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The Gospel of Luke is a synoptic Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. The text narrates the life of Jesus, with particular interest concerning his birth, ministry, death, and resurrection; and it ends with an account of the ascension. The author is characteristically concerned with social ethics, the poor, women, and other oppressed groups. Certain well-loved stories on these themes, such as the prodigal son and the good Samaritan, are found only in this gospel. The Gospel also has a special emphasis on prayer, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and joyfulness. D. Guthrie stated, “it is full of superb stories and leaves the reader with a deep impression of the personality and teachings of Jesus. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Religion

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Life is self-realization. Every birth is divine. We are born anew every morning. My wish is that you may catch the gleam, be freed from limitations and enter upon your boundless possibilities. To bring you into the throne-room of your being, that you may awaken in self-realization, is why I have prepared this course of lessons. Should you give five minutes a day to them, in a year you will know the joy there is in Life, in Power, and in Service. (from the text)...

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Psychology

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Habits that Handicap is one of three novels about alcholoism and drug addiction written by Charles B. Towns. Towns was an expert on alcoholism and drug addiction who helped draft drug control legislation in the United States during the early 20th century. He also founded the Towns Hospital in New York City, which aimed at drying out the well-to-do patient. (Summary by Guero and Wikipedia.)...

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Psychology

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Learn how to accomplish your goals through increasing your mental power, avoiding energy drains, and becoming more mentally efficient. (Summary by Andrea Fiore.)...

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Instruction, Psychology

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“Thus I have acted; these were my thoughts; such was I.” Rousseau’s lengthy and sometimes anguished dossier on the Self is one of the most remarkable and courageous works of introspection ever undertaken. Some readers may be repelled by his tendency to revel in embarrassing accounts of humiliation and fiasco, as if he were striving too hard to achieve an ultimate nakedness, a nakedness of the soul perhaps. Others may recall the compulsive self-searching of the narrator of Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu, who also rather dwelt on the co-existence in the individual of the vile and the virtuous. The two opening volumes of the Confessions, presented in this inevitably censored edition of 1903, deal with the author’s childhood and callow adolescence. Here he is... (Summary by Martin Geeson)...

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Memoirs, Literature, Psychology

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Hiram Chase is a well liked Reverend in a small ministry in Utica. When his mental and physical health deteriorates, he is taken to Utica lunatic asylum. After his stay in the asylum, Hiram documents his experiences and those of other patients in the asylum. He describes his daily routine and the negative experiences he had, along with praising certain individuals whom he met during his Two Years and Four Months in a Lunatic Asylum. (Summary by Elaine Webb)...

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Memoirs, Psychology

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This book presents a method of developing and strengthening the faculties of the mind, through the awakened will, by a simple, scientific process possible to any person of ordinary intelligence...

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Advice, Psychology, Instruction

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Sketches of the fair sex, in all parts of the world. To which are added rules for determining the precise figure, the degree of beauty, the habits, and the age of women, notwithstanding the aids and disguise of dress. It is our design to present a pleasing and interesting miscellany, which will serve to beguile the leisure hour, and will at the same time couple instruction with amusement. We have used but little method in the arrangement: Choosing rather to furnish the reader with a rich profusion of narratives and anecdotes, all tending to illustrate the FEMALE CHARACTER, to display its delicacy, its sweetness, its gentle or sometimes heroic virtues, its amiable weaknesses, and strange defects—than to attempt an accurate analysis of the hardest subject man ever attempted to master, viz—WOMAN. (Summary from the book)...

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Psychology, Humor

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Autobiographies from remote historical periods can be especially fascinating. Modes of self-presentation vary greatly across the centuries, as of course does the very concept of Self. Peter Abelard, the medieval philosopher and composer, here gives a concise but vivid survey of his notoriously calamitous life. The work is couched in the form of a letter to an afflicted friend. Abelard's abrasively competitive, often arrogant personality emerges at once in the brief Foreword, where he informs his correspondent: (I)n comparing your sorrows with mine, you may discover that yours are in truth nought.. and so shall you come to bear them the more easily. (Summary by Martin Geeson)...

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Advice, Biography, Epistolary fiction, Memoirs

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Summary from A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis: This book is written in terms that are comprehensible to the layman. The step-by-step instructions should afford the reader a means of acquiring self-hypnosis. The necessary material is here. The reader need only follow the instructions as they are given. It is the author's hope that you will, through the selective use of self-hypnosis, arrive at a more rewarding, well-adjusted, and fuller life....

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Advice, Instruction, Psychology

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Written in 1903, just sixty years after the word 'hypnotism' was coined, this book explores the contemporary understanding of the nature, uses and dangers of the technique. Hypnotism has been practiced for many centuries, but it was in the mid-to-late nineteenth century that it became a particularly fashionable way to explore the human mind. Although understanding of the subject has evolved considerably over subsequent years, this book remains a fascinating insight into a technique once thought to be at the forefront of medical science. (summary by Stuart Bell)...

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Instruction, Psychology

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Ein Roman über den berühmten Findling Kaspar Hauser (angeblich: 30.4.1812 - 17. 12. 1833 in Ansbach) wurde in der Biedermeierzeit als rätselhafter Findling bekannt. Hauser taucht am 26. Mai 1828 in Nürnberg als etwa 16-jähriger, geistig anscheinend zurückgebliebener und wenig redender Jugendlicher auf. Durch seine Aussagen, dass er, solange er denken könne, bei Wasser und Brot immer ganz allein in einem dunklen Raum gefangen gehalten worden sei, erregt er großes Aufsehen. Ein Gerücht kolportierte, Hauser sei der 1812 geborene Erbprinz von Baden, den man gegen einen sterbenden Säugling getauscht und beiseite geschafft habe, um einer Nebenlinie des badischen Fürstenhauses die Thronfolge zu ermöglichen... Die Honoratioren der Stadt reichen ihn als Kuriosum herum. Bis schließlich mehrere Anschläge auf sein Leben verübt werden ... (Zusammenfassung von wikipedia und crowwings)...

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Biography, Psychology, Tragedy

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In this popular American book from the 1920s, accomplished public speaker and self-help charlatan Elsie Lincoln Benedict outlines her pseudo-scientific system of Human Analysis. She proposes that, within the human race, five sub-types have developed through evolutionary processes, each with its own distinct character traits and corresponding outward appearance. She offers to teach the reader how to recognise these five types of people and understand their innate differences. Her ideas have never been taken seriously by the scientific community, but this book is considered a classic within its genre and remains in print today. Summary by Carl Manchester....

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Psychology, Instruction

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III. SEXUAL SELECTION IN RELATION TO MAN, AND CONCLUSION. Part 3 of 3 of a book on evolutionary theory by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first published in 1871. It was Darwin's second great book on evolutionary theory, following his 1859 work, On The Origin of Species. In The Descent of Man, Darwin applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection. The book discusses many related issues, including evolutionary psychology, evolutionary ethics, differences between human races, differences between sexes, the superiority of men to women, and the relevance of the evolutionary theory to society.(Summary by Wikipedia)...

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A guide to different kinds of dreams, their meanings, and how they influence our waking lives. (Summary by Andrea Fiore)

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Psychology

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Epistulae morales ad Lucilium sind eine Sammlung von 124 Briefen. In den Briefen erteilt Seneca Ratschläge, wie Lucilius, von dem lange Zeit vermutet wurde, er wäre eine fiktive Gestalt, zu einem besseren Stoiker werden könnte. Sicher ist, dass Seneca die Briefe als Mittel benutzte, um verschiedene Aspekte seiner Philosophie darzustellen. Zugleich eröffnen die Texte auch einen Einblick in das Alltagsleben des antiken Rom. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia)...

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Philosophy

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This classic gives a basic outline of Christian mysticism. (Summary by Joy)

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Religion

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Epistulae morales ad Lucilium sind eine Sammlung von 124 Briefen. In den Briefen erteilt Seneca Ratschläge, wie Lucilius, von dem lange Zeit vermutet wurde, er wäre eine fiktive Gestalt, zu einem besseren Stoiker werden könnte. Sicher ist, dass Seneca die Briefe als Mittel benutzte, um verschiedene Aspekte seiner Philosophie darzustellen. Zugleich eröffnen die Texte auch einen Einblick in das Alltagsleben des antiken Rom. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia) Die Briefe 1 - 93 übersetzte August Pauly, die Briefe 94 -124 Adolf Haakh. Briefe 66 - 79: Text (1) & (5) Briefe 80 - 93: Text (2) & (5) Briefe 94 - 107: Text (3) & (5) Briefe 108 - 124: Text (4) & (5)...

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Philosophy

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The writer believes that all attendants should be regularly instructed in their duties, and the highest standard of care can be reached only when this is done. He also believes that every person who is allowed to care for the insane will be greatly benefited by such instruction, and will be able to learn every thing taught, if the teacher uses simple methods and is patient to instruct. As this manual was originally written in 1886, the basic medical instruction IS out-of-date and should not be used to diagnose any medical problem, nor should be used in the case of an emergency. It has been recorded for entertainment purposes only! (Summary from the Introduction and by Ann Boulais)...

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Psychology

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This is the first of what is intended to be three projects featuring journal articles which chart the development of psychology as an academic discipline in the United States during the twentieth century. This first collection begins with an appraisal of functionalism by William James and takes in: early contributions to educational psychology; works of early feminist psychologists; discussions of behaviourism and pragmatism. Also included is Watson and Rayer's famous 1920 Little Albert study. (Summary by Carl Manchester)...

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Psychology