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The Notebooks of Leonardo Da VinciPREFACEA singular fatality has ruled the destiny of nearly all the most famous of Leonardo da Vinci’s works. Two of the three most important were never completed, obstacles having arisen during his life-time, which obliged him to leave them unfinished; namely the Sforza Monument and the Wall-painting of the Battle of Anghiari, while the third–the picture of the Last Supper at Milan–has suffered irremediable injury from decay and the repeated restorations to which it was recklessly subjected during the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. Nevertheless, no other picture of the Renaissance has become so wellknown and popular through copies of every description. Vasari says, and rightly, in his Life of Leonardo, that he laboured much more by his word than in fact or by deed, and the biographer evidently had in his mind the numerous works in Manuscript which have been preserved t

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“The wrongdoing of one generation lives into the successive ones and… becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief.” Hawthorne’s moral for “The House of the Seven Gables,” taken from the Preface, accurately presages his story. The full weight of the gloomy mansion of the title seems to sit on the fortunes of the Pyncheon family. An ancestor took advantage of the Salem witch trials to wrest away the land whereon the house would be raised… but the land’s owner, about to be executed as a wizard, cursed the Pyncheon family until such time as they should make restitution. Now, almost two centuries later, the family is in real distress. Hepzibah, an old maid and resident of the house, is forced by advanced poverty to open a shop in a part of the house. Her brother Clifford has just been released from prison after serving a thirty-year sentence for murder, and his mind struggles to maintain any kind of hold on reality. Cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon is making himself odious by threatening to have Clifford committed to an institution. And after all these years, the deed to a vast tract of land, that would settle great wealth on the family, is still missing. One bright ray of sunshine enters the house when cousin Phoebe arrives for an extended stay to allow unhappy matters in her end of the family to sort themselves out. While she lightens the lives of Hepzibah and Clifford, she also attracts the attention of a mysterious lodger named Holgrave, who has placed himself near the Pyncheon family for reasons that only come clear at the end of the story. The real crisis arrives when the Judge, who strongly resembles the Colonel Pyncheon who built the house so many years ago, steps up his demands on Hepzibah and Clifford and unwittingly triggers the curse.

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Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Historical Fiction, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables

Bulfinch’s Mythology, first published in 1855, is one of the most popular collections of mythology of all time. It consists of three volumes: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and Legends of Charlemagne. This is a recording of the tenth edition of the first volume, The Age of Fable. It contains many Greek and Roman myths, including simplified versions of The Iliad and The Odyssey, as well as a selection of Norse and “eastern” myths. Thomas Bulfinch’s goal was to make the ancient myths accessible to a wide audience, and so it is suitable for children. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Religion & Spirituality

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A sequel to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s earlier volume of Greek mythology interpreted and retold for young people, Tanglewood Tales includes more legends and tales of ancient heroes and monsters. In his earlier book, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, Hawthorne had designed the book to be a book within a book. A young college student keeps a group of young children entertained by retelling Greek myths in a way in which they can easily understand. Nathaniel Hawthorne also wrote a brief introduction to Tanglewood Tales, entitled The Wayside. Eustace Bright, the student in the earlier book, makes an appearance here too and reveals that he has compiled more such stories for his young audience. Tanglewood Tales contains six famous stories. The first one is Theseus and the Minotaur, in which the Greek hero Theseus slays the terrible monster who lives in a Labyrinth below the palace of King Minos. He is helped by Princess Ariadne, who falls in love with the young stranger who comes to slay the fabled creature and deliver the citizens of the land from the evil beast. The second story describes one of the incidents from the Odyssey. The Palace of Circe recounts the legend of the loathsome monster, Circe, who turns all people into beasts. How the brave Ulysses saves his men and other unfortunate people whom Circe has enslaved is told in an entertaining and exciting manner. The legend of Prosperina, her mother Ceres the Earth Goddess and the dark ruler of the Underworld, Vulcan is told in the third story, The Pomegranate Seeds. The story of Antaeus, son of Poseidon and Gaia is retold in The Pygmies. This is a little known story, set in Africa and is based on both Greek and Berber legends. The Dragon’s Teeth is a delightful retelling of the myth of Europa and her brothers. One of the brothers, Cadmus, who is the only one of the family left behind after Zeus abducts Europa, slays a monstrous dragon who preys upon the surrounding villages. The goddess Athena advises Cadmus to sow the dragon’s teeth in the ground and a race of fine warriors springs up, and thus is built the city of Cadmeia the capital of Thebes. The last story is one of the most famous in Greek mythology: Jason and The Golden Fleece. Tanglewood Tales is indeed a charming volume to be read in tandem with the Wonder-book and it will perhaps spur young readers to delve more into the immortal Greek myths and legends of yore. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Classics (antiquity), ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Myths/Legends, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales

The Social Contract outlines Rousseau’s views on political justice, explaining how a just and legitimate state is to be founded, organized and administered. Rousseau sets forth, in his characteristically brazen and iconoclastic manner, the case for direct democracy, while simultaneously casting every other form of government as illegitimate and tantamount to slavery. Often hailed as a revolutionary document which sparked the French Revolution, The Social Contract serves both to inculcate dissatisfaction with actually-existing governments and to allow its readers to envision and desire a radically different form of political and social organization. (Summary by Eric Jonas)

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Of The Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche says in Ecce Homo: “If anyone should desire to obtain a rapid sketch of how everything before my time was standing on its head, he should begin reading me in this book. That which is called ‘Idols’ on the title-page is simply the old truth that has been believed in hitherto. In plain English, The Twilight of the Idols means that the old truth is on its last legs.” Certain it is that, for a rapid survey of the whole of Nietzsche’s doctrine, no book, save perhaps the section entitled “Of Old and New Tables” in Thus Spake Zarathustra, could be of more real value than The Twilight of the Idols. Here Nietzsche is quite at his best. He is ripe for the marvellous feat of the transvaluation of all values. Nowhere is his language – that marvellous weapon which in his hand became at once so supple and so murderous – more forcible and more condensed. Nowhere are his thoughts more profound. But all this does not by any means imply that this book is the easiest of Nietzsche’s works. On the contrary, I very much fear that unless the reader is well prepared, not only in Nietzscheism, but also in the habit of grappling with uncommon and elusive problems, a good deal of the contents of this work will tend rather to confuse than to enlighten him in regard to what Nietzsche actually wishes to make clear in these pages. (Excerpt from A. Ludovici’s Preface)

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The title, “History of Holland,” given to this volume is fully justified by the predominant part which the great maritime province of Holland took in the War of Independence and throughout the whole of the subsequent history of the Dutch state and people.

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A story for children about a little bear with no name, “there were not enough names to go round,” and his adventures in finding one. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

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Tags: animals, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Laura Rountree Smith, Little Bear, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com

An early science fiction novel written by the second most translated author, French writer Jules Verne, the classic tale depicts an incredible sea expedition on board a state-of-the-art submarine. First published in 1870 and a part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series, the novel is regarded as one of the most thrilling adventure stories and one of Verne’s greatest pieces of work. Immersed in themes of exploration, avant-garde technology, and man’s insatiable desire for knowledge and scientific progression, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea has been an influence for many writers as well as an inspiration for numerous film adaptations. The novel kicks off when rumors spread about sightings of a mysterious sea monster, initially thought to be a giant narwhal. This instigates the United States government to organize an expedition in hopes of hunting down and destroying the ravaging creature. Consequently, French marine biologist Pierre Aronnax is invited to join the expedition, who takes with him his trusted servant Conseil, along with expert harpooner Ned Land, and accordingly the trio set about the search. Following a lengthy pursuit, the ship finally finds and attacks the monster but to no avail, as the impact hurls the three men into the water. In an attempt to grasp the hide of the monster, the men come to a startling discovery as they realize the supposed monster is in fact a submarine. The men are then captured and brought inside the futuristic vessel, which they later find out is named Nautilus, and meet its enigmatic commander and creator, Captain Nemo. So begins the journey on board the Nautilus, as its three coerced guests travel across all the world’s seas visiting different underwater locations while witnessing the most bizarre, yet gripping marvels of the oceanic depths. Shipwrecks, giant squids, sharks, lost cities, coral reefs, whirlpools and an eccentric captain are just some of the obstacles separating the trio from their freedom. An exhilarating subaqueous adventure through unseen wonders, Verne’s detailed and prophetic imagination propels the novel and secures its position as a literary classic and a pristine model for science fiction enthusiasts.

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Le Morte d’Arthur (spelled Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions, Middle French for la mort d’Arthur, “the death of Arthur”) is Sir Thomas Malory’s compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. The book contains some of Malory’s own original material (the Gareth story) and retells the older stories in light of Malory’s own views and interpretations. First published in 1485 by William Caxton, Le Morte d’Arthur is perhaps the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today. Many modern Arthurian writers have used Malory as their source, including T. H. White for his popular The Once and Future King.

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Elnora Comstock is a sixteen year old girl who lives on the edge of the famous Limberlost swamp in Indiana. Her widowed mother is a cold and bitter woman who deprives Elnora of all that a young girl’s heart desires. The mother lives in a fog of depression caused by Elnora’s father’s tragic death on the night Elnora was born. She ekes out a living from a small poultry business, but refuses to exploit the resources of the forest land around her like the rest of their neighbors. Elnora is a brilliant student, but financial problems hinder her from continuing her education. She begins to catch moths from the swamp to sell to collectors and slowly resumes her studies. How Elnora and her mother come to understand each other and overcome their difficulties is told in the rest of this famous classic, A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. First published in 1909, the book is one of the author’s best known works. Gene Stratton Porter was an American naturalist, wild-life photographer and author who was also credited with setting up the first movie studio and production company to be owned by a woman. Many of her novels became instant best-sellers and her books and newspaper columns reached an estimated fifty million readers at one time. Being a passionate nature conservationist, she used much of her income to support the eco-system of the Limberlost Swamp, which has now almost disappeared due to oil-rigs and construction activity in and around it. She and her husband built a large home near the swamp, but when their efforts to curtail the draining of the swamp and protect its wetlands failed, they moved to another location in Indiana. Both homes are now historic sites and museums managed by the government. A Girl of the Limberlost may seem contradictory in its message to today’s readers. Elnora who loves nature sees it only as a resource to be exploited whereas her mother, a presumably unfeeling person, refuses to cut down the trees for timber. However, there are many other social issues also discussed in the book such as peer pressure, ostracism, unhealthy grief, alcoholism, parental neglect and the dichotomy between social classes. Towards the end of the book, Elnora grows into a mature young lady and must face the travails of romance and disappointment before she can find her own Mr Right. Adapted several times for stage, screen and TV, A Girl of the Limberlost is a classic that would certainly be a great addition to your bookshelf.

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As children, our first experience of the magic of talking animals, the conflict between good and evil, the battle of wits between the cunning and the innocent most probably came from Aesop’s Fables. These delightful, pithy and brief narratives are simple, easy to understand and convey their message in a memorable and charming fashion. Aesop’s Fables by Aesop consists of about 600 tales, some well-loved and familiar, others less known but just as entertaining and educative and help us map the perimeters of our moral universe. Fables have existed almost since the dawn of time. They hark back to a time when humans and animals lived in harmony and mutual respect. We humans could learn a great deal from the uncomplicated justice and the commonsense values of the animal kingdom. Animals are endowed with immutable personal traits like foxes being cunning, donkeys being patient, lions being proud and wolves being cruel. There is very little biographical information about Aesop. He is reputed to have been born a slave in Samos in ancient Greece in about 600 BC. He earned his liberty through his learning and wit and went on to become a respected diplomat and traveler. Ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle, historians like Plutarch and Herodotus mention Aesop’s fables in their works. Today, these immortal fables have come down to us, as fresh and pristine as they were when they were first told. Aesop’s fables were known at the time of Socrates in the 5th century BC, when they were recounted in oral form. However, they were systematically compiled sometime in 300 BC by a Greek philosopher Demetrius Phalereus. The fables gradually vanished from popular literature till the 14th century AD when they re-surfaced in Byzantine Constantinople. Since then, they traversed with traders and diplomats to Europe and then to the rest of the world. Generations of children have enjoyed old favorites like The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Bear and Two Travelers, The Hare and the Tortoise, The Hen who laid Golden Eggs, The Thirsty Crow, The Lion and the Mouse and many others found in this volume along with less familiar ones. Their charm lies in their simplicity and the plain, straightforward way in which they deliver universal values of honesty, compassion and justice and teach us to shun pride, greed, envy and other negative qualities. They provide an enduring foundation for inculcating values and ethics in children and are at the same time, amusing and entertaining. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Education, Kids & Family

Tags: Aesop, Aesop's Fables, animals, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Fairy tales, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Languages, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Philosophy, satire

This is a collection of ten short, entertaining, informative picture-book biographies of famous composers. Each book tells about the childhood and great achievements of a composer, and includes a short musical example.

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Tags: audio books, audiobook, Biography, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, music, Stories of Great Composers for Children, Teen/Young adult, Thomas Tapper

Regarded as one of Grahame’s most distinguished short stories, the children’s classic was first published in 1898 and featured in Dream Days, a reminiscent short story collection for children, and has also been adapted into a feature film from Walt Disney Productions. The story centers on the events following the discovery of a dragon living inside a cave near a small town, which its residents perceive as dangerous and a threat to their safety, whereas as a young boy goes out of his way to prove the dragon’s harmless nature. Offering a positive glimpse of compassion, loyalty, and friendship, the classic serves as an early instance of a tale in which a dragon is presented in a good light, far from its previous stereotypical depiction as a menacing beast. The story sets into motion when a young shepherd boy discovers a dragon residing in a cave near his family home and village. Having read many stories concerning dragons, the young boy has adopted an open-minded attitude toward the feared creature, and quickly befriends the dragon. Moreover, the dragon demonstrates a love for poetry which confirms his intelligence and civility, and also gives an account of his life. However, the townspeople soon learn of the dragon’s dwelling and things quickly escalate, as they perceive him as a danger to them all and a problem that needs to be dealt with accordingly. Although the young boy welcomes him with open arms, the townspeople, on the other hand, are not convinced of its harmless intentions and unanimously agree that the beast should be vanquished. Subsequently, St. George arrives and is appointed the task of ridding the town of its unwelcome guest. So, St. George, the dragon, and the shepherd boy are thrown into a thrilling predicament, as they must join forces and come up with a solution that will fulfill everyone’s wishes. Containing all the vital elements to stir a child’s imagination including absorbing characters, an exciting plot, humor, rich descriptions, and delightful twists, The Reluctant Dragon is a gripping tale ideal for children in search of excitement, as well as for older readers who wish to take a trip down memory lane.

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Tags: Adventure, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fantasy, fiction, free audio books, Kenneth Grahame, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, The Reluctant Dragon

Anyone who’s ever visited the Yosemite National Park will find this book a treasure trove of descriptions, information and evocations of the fabled beauty of this amazing piece of heaven on earth! The Yosemite by John Muir was published in 1912. Born in Scotland, England, this world-famous conservationist was a multi-talented genius. He was a geologist, naturalist, engineer, writer, botanist and a passionate and prolific writer on the preservation of the natural environment. His family migrated to America when he was just a few years old, the third of eight boisterous children. He went on to study chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, and had a moment of epiphany when a friend of his plucked a flower from a tree on campus to explain its botanical structure. An unfortunate accident almost cost him his eyesight and it was while he was confined to a darkened room to convalesce that he rediscovered his passion for nature and beauty. From 1889 onwards, he was associated closely with the creation of the Yosemite National Park which happened a year later. He later founded the Sierra Club to encourage conservation and protection of this magnificent landscape. The book is sheer reading pleasure, especially when it’s read aloud. John Muir’s language is poetic and lyrical, creating wonderful word pictures of the Yosemite. Muir has acquired almost iconic status in the annals of this great national park and his statue adorns a prominent place there. His love of the outdoors is reflected in his feeling of joy and exhilaration as he describes the towering mountain ranges, the sparkling waterfalls and the shadowy valleys. He was also a keen social scientist who felt that grave injustice had been done to the Native Americans by pushing them further and further away from their hereditary lands. The Yosemite is indeed a great addition to your bookshelf!

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Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West in medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great work that can be called Classical. Consolation of Philosophy was written during Boethius’ one year imprisonment while awaiting trial, and eventual horrific execution, for the crime of treason by Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power in Rome and was brought down by treachery. It was from this experience he was inspired to write a philosophical book from prison reflecting on how a lord’s favor could change so quickly and why friends would turn against him. It has been described as ‘by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen.’ The Consolation of Philosophy stands, by its note of fatalism and its affinities with the Christian doctrine of humility, midway between the heathen philosophy of Seneca the Younger and the later Christian philosophy of consolation represented by Thomas Aquinas. – The book is heavily influenced by Plato and his dialogues (as was Boethius himself). More great books at LoyalBooks.com

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This work presents Rousseau’s belief in the profoundly transformational effects of the development of civilization on human nature, which Rousseau claims other political philosophers had failed to grasp. Specifically, before the onset of civilization, according to Rousseau, natural man lived a contented, solitary life, naturally good and happy. It is only with the onset of civilization, Rousseau claims, that humans become social beings, and, concomitant with their civilization, natural man becomes corrupted with the social vices of pride, vanity, greed and servility. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

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Tags: A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Essay/Short nonfiction, fiction, free audio books, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Politics

Its immortal opening lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” set the stage for a sweeping narrative that combines drama, glory, honor, history, romance, brutality, sacrifice and resurrection. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of the most widely read and famous works of historical fiction in the English language. Dickens had recently launched his magazine All the Year Round in 1859. In the same year, he began featuring A Tale of Two Cities in 31 weekly installments in his new magazine. The book was eventually combined into a single copy and split into three major sections as it is presented today. In this epic tale of love and tragedy set during the turbulent times of the French Revolution in 1789, the motif of two’s appears constantly as opposing sides of the same coin. London and Paris are the two cities, Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay are the two heroes, Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge are the pure and evil women respectively, and these along with shadows and darkness, sacrifice and dishonor, brutality and spirituality form the recurring dual motifs in the novel. Sidney Carton, a young, debauched and dissolute English barrister defends a young French aristocrat Charles Darnay accused of treason in London. The two bear a striking resemblance to each other. Lucie Manette, a lovely young French girl and her father Dr. Manette, who had suffered under the atrocities of the nobility in France, now live a quiet life in London. Charles and Lucie are in love, but Sidney Carton also falls in love with her. Meanwhile in France, the storm of revolution is about to break. A wine store owner and Dr. Manette’s former servant, Monsieur Defarge, leads the revolutionaries. His wife, Madame Defarge is a vicious woman who revels in cruelty. She too has suffered under the aristocratic regime and now seeks to destroy all those who persecuted her. Charles Darnay returns to Paris to rescue an old servant of his who has been captured by the revolutionaries. He is captured by the rebels and condemned to be executed by guillotine. The story then takes several dramatic twists and turns before reaching its final and most unexpected conclusion. As one of the most exciting and deeply moving stories penned by a brilliant and gifted story teller, A Tale of Two Cities is indeed a riveting and unforgettable experience for readers of all ages. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

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