Showing results by narrator "Charles Featherstone" in All Categories

The last volume of Chesterton's collected essays, Gathered from the London Mercury, the New Witness, and the Illustrated London News, it is the only volume from after WWI, and is most serious, philosophical, and socially direct collection.

The Teachers of mankind are few. A thousand years may pass by without the advent of such a one; but when the True Teacher does appear, the distinguishing feature by which he is known is his life. His conduct is different from that of other men, and his teaching is never derived from any man or book, but from his own life. The Teacher first lives, and then teaches others how they may likewise live. The proof and witness of his teaching is in himself, his life.

In this unusual departure from his usual practical and direct style, Allen here writes a series of thoughtful, reflective and inspirational poems laying out his unique thoughts in a new style. Spiritual, secular, and deeply embedded in the genuine practice of faith, the book begins with Eolaus, an extended work following a man struggling through the depths of his spiritual sorrow, comforted and assailed by the vocies of earth and nature.

A deeper dive into the territory covered in Allen's most popular and enduring work. Written in the year of his death, and nine years after the success of As A Man Thinketh allowed the gentle and practical Victorian philosopher to dedicate himself to writing, Out From The Heart, Allen goes into more practical detail than ever before about how to realise the personal growth journey in your own life.

Let this beautiful book of affirmations guide and soothe your day. Soft, profound, reflective, and beautiful, they perfectly embody James Allen's integrated and spiritual life. Thirty-one thoughts for the beginning and end of the day from one of the original pioneers of the self-help movement, these softly spoken and hypnotically beautiful passages are set to gentle music to help you internalise and sublimate thoughts and habits of right action.

The most popular and well-known of Allen's bestselling self-help books, As A Man Thinketh is a pocket companion for thoughtful people, about the power and right application of thought.

The Rapture, a Christian term, is allegory for a natural cyclic evolutionary process that materializes internally deep in the Mind when corruption and lawlessness overtake the societal norm and decay sets in. This “new Man” (the developing Mental structure) begins replacing the outer world authorities at all levels of society, revealing a process of “God’s Eternal Kingdom” descending into the World, creating a “Heavenly Government on Earth”.

A guide to life from one of the very first self-help authors, deeply immersed in both humble Christian living and Buddhism.

A fascinating mix of Christian, Buddhist, and Daoist thought presented by the original self-help guru in 1910.

’Jane ’came out’ at fifty-seven and everybody knew it.’ So begins this heartwarming tale of a courteous country maid who comes into a vast inheritance, and uses it to travel into high society in London. along the way, she encounters the snobs of the society set, royalty entirely without regality, and a whole host of characters that make clear just how much better off she is away from the glitz and glamour.

Marie Corelli, the Victorian novelist beloved of Gladstone, Churchill and Victoria herself, topped the bestseller charts through her whole career. This tale of romance, mystery, and foolish tourism was published in 1897, the same year in which Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. In her inimitable style, she weaves together dark romance, the paranormal, savage social commentary, ridiculous but entirely believable characters, and more in an energetic ride through the 'Society Set' as they take the season in Cairo.

A selection of the very best of Chinese poetry over the course of a thousand years, from 100 years before Christ was born up of the middle ages. Arthur Waley's translations of Chinese poetry are still the benchmark by which such translations are held, nearly two hundred years after he introduced the west to the wonder of classical Chinese poetry.

There have been many translators of Chinese literature and poetry over time, but Arthur Waley stands out as one of the best known and most loved. This is perhaps because he had an attribute that most others lacked, which is his poetic abilities. Waley was as much a poet himself as a translator, and while his scholarly erudition was matched by a few others at his time, none ever managed to bring out the true character of Chinese poetry quite so well.

The great fantasy writer Lord Dunsany wrote very little in the way of fantasy after the onset of the First World War. This was partly because he was busy, having volunteered in 1915 and becoming a Captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Derry. However, the reality of the world bore in on our hero at this time, and it is not difficult to imagine that his heart moved to more serious concerns. Dunsany’s days of high fantasy, it seems, ended with the emergence of civil unrest in his nation.

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett was born into a very unusual situation in 1878. He was the eldest scion of a family that had lived in the oldest castle in Ireland since its construction in 1180 CE, and became the 18th Baron Dunsany in 1899 at the age of 21, when his father passed away. He was a soldier, lord, military trainer, propaganda writer, activist, and invented Dunsany’s Chess, in which one player has four ranks of pawns and no other pieces. He published mostly first drafts, writing short stories, fantasy novels, plays, and poems, with over 90 publications in his lifetime.

In 1638, in the first age of modern astronomy, as the starts opened up to us, the scientists of the time found themselves bound into fantastical visions based on their new knowledge. This was perhaps the first 'hard' sci fi, at least based on the cutting edge of knowledge from the time. Drawing on contemporary theories of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Gilbert, the inhabitants of the Moon in this story are a tall Christian people encountered by a roguish hero who must learn of their lands, and gains items that allow the control of light, heat, and gravity.

A great primer on the history of Japanese art as it evolved under the Buddhist (and later Zen) movements embedding in Japan's culture. Written by the first great populariser of Chinese and Japanese cultural artefacts, including translating a great number of Chinese poems and literary works.

One of the four central works in Daoism. The Lie-Tzu, or Liezi, was originally thought to have been composed in the same period as the Dao and Zhuang Zi, around the 5th century BCE. However, it is now believed to have been compiled nearly a thousand years later, around 400 CE.

Written in 1835, this is a unique example of sci-fi wrtten by a man much better known for dark and fantastical horror. Intended by Poe to be a hoax, this tale describes a journey in a balloon that includes the view of the Earth from space and a volcanic, seething satellite.

Why do we write? What does it mean to be a writer? This book contains no useful tips on grammar, style, or plot. Instead, it focuses on the observation and perspective that is needed to be a good writer—on the fact that writing is an expression of the art of living. A lovely journey through a very Edwardian world.