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The Anatomy of Melancholy is a book by Robert Burton, first published in 1621. On its surface, the book is a medical textbook in which Burton applies his large and varied learning in the scholastic manner to the subject of melancholia (which includes what is now termed clinical depression). Though presented as a medical text, The Anatomy of Melancholy is as much a sui generis work of literature as it is a scientific or philosophical text, and Burton addresses far more than his stated subject. In fact, the Anatomy uses melancholy as the lens through which all human emotion and thought may be scrutinized, and virtually the entire contents of a 17th-century library are marshalled into service of this goal. Burton is forthright about his intentions in writing the Anatomy — I write of melancholy by being busy to avoid melancholy, he concedes. This acknowledged desire to distract and amuse himself motivated Burton to produce a wide-ranging document, containing digressions and commentary. Whatever its strengths as a medical text or as a historical document, it is the Anatomy's vast breadth — addressing topics such as digestion, goblins, th...

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Instruction, Psychology

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Excerpt: I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances....

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The writings listed here represent books about Soren Kierkegaard. A fragment of his work, On the Dedication to That Single Individual, has made it to the public domain. Who was Soren Kierkegaard? He was a Danish philosopher and religious author; b. Copenhagen May 6, 1813; d. there Nov. 11, 1855. His father, Michael, a clothing merchant, once cursed God when he was young. This one incident caused him so much distress that it affected him with a deep melancholy, which he transferred to poor Soren. Michael was an evil man. He tricked Soren into thinking that the whole world existed in his own living room by taking him for imaginary walks about the neighborhood, or anywhere Soren wanted to go, as long as it existed in his imagination only. Later in life, when Soren was on his own, he rarely left Copenhagen, but he did walk about the streets and greet passersby, discussing events of the day. After 6 years of “splendid inactivity” he obtained his degree in Theology from the University of Copenhagen with the submission of his thesis paper in 1841, On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates. Just before graduation he fell ...

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Philosophy, Religion

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The Joyful Wisdom, written in 1882, just before Zarathustra, is rightly judged to be one of Nietzsche's best books. Here the essentially grave and masculine face of the poet-philosopher is seen to light up and suddenly break into a delightful smile. The warmth and kindness that beam from his features will astonish those hasty psychologists who have never divined that behind the destroyer is the creator, and behind the blasphemer the lover of life. In the retrospective valuation of his work which appears in Ecce Homo the author himself observes with truth that the fourth book, Sanctus Januarius, deserves especial attention: The whole book is a gift from the Saint, and the introductory verses express my gratitude for the most wonderful month of January that I have ever spent. Book fifth We Fearless Ones, the Appendix Songs of Prince Free-as-a-Bird, and the Preface, were added to the second edition in 1887. (Summary by Dr Oscar Levy)...

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Philosophy, Poetry, Religion

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volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Petals by Amy Lowell. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 27, 2011. Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Lowell was born into Brookline's prominent Lowell family, sister to astronomer Percival Lowell and Harvard president Abbott Lawrence Lowell. She never attended college because her family did not consider that proper for a woman, but she compensated with avid reading and near-obsessive book collecting. She lived as a socialite and travelled widely, turning to poetry in 1902 after being inspired by a performance of Eleonora Duse in Europe. In the post-World War II years, Lowell, like other women writers, was largely forgotten, but with the renaissance of the women's movement in the 1970s, women's studies brought her back to light. According to Heywood Broun, however, Lowell personally argued against feminism. Her poem, “Petals” is published in her collection A Dome of Many-Colored Glass (1912). (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Bob Go...

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Instruction, Nature, Philosophy, Poetry

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THE SIXTY-FOURTH BOOK OF THE HOLY BIBLE CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS TRANSLATED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL TONGUES AND WITH THE FORMER TRANSLATIONS DILIGENTLY COMPARED & REVISED SET FORTH IN 1611 AND COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE KING JAMES VERSION...

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Excerpt: The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth -- 2. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth -- 3. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth -- 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth -- 5. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers -- 6. Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:...

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De l'inégalité parmi les hommes est un essai philosophique d'une centaine de pages environ, richement annoté par l'auteur, introduit par une lettre de louanges à la République de Genève ainsi que par une préface de l'auteur datée du 12 Juin 1754. Le texte, est amené par la question de l'Académie de Dijon : Quelle est l'origine de l'inégalité parmi les hommes et si elle est autorisée par la loi naturelle ? », sur laquelle repose l'essai entier. (Résumé par Wikipédia)...

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Philosophy, Politics

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Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly called Leviathan, is a book written in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes. It is titled after the biblical Leviathan. The book concerns the structure of society (as represented figuratively by the frontispiece, showing the state giant made up of individuals), as is evidenced by the full title. In the book, Thomas Hobbes argues for a social contract and rule by a sovereign. Influenced by the English Civil War, Hobbes wrote that chaos or civil war - situations identified with a state of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes (the war of all against all) - could only be averted by strong central government. He thus denied any right of rebellion toward the social contract. However, Hobbes did discuss the possible dissolution of the State. Since the social contract was made to institute a state that would provide for the peace and defense of the people, the contract would become void as soon as the government no longer protected its citizens. By virtue of this fact, man would automatically return to the state of nature until a new contract...

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Philosophy, Politics

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Excerpt: Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, translated by Thomas Common.

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Contents INTRODUCTION BY MRS FORSTER-NIETZSCHE .................................................................................................. 7 FIRST PART: ZARATHUSTRA?S DISCOURSES........................................................................................................ 19 ZARATHUSTRA?S PROLOGUE ................................................................................................................................. 19 ZARATHUSTRA? DISCOURSES ................................................................................................................................ 33 I. THE THREE METAMORPHOSES ........................................................................................................................... 33 II. THE ACADEMIC CHAIRS OF VIRTUE................................................................................................................. 35 III. BACKWORLDSMEN ........................................................................................................................................... 37 IV. THE DESPISERS OF THE BODY .....................................................

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Excerpt: Selected Writings by Guy de Maupassant: Short Stories of the Tragedy and Comedy of Life with a critical preface by Paul Bourget of the French Academy and an introduction by Robert Arnot, M.A....

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Contents INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................... 15 MADEMOISELLE FIFI ............................................................................................................................................... 22 AN AFFAIR OF STATE............................................................................................................................................... 36 THE ARTIST ................................................................................................................................................................ 46 THE HORLA................................................................................................................................................................ 51 MISS HARRIET........................................................................................................................................................... 80 THE HOLE.........................................................................................................................

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Introduction: Francois Marie Arouet, who called himself Voltaire, was the son of Francois Arouet of Poitou, who lived in Paris, had given up his office of notary two years before the birth of this his third son, and obtained some years afterwards a treasurer?s office in the Chambre des Comptes. Voltaire was born in the year 1694. He lived until within ten or eleven years of the outbreak of the Great French Revolution, and was a chief leader in the movement of thought that preceded the Revolution. Though he lived to his eighty-fourth year, Voltaire was born with a weak body....

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Contents LETTER I.?ON THE QUAKERS .............................................................................................................................. 6 LETTER II.?ON THE QUAKERS .......................................................................................................................... 10 LETTER III.?ON THE QUAKERS ......................................................................................................................... 12 LETTER IV.?ON THE QUAKERS......................................................................................................................... 16 LETTER V.?ON THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND .................................................................................................. 20 LETTER VI.?ON THE PRESBYTERIANS............................................................................................................ 23 LETTER VII.?ON THE SOCINIANS, OR ARIANS, OR ANTITRINITARIANS ............................................. 24 LETTER VIII.?ON THE PARLIAMENT ............................................................................................................... ...

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Excerpt: That the English Church shall be free, and shall have her whole rights and her liberties inviolable; and we will this to be observed in such a manner, that it may appear from thence, that the freedom of elections, which was reputed most requisite to the English Church, which we granted, and by our Charter confirmed, and obtained the Confirmation of the same, from our Lord Pope Innocent the Third, before the rupture between us and our Barons, was of our own free will: which Charter we shall observe, and we will it to be observed with good faith, by our heirs for ever....

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This is an introduction to Einstein’s space-bending, time-stretching theory of Relativity, written by the master himself. Special and General relativity explain the structure of space time and provide a theory of gravitation, respectively. Einstein’s theories shocked the world with their counterintuitive results, including the dissolution of absolute time. In this book he brings a simplified form of his profound understanding of the subject to the layperson. In the words of Einstein: “The present book is intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus of theoretical physics.” The book is challenging at times but, when approached patiently, proves itself one of the most lucid explanations of Relativity to be found anywhere. [Due to transcription or optical character recognition errors in creating online texts, and because of less-than-clear fonts in some printed texts, the variables as read in some of the equations here are not as...

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Science

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The Articles of Confederation: On November 15th, 1777 The Articles of Confederation became the first constitution of the United States, though not yet ratified by the thirteen original colonies. Ratification of the Articles took place almost three and a half years later on March 1st, 1781. The purpose of the articles was to create a confederation of sovereign states with a weak central government; thus allowing state governments to wield most of the power. It wasn’t long before the need for a stronger federal government was realized which led to the Articles being replaced by the United States Constitution. The Articles of Confederation is the common term for The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The U.S. Constitution: The United States Constitution is the legal backbone of the United States of America and comprises the basic laws of the United States Federal Government. Delegates from twelve of the thirteen original colonies put the Constitution’s frame work together in May 1787 in Philadelphia. The Constitution defines the three branches of government and their jurisdictions; they are the Executive Branch (President/V...

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Essay/Short nonfiction, History

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ivil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government) is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican–American War....

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Philosophy, Politics

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Excerpt: A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: ?Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! That?s all right!? He could speak a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood, unless it was the mocking-bird that hung on the other side of the door, whistling his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence....

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Contents THE AWAKENING........................................................................3 Beyond the Bayou.........................................................................86 Ma?ame Pelagie.............................................................................90 Desiree?s Baby...............................................................................95 A Respectable Woman..................................................................99 The Kiss.......................................................................................101 A Pair of Silk Stockings..............................................................103 The Locket..................................................................................106 A Reflection.................................................................................110...

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Walden by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau’s life for two years, two months, and two days around the shores of Walden Pond. Walden is neither a novel nor a true autobiography, but a social critique of the Western World, with each chapter heralding some aspect of humanity that needed to be either renounced or praised. Along with his critique of the civilized world, Thoreau examines other issues afflicting man in society, ranging from economy and reading to solitude and higher laws. He also takes time to talk about the experience at Walden Pond itself, commenting on the animals and the way people treated him for living there, using those experiences to bring out his philosophical positions. This extended commentary on nature has often been interpreted as a strong statement to the natural religion that transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson were preaching. (Description amended from Wikipedia)....

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Nature, Philosophy

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Excerpt: From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty?s rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed?st thy light?s flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. Thou that art now the world?s fresh ornament And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding. Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the world?s due, by the grave and thee....

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Contents 1 From fairest creatures we desire increase, ..................7 2 When forty winters shall beseige thy brow, ................8 3 Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest ........8 4 Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend ..................9 5 Those hours, that with gentle work did frame ............9 6 Then let not winter?s ragged hand deface .................10 7 Lo! in the orient when the gracious light ..................10 8 Music to hear, why hear?st thou music sadly? ..........11 9 Is it for fear to wet a widow?s eye .............................11 10 For shame! deny that thou bear?st love to any, ........12 11 As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest .....12 12 When I do count the clock that tells the time, .........13 13 O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are ..........13 14 Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck; ...........14 15 When I consider every thing that grows ..................14 16 But wherefore do not you a mightier way ...............15 17 Who will believe my verse in time to come, ...........15 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer?s day? ................16...

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Excerpt: You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw.

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This week we’re marking the American Memorial Day with eleven readings of a John Donne poem. Memorial Day was conceived as a time to remember military men and women who had lost their lives in war. Kings and presidents come and go and some of the reasons that wars have come about are now lost from memory or are obscured in our history texts. A consistent aspect of war is that those who fight them are not those who arrange them. The soldiers and sailors who suffer loss of limb, scarred minds or forfeit their lives mostly come from the lower and middle rungs of our societal ladder. They are our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. Once gone, it is the family who notices the empty chair at the family table while society at large knows not their name. Death has captured them and taken them forever from our midst. It has become personal and not a vague philosophical idea. The theme of Donne’s poem is that, though Death is irresistible, it has no cause to be proud. The human spirit and its hope for redemption is indomitable. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of May 27th, 2006. (S...

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Poetry