Stay ConnectedSnoozecast is the podcast designed to help you fall asleep.
Episodes air every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Copyright: © ℗ & © 2020 Snoozecast: Stories for Sleep
Tonight, we’ll read excerpts from “Candy-Making Revolutionized: Confectionary from Vegetables” by Mary Elizabeth Hall, printed in 1912. Long-time listeners may recall that this episode first aired back in 2020.
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. It can be divided into two broad categories: bakers' confections and sugar confections.
Before sugar was readily available in the ancient western world, confectionery was based on honey. Honey was used in ancient civilizations to preserve perishable and delicate fruits and flowers. The ancient Persians, followed by the Greeks, made contact with the Indian subcontinent and spread sugar agriculture from what was thought of as the native Indian "reeds that produce honey without bees".
Generally, confections are low in micronutrients and protein but high in calories. Many confections are considered empty calories and ultra-processed foods.
Hall wrote that her hope was that through this book “ the more vegetable candy is made, the less unhealthful confectionery there will be consumed.
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Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “The Wishing Well” written by Mildred A. Wirt and published in 1942.
In this story, an old abandoned estate is the location of a wishing well known for actually granting wishes. Penny investigates and discovers not only the secret of the well, but also a valuable treasure.
If you enjoy this episode, be sure to check out our other Penny Parker series episodes by searching for our show titled “Snoozecast Presents: Penny Parker” wherever you listen to Snoozecast. Or, you can find Penny at snoozecast.com/series.
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Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Persuasion”, the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen, and published in 1817. The story concerns Anne Elliot, a twenty-seven year old Englishwoman, whose family moves in order to lower their expenses and reduce their debt, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife.
In the last episode, Mr. Shepard and Lady Russell draw up a plan for Sir Elliot to get out of debt. They decide that he must "retrench" by seriously cutting back on his expenditures, which the gentleman refuses to do. They then suggest that Sir Elliot move out of his home in order to rent it out. The plan is agreed to by Sir Elliot, with his stipulations that it not seem like he is renting it for cost-savings but rather as a favor to the renter. It is further agreed to that during this time they will stay in the city of Bath, which has a lower cost of living and where their more limited budget will go farther.
We will start back in with an abbreviated opening to chapter 3, where Sir Elliot is discussing the matter further with the group.
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Tonight, we’ll read "The Wild", sometimes known as “Walking”, a lecture by Henry David Thoreau first delivered in 1851. It is a transcendental essay that analyzes the relationship between man and nature, trying to find a balance between society and our raw animal nature. Thoreau read the piece a total of ten times, more than any other of his lectures. This episode first aired back in 2021.
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Tonight, we’ll read the story titled “The Bunnikins-Bunnies and the Moon King” written by Edith B. Davidson, and published in 1912. In this early science-fiction story geared towards children, the Bunnikin-Bunnies go on a family vacation to the Moon, via the Milky Way.
While traveling to the moon was not possible when this book was published in 1912, scientists were diligently laying down groundwork for the future accomplishments. In 1903, a Russian study showed that physical space exploration was theoretically possible using rockets. And by the end of the 1910s, an influential paper from the US discussed reaching extreme altitudes through rocketry. As for the Bunnikins-Bunnies, you will soon learn that their means of transportation was not on a rocketship, but on a vehicle that looked much like a fishing boat, but with large wings.
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Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.
Have you ever wished that a continuing Snoozecast story was easily available as a playlist so you could either start from the beginning, or play multiple episodes from just that story in a row, so that you don’t need to go searching through the catalog? In case you didn’t know, we also produce standalone versions of these stories as its own separate Snoozecast podcasts, for easy listening. Just search for “Snoozecast Presents” to find all the options available. And if you subscribe to Snoozecast+, you get complete access to all these series, ad-free. To learn more, go to snoozecast.com/plus .
In the last episode, the captives aboard the Nautilus awaken one day to learn that they are now underground, inside an extinct volcano. The cave is used by Nemo as a place of refuge, where he sources the elements needed to produce the electricity that makes the Nautilus run. While Nemo spends the day loading up the reserve stock of sodium they keep down there, Arronax, Conseil, and Ned explore the volcanic island. They forage for food including a beehive full of honey, before returning the ship.
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Tonight, we’ll read the opening section from FROM THE CAVES AND JUNGLES OF HINDOSTAN, written by Helen Blavatsky and published in 1883. This episode first aired in January of 2020.
Madame Blavatsky was a Russian occultist and philosopher who traveled around the world, including India, before moving to New York City. She co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875 and gained an international following from the esoteric religion that the society promoted. Madame Blavatsky was a controversial figure, championed by supporters as an enlightened guru and derided as a fraudulent charlatan by critics. Her Theosophical doctrines influenced the spread of Hindu and Buddhist ideas in the West as well as the development of Western esoteric currents like the New Age Movement.
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Tonight, for our final selection in our “Woodcraft” series, we will read selections of the author’s poetry, published as “Forest Runes” by George Washington Sears and published in 1887. Sears was a writer and adventurer who penned essays on hunting, fishing, and camping for popular journals and magazines.
Runic alphabets are native to the ancient Germanic peoples, before they adopted the Latin alphabet. The earliest runic inscriptions found on artifacts give the name of either the craftsman or the proprietor, or sometimes, remain a linguistic mystery. Due to this, it is possible that the early runes were not used so much as a simple writing system, but rather as magical signs to be used for charms. Although some say the runes were used for divination, there is no direct evidence to suggest they were ever used in this way. The name rune itself, taken to mean "secret, something hidden", seems to indicate that knowledge of the runes was originally considered esoteric, or restricted to an elite.
The Bluetooth logo is the combination of two runes that are the initials of Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson's who was a king of Denmark from the Viking Age.
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Tonight, we’ll read the thirteenth chapter to “Anne of Green Gables” the classic 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This chapter is titled “The Delights of Anticipation”.
In the last episode, titled “A Solemn Vow and a Promise,” Marilla is dismayed to hear about the wildflowers on Anne's Sunday school hat, and of course she lectures Anne about them. Though Anne points out many girls at church had bouquets pinned to their dresses—and many had artificial flowers on their hats—Marilla is worried about the bad impression Anne must have made.
Marilla may have been more anxious than usual because she is about to bring Anne with her to meet Diana Barry, who lives close by and is Anne's age. As she has done in the past, she warns Anne of the importance of impressing Diana's strict mother.
Out in the garden the two girls stare bashfully at each other until Anne breaks the silence by asking, "Do you think you can like me a little—enough to be my bosom friend?" It's an odd and startling question for someone Anne has just met, but Diana laughs and agrees. Diana says in response that, "I heard before that you were queer. But I believe I'm going to like you real well."
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Tonight, we’ll read the second half to “The Princess of Babylon”, found in the The Strange Storybook by Mrs. Lang, published in 1913. The first half aired last week. This story first aired way back in 2020.
The story is taken from a lesser known philosophical tale by Voltaire, written in 1768. Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher, satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and social critiques, he was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
In the first episode, the king holds a competition of the world’s rulers who were interested in marrying his daughter, the princess. The games would be impossibly difficult. A handsome and magical stranger appears out of seeming thin air to win the games, however he is suddenly called away to care to matters at home.
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