Classic Books

From the Foreword: ‘In presenting these lessons on Mental Science, I do not claim to have discovered any new Truth. The Truth has been known in every age by a few; but the great mass of people has never even dreamed that we live in a mental and spiritual world. To-day, however, there is a great inquiry into the deeper meaning of life because the race has reached a state of unfoldment where a broader scope is possible. These lessons are an attempt to put into the spoken word and into print some of those great truths known to the enlightened of all ages.’

This little volume is the result of being called upon, a few years since, to read a paper before the Kansas City Real Estate and Stock Exchange upon the subject “Real Estate Considered as Investment and Income Property.” That first sog. gested to me to put my ideas on real estate investment in an orderly arrangement. It then occurred to me that an outline of the general principles and considerations which should control such investments would interest a large number of people. Because I have put my thoughts in book form, I do not arrogate to myself any superior knowledge upon the subject as compared with hundreds of other experienced business men in the West who have had largely to do with real estate and real-estate securities. Many of these men could have written better and would also, perhaps, have made fewer errors in their observations of land and its improvements considered as a commodity.

Religion or faith in fundamental principles is the foundation upon which the edifice of reasoning or science is built upon. While it is a religion that binds us into courses of action consistent with those fundamental principles, it is a science that enables us to stay clear of inconsistent systems of guiding principles and to practically attain the goals posited by our principles. The Science of Religion by Paramahansa Yogananda arrives by analysis at inner happiness or bliss as the goal that binds all men.

The Sea-Wolf’ is a psychological adventure novel by American novelist Jack London. It first got published in 1904. The protagonist, Humphrey van Weyden, is a literary critic who is a survivor of an ocean collision and who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him.

One of the fairest paintings of Nature was at that point among the mountains of the Canadian province of Cariboo where the Campbell River takes the Boardman to its bosom and swings south on its pilgrimage to the Pacific. Like all of Nature’s more dramatic compositions, by reason of its very effectiveness, it was predestined to be smudged by a town, and the collection of shacks and tents known as Fort Edward was already begun. It was conceded that Fort Edward was bound to be a great city when the new transcontinental passed through. To be sure, railhead was still beyond the mountains, a matter of two or three years’ construction, but the noise of the town’s greatness-to-be had been industriously drummed up by real-estate operators outside, and many optimists had struggled up the three hundred miles of the Campbell Valley from the existing railway to be on hand in plenty of time.

A classic romantic novel by the celebrated English novelist from the Victorian era, Charlotte Bronte, one of the famous Bronte sisters, ‘The Search After Happiness’ was self-published by her in the year 1829.

Upon my tongues continual slanders ride, The which in every language I pronounce, Stuffing the ears of men with false reports. I speak of peace while covert emnity, Under the smile of safety, wounds the world; and who but Rumour, who but only I, Make fearful musters and prepar’d defence, Whiles the big year, swoln with some other grief, Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war, and no such matter? Rumour is a pipe Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures, and of so easy and so plain a stop.

“Now, which would you advise, dear? You see, with the red I shan’t be able to wear my magenta hat.”

“Well then, why not have the grey?”

“Yes—yes, I think the grey will be more useful.”

“It’s a good material.”

The Secret Adversary is the second published detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in January 1922 in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in that same year

First published in the year 1919, the present book ‘The Secret House’ is a classic crime thriller novel written by the famous novelist Edgar Wallace.

First published in the year 1914, the present book ‘The Secret of Charlotte Brontë’ is a study of Charlotte Bronte’s personal psychology and thought through his works by writer and critic Frederika Macdonald.

What makes a New Thought classic? Obviously most of these books are delivering the exact same message. Collier here demonstrates a combination of factors which seems to win over readers: a folksy style, lots of inspirational quotes, particularly from the Bible, and, most of all, constant repetition of the theme that you, too, can tap the power of the Infinite, and get healthy and rich just by instructing your unconscious mind to do so.

On a certain sunny May morning, about forty years ago, the owner of Wyvern Towers stepped into a lovely glade of Barras Wood, which was a portion of his extensive property.

Felix Drelincourt was a man who stood a little over six feet in height. His black, silky hair had a careless wave in it, and his thin mustache, with its up curled tips, was the cause of his often being taken for a foreigner.

But his eyes were the most striking feature of a striking personality. They were black, and of an extraordinarily piercing quality, with a sort of veiled, somber glow in them at times, as it might be the glow thrown out from between the bars of some hidden furnace, the fire in which was eating its heart away in the flame of its own burning unrest. It was not easy to judge his age, but one might put it down as being somewhere between eight and twenty and four or five and thirty. This morning he was dressed in a velveteen shooting jacket, with cord breeches and leggings, and was wearing a low crowned felt hat.

Firs5t published in the year 1865, the present book ‘The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape’ by famos writer Albert D. Richardson is a collection of his memoirs of his time as a United States Secret Service agent and journalist during the Civil War. Also includes his time as a military prisoner.

Under a sky heavy with stars and faintly brighter for a low-hanging sickle moon, the gipsy caravan slept on the turf by the roadside, its shutters closed, its shafts stretched out like arms. In the shadow of the ditch nearby a stertorous horse was snoring.
Far away, above the black crest of the hills, a bright streak of sky announced the coming of the dawn. A church clock struck four. Here and there a bird awoke and began to sing. The air was soft and warm.
Abruptly, from the interior of the caravan, a woman’s voice cried:
“Saint-Quentin! Saint-Quentin!”
A head was thrust out of the little window which looked out over the box under the projecting roof.
“A nice thing this! I thought as much! The rascal has decamped in the night. The little beast! Nice discipline this is!”
Other voices joined in the grumbling. Two or three minutes passed, then the door in the back of the caravan opened and a shadowy figure descended the five steps of the ladder while two tousled heads appeared at the side window.

“In the following pages I have endeavored to give a simple account of problems which have occupied the attention of the human mind ever since the dawn of civilization, and which can never lose their interest until time shall be no more. While to most persons these subjects will have but an historical interest, yet even from this point of view they are of more value than the history of empires, for they are the intellectual battlefields upon which much of our progress in science has been won. To a few, however, some of them may be of actual practical importance, for although the schoolmaster has been abroad for these many years, it is an unfortunate fact that the circle-squarer and the perpetual-motion-seeker have not ceased out of the land.” -Preface

The Sheltered Life’ stands as one of the most stirring epitaphs to the romantic South in American literature. In the town of Queenborough, Virginia, the Archbalds and the Birdsongs, the two remaining families on Washington Street, hold their ground and attempt to ignore the industrial invasion in the years before the first World War. Told from two perspectives – the wise outlook of elderly General Archbald, a civilized man in an uncivilized world, and the romantic vantage point of Jenny Blair, his impetuous grandchild – the story is a vivid parable of a society in decline.

Contents include: Introduction: I. Definition and Development, II. Forms, III. The Short-story as Narration, IV. Representative Short-stories, V. Bibliography, Washington Irving: Rip Van Winkle (1820), Edgar Allan Poe: The Gold Bug (1842), The Purloined Letter (1845), Nathaniel Hawthorne: Howe’s Masquerade (1838), The Birthmark (1843), Francis Bret Harte: The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1869), Robert Louis Stevenson: The Sire de Maletroit’s Door (1878), Markheim (1885) and Rudyard Kipling: Wee Willie Winkie (1888).

“In this Discussion Kepler gives reasons for accepting Galileo’s observations—although he was not able to verify them from want of a telescope—and entirely supports Galileo’s views and conclusions, adducing his own previous speculations, or pointing out, as in the case of Galileo’s idea of earth-light on the moon, the previous conception of[ix] the same explanation of the phenomenon. He rejects, however, Galileo’s explanation of the copper colour of the moon in eclipses. Kepler ends by expressing unbounded enthusiasm at the discovery of Jupiter’s satellites, and the argument it furnishes in support of the Copernican theory.” -Introduction

Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction.

There are steps of approach to the Silence. Stillness is one thing and the Silence is another. One may quiet himself physically and not be still, and he may be still without entering the Silence. When one becomes physically and mentally at rest, he is apt to become receptive to psychic influences; and when these are not desired it is advisable to protect oneself while mentally negative. One may affirm his Oneness with God, his being surrounded and protected by the divine Goodness, and may symbolize this by enveloping himself in thought with the white light of love or the mellowed tints of sunshine.

This book was planned and promised to the publisher more than three years ago. Exacting duties have compelled the writer from time to time, to defer the completion of his undertaking. The delay has been profitable in that it has afforded opportunity for the study of recent works on kindred topics, which in some respects has modified and in some enlarged the original conception of the subject in hand. A long ocean voyage at last has provided the quiet in which to write out these thoughts.

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., commonly referred to as The Sketch Book, is a collection of 34 essays and short stories written by the American author Washington Irving. It was published serially throughout 1819 and 1820.

The present book ‘The Skull’ by famous English writer Philip K. Dick was first publishe in the year 1952. This is a science fiction short story.

First published in the year 1864, the present historical romance ‘The Small House at Allington’ by Anthony Trollope was his fifth novel in the series named “Chronicles of Barsetshire”. The plot concerns the Dale family, who live in the “Small House”, a dower house intended for the widowed mother of the owner of the estate. The landowner, in this instance, is the bachelor Squire of Allington, Christopher Dale. Dale’s mother having died, he has allocated the Small House, rent free, to his widowed sister-in-law and her daughters Isabella and Lilian.

“On the last of October Don Santiago de los Santos, popularly known as Capitan Tiago, gave a dinner. In spite of the fact that, contrary to his usual custom, he had made the announcement only that afternoon, it was already the sole topic of conversation in Binondo and adjacent districts, and even in the Walled City, for at that time Capitan Tiago was considered one of the most hospitable of men, and it was well known that his house, like his country, shut its doors against nothing except commerce and all new or bold ideas. Like an electric shock the announcement ran through the world of parasites, bores, and hangers-on, whom God in His infinite bounty creates and so kindly multiplies in Manila. Some looked at once for shoe-polish, others for buttons and cravats, but all were especially concerned about how to greet the master of the house in the most familiar tone, in order to create an atmosphere of ancient friendship or, if occasion should arise, to excuse a late arrival.” -an excerpt

An informative compendium about the second war of Somme. This books would be useful and interesting to those, who are interested to know about and study deeply the history of various big wars and history of human distruction.