The Book Reader

Lords of the Stratosphere by Arthur J. Burks audiobook. Genre: scifi At Roosevelt Field, where history-making flights begin and end, the race to conquer the stratosphere turns deadly and strange. Celebrated flier Franz Kress launches first, chasing the glory of breaking the altitude barrier above fifty-five thousand feet - and then vanishes. Rival aviator-scientists Lucian Jeter and Tema Eyer, equal parts competitors and partners in discovery, refuse to let the mystery close the sky. As unnerving reports spread of ghostly columns of light, impossible levitations, and sudden disappearances, they suspect Kress did not simply crash - he found something. Preparing their own experimental ascent, Jeter and Eyer climb into air too thin for ordinary engines and too cold for ordinary courage, driven by ambition, scientific curiosity, and the fear that whatever is happening overhead is not confined to one flight path. High above the familiar world, they encounter baffling phenomena that challenge physics, visibility, and human control, forcing them to choose between personal triumph and urgent responsibility. Fast, pulpy, and packed with early aviation wonder, this classic tale pushes exploration into the realm where the atmosphere ends and the unknown begins. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:14:23) Chapter 02 (00:27:09) Chapter 03 (00:42:00) Chapter 04 (00:55:25) Chapter 05 (01:05:58) Chapter 06 (01:14:33) Chapter 07 (01:27:55) Chapter 08 (01:39:25) Chapter 09 (01:54:11) Chapter 10 (02:06:03) Chapter 11 (02:20:56) Chapter 12 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Romance of Modern Locomotion by Archibald Williams audiobook. Genre: history In the following pages we shall peep into the history of typical companies in Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere; consider the various forms of traction, signals, and other mechanical appliances connected with the working of a railway; notice the effects of railway communication on a country for its peaceful development, or its conquest in war; and make the tour of a typical locomotive factory. These and other matters have been treated as simply as may be, but with sufficient fullness to give the reader a fair idea of what the railway really is, how it has been made, and what the future may have in store for it. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:10:24) Chapter 01 (00:35:35) Chapter 02 (01:01:11) Chapter 03 (01:28:33) Chapter 04 (01:51:57) Chapter 05 (02:12:49) Chapter 06 (02:41:52) Chapter 07 (03:19:23) Chapter 08 (03:58:35) Chapter 09 (04:20:47) Chapter 10 (04:41:43) Chapter 11 (05:07:38) Chapter 12 (05:25:27) Chapter 13 (05:48:17) Chapter 14 (06:26:00) Chapter 15 (06:45:35) Chapter 16 (07:17:35) Chapter 17 (07:49:55) Chapter 18 (08:07:50) Chapter 19 (08:46:20) Chapter 20 (09:08:20) Chapter 21 (09:26:52) Chapter 22 (09:43:55) Chapter 23 (10:02:25) Chapter 24 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Romance of Mining by Archibald Williams audiobook. Genre: history Any writer on mining in its general aspect is, when casting about for a starting-point, driven to express what others have said before him-that the history of mining is the history of civilization. The following pages, while touching on the chief branches of the mining industry, must necessarily omit reference to many of the great treasure-houses of the world. Special prominence has been given to the precious metals, because their discovery and working has witnessed the most stirring scenes in mining life. We have the whole world to roam over; so excursions are made into those spots where typical or prominent instances of mining of various minerals are to be found. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:23:36) Chapter 02 (00:46:23) Chapter 03 (01:31:54) Chapter 04 (02:00:25) Chapter 05 (02:19:19) Chapter 06 (02:44:14) Chapter 07 (03:21:24) Chapter 08 (03:58:58) Chapter 09 (04:57:23) Chapter 10 (05:11:13) Chapter 11 (05:25:46) Chapter 12 (05:49:16) Chapter 13 (06:13:05) Chapter 14 (06:54:47) Chapter 15 (07:15:03) Chapter 16 (07:44:31) Chapter 17 (08:22:03) Chapter 18 (09:00:37) Chapter 19 (09:31:28) Chapter 20 (09:43:16) Chapter 21 (10:03:29) Chapter 22 (10:17:34) Chapter 23 (10:34:59) Chapter 24 (10:47:56) Chapter 25 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clergymen of the Church of England by Anthony Trollope audiobook. Genre: history In Clergymen of the Church of England, Anthony Trollope turns his sharp eye from the drawing rooms of his novels to the pulpits, parsonages, and corridors of power that shaped Victorian religious life. Across ten connected essays, he sketches a living map of the Church's hierarchy and its working realities: the modern archbishop no longer a political prince, bishops balancing dignity with administration, deans and archdeacons guarding tradition, and parish clergy trying to do daily pastoral labor with limited means and rising public scrutiny. Trollope moves from rural parsons to overburdened town incumbents, from the college fellow who has taken orders to the underpaid curate in a crowded parish, and outward to Ireland where a beneficed clergyman faces isolation and hostility. Witty, candid, and sometimes cutting, these portraits are less about private saints than about systems: status, income, ambition, reform, and the moral pressure of serving a national church in an age that is changing faster than its institutions. The final essay, touching the storm around Bishop Colenso, places doctrine and controversy alongside the human costs of ecclesiastical politics. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:19:21) Chapter 02 (00:37:59) Chapter 03 (00:51:43) Chapter 04 (01:05:25) Chapter 05 (01:20:14) Chapter 06 (01:34:46) Chapter 07 (01:50:32) Chapter 08 (02:05:39) Chapter 09 (02:23:13) Chapter 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nerves and common sense by Annie Payson Call audiobook. Genre: self help In Nerves and Common Sense, Annie Payson Call offers a calm, practical guide for anyone worn down by worry, overstimulation, and the exhausting feeling of living on edge. Writing with the voice of a trusted counselor, Call explores how nervous strain can creep into ordinary days through hurried habits, tense muscles, restless thoughts, and the constant pressure to do more. Rather than treating 'nerves' as a personal failing, she reframes them as a condition that can be eased through attention, patience, and sensible training. Across a series of short, focused reflections, she invites listeners to notice the small ways they waste strength - bracing against discomfort, arguing with reality, or trying to control what cannot be controlled - and to replace those patterns with steadier routines. Her central conflict is simple but urgent: how to live with clearer judgment and healthier energy when modern life encourages tension and distraction. With gentle humor and firm common sense, Call emphasizes relaxation, self-command, and the quiet power of choosing responses instead of reacting. The result is a timeless companion for anyone seeking steadier nerves, better habits, and a more balanced inner life. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:04:18) Chapter 02 (00:23:59) Chapter 03 (00:40:24) Chapter 04 (00:56:49) Chapter 05 (01:12:55) Chapter 06 (01:29:44) Chapter 07 (01:42:01) Chapter 08 (01:49:18) Chapter 09 (01:58:13) Chapter 10 (02:14:13) Chapter 11 (02:27:54) Chapter 12 (02:36:09) Chapter 13 (02:44:05) Chapter 14 (02:51:31) Chapter 15 (03:00:06) Chapter 16 (03:17:25) Chapter 17 (03:26:12) Chapter 18 (03:32:42) Chapter 19 (03:42:09) Chapter 20 (03:46:21) Chapter 21 (03:57:22) Chapter 22 (04:04:33) Chapter 23 (04:11:08) Chapter 24 (04:19:18) Chapter 25 (04:36:07) Chapter 26 (04:57:55) Chapter 27 (05:17:39) Chapter 28 (05:37:09) Chapter 29 (05:55:07) Chapter 30 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Astrophel and Other Poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne audiobook. Genre: poetry Astrophel and Other Poems is a late-Victorian collection in which Algernon Charles Swinburne turns his lush, musical lyricism toward memory, landscape, and the lives of writers and heroes who shaped the English imagination. The opening sequence, 'Astrophel', is sparked by reading Sir Philip Sidneys Arcadia in the garden of an old manor, and it sets the tone for a book that moves between private reverie and public address. Across sea-coast meditations and Highland scenes, Swinburne evokes wind, surf, heather, and starlight with a painterly intensity, then pivots into ceremonial pieces that test how poetry can speak for a nation or a school, as in the ringing odes to England and Eton. Threaded through the volume are elegiac tributes and formal laments for prominent figures, including poems on the deaths of Richard Burton and Robert Browning, as well as a tombeau for Banville, where admiration meets grief and artistry becomes an act of remembrance. Myth and pagan afterglow also surface in visionary passages and ballad forms, giving the collection a restless sweep from the intimate to the monumental. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:09:32) Chapter 02 (00:32:33) Chapter 03 (00:45:55) Chapter 04 (01:02:34) Chapter 05 (01:10:25) Chapter 06 (01:20:10) Chapter 07 (01:30:33) Chapter 08 (01:34:37) Chapter 09 (01:40:23) Chapter 10 (01:48:23) Chapter 11 (01:52:10) Chapter 12 (01:54:20) Chapter 13 (01:56:07) Chapter 14 (01:58:38) Chapter 15 (02:02:48) Chapter 16 (02:13:36) Chapter 17 (02:22:16) Chapter 18 (02:23:55) Chapter 19 (02:27:01) Chapter 20 (02:30:12) Chapter 21 (02:33:32) Chapter 22 (02:34:47) Chapter 23 (02:37:44) Chapter 24 (02:40:20) Chapter 25 (02:41:45) Chapter 26 (02:43:04) Chapter 27 (02:52:08) Chapter 28 (02:59:31) Chapter 29 (03:00:49) Chapter 30 (03:03:20) Chapter 31 (03:04:34) Chapter 32 (03:08:53) Chapter 33 (03:15:16) Chapter 34 (03:16:38) Chapter 35 (03:17:53) Chapter 36 (03:21:32) Chapter 37 (03:22:47) Chapter 38 (03:27:25) Chapter 39 (03:31:05) Chapter 40 (03:38:24) Chapter 41 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Spirit of the Cure of Ars by Alfred Monnin audiobook. Genre: religion In The Spirit of the Cure of Ars, Alfred Monnin gathers the living voice of St. John Mary Vianney, the famed parish priest of Ars, whose plain speech and relentless charity drew crowds of penitents to a tiny French village in the 1800s. Rather than a conventional biography, this work presents Vianney as his people knew him: a pastor teaching catechism, preaching short sermons, offering exhortations, and answering the everyday fears and questions of ordinary believers. Across these pages, his guidance returns again and again to the inner battleground of the soul: resisting temptation, recognizing sin without despair, and rebuilding a life around prayer, the sacraments, and trust in God's mercy. Vianney's words are simple, vivid, and urgent, shaped by long hours in the confessional and a conviction that holiness is possible for anyone who begins again. Readers will also find reflections on the Holy Spirit, devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the meaning of suffering, and the practical habits that keep faith from growing cold. The result is a compact treasury of Catholic spiritual counsel, aimed at awakening conscience and strengthening hope. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:05:09) Chapter 01 (00:51:11) Chapter 02 (01:44:34) Chapter 03 (02:44:23) Chapter 04 (03:21:31) Chapter 05 (03:53:00) Chapter 06 (04:47:46) Chapter 07 (05:28:33) Chapter 08 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lost Oases by Ahmed Hassanein audiobook. Genre: adventure In 1923, Egyptian diplomat and explorer Ahmed Hassanein sets out with a small caravan of guides, attendants, and stubborn camels on a gamble that borders on obsession: to cross the Libyan Desert and confirm the rumored whereabouts of oases that exist, for most of the world, only in fragments of tradition and the half-finished notes of earlier expeditions. First published in 1925, The Lost Oases is Hassanein's firsthand account of the miles of sand and stone, the brutal arithmetic of water and direction, and the delicate human negotiations that make survival possible when maps become guesses. As the journey pushes farther from the familiar, Hassanein must balance scientific purpose with the realities of desert life: tribal custom, wary local powers, and the ever-present threat of exhaustion, illness, and a single wrong decision. Vivid scenes of night camps, wind-scoured horizons, and hard-won companionship are paired with reflections on faith, fatalism, and the strange clarity that solitude can bring. Part expedition record, part spiritual travel narrative, this is an intimate portrait of endurance and discovery at the edge of the known world. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:12:55) Chapter 02 (00:22:02) Chapter 03 (00:39:42) Chapter 04 (00:54:04) Chapter 05 (01:15:43) Chapter 06 (01:29:02) Chapter 07 (01:41:37) Chapter 08 (01:57:48) Chapter 09 (02:30:15) Chapter 10 (02:59:36) Chapter 11 (03:36:47) Chapter 12 (03:57:26) Chapter 13 (04:18:33) Chapter 14 (04:44:06) Chapter 15 (05:06:51) Chapter 16 (05:29:08) Chapter 17 (06:01:36) Chapter 18 (06:29:12) Chapter 19 (06:52:39) Chapter 20 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three Midnight Stories by Alexander W. Drake audiobook. Genre: horror Alexander W. Drake was a well-regarded illustrator and engraver, spending much of his career at the vaunted Scribner's Monthly magazine (which would become The Century magazine eventually). What many were not aware of is that Drake also produced three short stories, printed in The Century over the course of a couple months, that captured a strange and otherworldly beauty in the human condition. A man obsessed with designing the perfect haunted house. A curious vehicle built to capture a most exquisite fleeting moment of beauty. A songbird in a cage that takes flight through happenstance but to arrive later a miracle. These stories show a true talent that never fully realized his potential. Still what we are left with are odd and entrancing pieces suitable to strike an atmosphere of mystery and wonder. Also included in this collection are appreciations by peers of Drake as well as two poems he published during roughly the same time as the stories included. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:06:41) Chapter 01 (00:25:27) Chapter 02 (00:26:24) Chapter 03 (01:01:33) Chapter 04 (01:02:32) Chapter 05 (01:15:38) Chapter 06 (01:24:36) Chapter 07 (01:34:27) Chapter 08 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bucking the Tiger by Achmed Abdullah audiobook. Genre: mystery A group of down-and-outers decide on the ultimate gamble: they will bankroll one of themselves, chosen by lot, to live well for a year. Then the one chosen must commit suicide after that year, so that the others can cash in on his life insurance policy. Complications arise when the 'lucky winner' finds an unexpected turn in his fortunes. How can he get out of it with his honor intact, or will he 'welch' on the deal? 'Bucking the tiger' refers to the game of Faro, one of the most popular card games played in saloons and gambling halls in the 1800s. The name is thought to have come from early card backs that featured a drawing of a Bengal tiger. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:11:17) Chapter 02 (00:35:36) Chapter 03 (00:51:23) Chapter 04 (01:08:18) Chapter 05 (01:32:19) Chapter 06 (01:49:04) Chapter 07 (02:07:44) Chapter 08 (02:29:39) Chapter 09 (02:50:26) Chapter 10 (03:07:02) Chapter 11 (03:27:28) Chapter 12 (03:47:41) Chapter 13 (04:01:58) Chapter 14 (04:18:32) Chapter 15 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices