under a cloud of scandal: she is a mother, but not a wife. With her child to protect and few allies to trust, Myron faces the relentless scrutiny of neighbors who measure virtue with quick tongues and hard rules. As spring stirs the town awake, Myron is pushed into a quiet battle for dignity, work, and a future that feels increasingly out of reach, especially when judgment comes not only from the streets but from within her own household. Joanna E. Wood paints village life in sharp, realistic detail, revealing how kindness and cruelty can sit side by side in ordinary routines, and how reputations can become cages. While Myron struggles against shame that is not entirely her own, she must decide what self-respect means in a world determined to define her by a single fact. At once intimate and socially observant, this is a story about endurance, moral hypocrisy, and the high cost of compassion withheld.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:10:45) Chapter 02

(00:29:59) Chapter 03

(00:48:57) Chapter 04

(01:13:49) Chapter 05

(01:53:54) Chapter 06

(02:16:49) Chapter 07

(02:40:10) Chapter 08

(03:17:28) Chapter 09

(03:37:32) Chapter 10

(04:03:18) Chapter 11

(04:43:12) Chapter 12

(05:16:32) Chapter 13

(05:54:30) Chapter 14

(06:40:44) Chapter 15

(07:20:21) Chapter 16

(07:57:43) Chapter 17

(08:34:13) Chapter 18

(09:01:09) Chapter 19

(09:23:49) Chapter 20

(09:57:47) Chapter 21

(10:30:28) Chapter 22

(10:57:45) Chapter 23

(11:27:19) Chapter 24

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David Hume and his Influence on Philosophy and Theology by James Orr ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

David Hume and his Influence on Philosophy and Theology by James Orr audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

David Hume justly takes rank as the most distinguished member of that brilliant circle of literary men whose names gave such a lustre to the second half of the eighteenth century in Scotland. His speculations were the most profound, and, with the possible exception of Adam Smith in a particular department, his influence was the widest and most deeply felt, of any. But even his warmest friends could scarcely have predicted the influence he was destined to exercise, or the important results that were to spring from his thoughts. It required time to clear away the mists that had gathered round his name, and to place him in his true light in the eyes of posterity. At a century and a half’s distance, we are in a better position to take an impartial survey of his work and its effects. The result must be, that, however we may judge of Hume in particular respects, we cannot deny to him a right to the title of a great and independent thinker. It is indicated in the text that the point of view from which Hume’s philosophy is mainly regarded is that of an experiment to explain knowledge, and generally the intellectual and moral outfit of man, without the assumption of a rational nature in man.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:19:21) Chapter 02

(00:57:31) Chapter 03

(01:37:05) Chapter 04

(02:32:29) Chapter 05

(03:02:45) Chapter 06

(03:29:52) Chapter 07

(04:16:43) Chapter 08

(04:52:27) Chapter 09

(05:45:11) Chapter 10

(06:33:18) Chapter 11

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Lesley Castle by Jane Austen ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

Lesley Castle by Jane Austen audiobook.

Genre: comedy

In Lesley Castle, a young Jane Austen turns the fashionable epistolary novel inside out, using a chain of sharp, intimate letters to expose the vanity, jealousy, and performative sensibility of polite society. The correspondence begins between Margaret Lesley, secluded with her sister Matilda at their family's old estate, and her longtime friend Charlotte Lutterell, who writes from a whirl of social obligations and family drama. As weddings are planned and disrupted, new alliances form, and reputations wobble on the edge of scandal, each letter becomes both confession and competition: the writers insist on their own virtue and feeling even as their words betray self-interest, hunger for attention, and a comic lack of self-knowledge. The arrival of a new Lady Lesley at the castle shifts the household's balance, while Charlotte's circle in Bristol and London adds fresh fuel for gossip, matchmaking, and moral posturing. By letting multiple voices contradict and expose one another, Austen builds a witty portrait of people who narrate themselves as heroes of a grand romance, when they are often the authors of their own absurdity. The work is unfinished, but its satirical spark is unmistakable.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:07:34) Chapter 02

(00:16:53) Chapter 03

(00:24:44) Chapter 04

(00:33:14) Chapter 05

(00:36:08) Chapter 06

(00:46:34) Chapter 07

(00:56:31) Chapter 08

(01:00:38) Chapter 09

(01:05:03) Chapter 10

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The Mystery of Pain by James Hinton ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

The Mystery of Pain by James Hinton audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

Written by Victorian-era physician and moral thinker James Hinton, The Mystery of Pain: A Book for the Sorrowful is a brief, searching meditation addressed to anyone weighed down by suffering - their own or another's. Speaking not as a distant lecturer but as a companion in grief, Hinton refuses easy cheerfulness and instead asks a harder question: what if pain is not meaningless, but bound up with the unfinished, growing nature of human life? Moving between the realities of bodily hurt and the deeper wounds of fear, loss, and despair, he explores how suffering can sharpen perception, deepen sympathy, and change what we are capable of loving. His central argument treats pain as the shadow cast by imperfection - the cost of a world still in process - and he challenges the reader to consider whether the very experiences that feel most unbearable might also open a path toward moral awakening and a more vital joy. Part consolation, part philosophical inquiry, this classic essay offers language for sorrow and a framework for enduring it without denial.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:14:22) Chapter 02

(00:26:05) Chapter 03

(00:34:57) Chapter 04

(00:50:36) Chapter 05

(01:06:45) Chapter 06

(01:17:58) Chapter 07

(01:36:14) Chapter 08

(01:53:36) Chapter 09

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The Bells of San Juan by Jackson Gregory ~ Full Audiobook [adventure] Jul 25, 2023

Show notes

The Bells of San Juan by Jackson Gregory audiobook.

Genre: adventure

In the sun-blasted desert town of San Juan, six old mission bells speak a language everyone understands: joy for a birth, alarm for a fire, and a hard, angry clamor when a man is killed. When gunshots shatter the town's uneasy calm, Ignacio Chavez, the half-idler, half-guardian bell-ringer, sends the fatal message rolling across sage and sand - and exposes how thin the line is between the Mission's quiet promise and the temptations of La Casa Blanca. Into this tinder-dry place steps Roderick Norton, a new sheriff who wants to be more than a badge in a lawless corner of California. But San Juan already has its own power brokers, and none is more dangerous than Jim Galloway, an ambitious criminal with plans that feed on greed, fear, and the shadow of trouble brewing across the Mexican border. As Norton tries to hold the town together, Virginia Page, a young doctor newly arrived in San Juan, finds herself pulled into the widening conflict, where duty and desire collide and every choice rings out like bronze. Jackson Gregory's Western adventure blends frontier justice, revenge, and unexpected love under the relentless music of the bells.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:03:56) Chapter 01

(00:22:51) Chapter 02

(00:40:14) Chapter 03

(00:56:43) Chapter 04

(01:21:41) Chapter 05

(01:39:40) Chapter 06

(01:57:13) Chapter 07

(02:10:56) Chapter 08

(02:26:42) Chapter 09

(02:45:31) Chapter 10

(03:08:10) Chapter 11

(03:33:33) Chapter 12

(03:42:33) Chapter 13

(04:07:32) Chapter 14

(04:20:37) Chapter 15

(04:43:24) Chapter 16

(04:51:57) Chapter 17

(05:06:14) Chapter 18

(05:20:29) Chapter 19

(05:37:36) Chapter 20

(05:48:38) Chapter 21

(06:10:19) Chapter 22

(06:20:35) Chapter 23

(06:33:55) Chapter 24

(06:44:23) Chapter 25

(06:58:50) Chapter 26

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