Short stories that are unfulfilled episodes in the lives various characters without clear resolutions. There are no happy endings. Life just goes on, or doesn't. Checkhov negates all things fairy tale in favour of stark reality. Not one to read for escapism, but for some magnificent insights into the human condition.

A profoundly influential figure in American psychology, William James (1842–1910) was also a philosopher of note, who used Charles S. Peirce's theories of pragmatism as a basis for his own conception of that influential philosophy. For James, this meant an emphasis on "radical empiricism" and the concept that the meaning of any idea — philosophical, political, social, or otherwise — has validity only in terms of its experiential and practical consequences. James propounded his theories of pragmatism in this book, one of the most important in American philosophy. In a sense, he wished to test competing systems of thought in the "marketplace of actual experience" to determine their validity, i.e. whether adopting a particular philosophical theory or way of looking at the world makes an actual difference in individual conduct or in how we perceive and react to the varieties of experience. In these pages, James not only makes a strong case for his own ideas, but mounts a powerful attack against the transcendental and rationalist tradition. For anyone interested in William James or the history of American philosophical thought, Pragmatism is an essential and thought provoking reference. In this handy, inexpensive edition, it will challenge and stimulate any thinking person.

The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature. The play's clever fulfilment of the classical unities and vivid depiction of human folly have made it one of the few Renaissance plays (except the works of Shakespeare) with a continuing life on stage (except for a period of neglect during the Victorian era).

Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society composed entirely of women, who reproduce via parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). The result is an ideal social order: free of war, conflict, and domination. It first appeared as a serial in The Forerunner, a magazine edited and written by Gilman between 1909 and 1916. The book is the middle volume in her utopian trilogy; it was preceded by Moving the Mountain (1911), and followed with a sequel, With Her in Ourland (1916). It was not published in book form until 1979. ? The story is told from the perspective of Vandyck "Van" Jennings, a student of sociology who, along with two friends (Terry O. Nicholson and Jeff Margrave), forms an expedition party to explore an area of uncharted land where it is rumored lives a society consisting entirely of women. The three friends do not entirely believe the rumors because they are unable to think of a way how human reproduction could occur without males. The men speculate about what a society of women would be like, each guessing differently based on the stereotype of women which he holds most dear: Jeff regarding women as things to be served and protected; Terry viewing them as things to be conquered and won.

Lord of the World is a 1907 novel by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson that centers upon the reign of the Anti-Christ and the End of the World. It has been called prophetic by Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. ? In early 21st century London, two priests, the white-haired Father Percy Franklin and the younger Father John Francis, are visiting the subterranean lodgings of the elderly Mr. Templeton. A Catholic and former Tory who witnessed the marginalization of his religion and the destruction of his Party, Mr. Templeton describes to the two priests the last century of British and world history. ? Since the Labour Party took control of the British Government in 1917, the House of Lords has been abolished, the British Royal Family has been deposed, Oxford and Cambridge have been closed down and all their professors exiled to Ireland. Marxism and Secular Humanism, which are described as the instruments of Freemasonry, dominate both culture and government. The Anglican Communion has been disestablished since 1929 and, like all forms of Protestantism, is almost extinct. The world now has only three main religious forces: Catholicism, Secular Humanism, and "the Eastern religions." ? Nationalism has been destroyed by Marxist internationalism and the world has been divided into three power-blocs. The first, which is generally marked in red on maps, is an European Confederation of Marxist one-party states and their colonies in Africa that use Esperanto for a world language. The second, marked in yellow, is "The Eastern Empire", whose Emperor, the "Son of Heaven", descends from both the Japanese and Chinese Imperial Families. The third, the blue marked, "The American Republic", consists of North, South, and Central America. ? In a move that almost toppled Marxism in the Confederation during the 1970s and '80s, the Eastern Empire invaded, annexed, and now rules India, Australia, New Zealand, as well as all of Russia east of the Ural Mountains. For this and other reasons, Mr. Templeton explains, the Confederation and the Eastern Empire are now on the brink of a global war. ? After Mr. Templeton completes his story, Fathers Franklin and Francis return to their spartan apartments at Westminster Cathedral.

"The Mystery of the Sycamore" is an early type of detective story, falling somewhere between Conan Doyle's genius Sherlock Holmes and Hammett's tough-guy Sam Spade. It contains elements of the Gothic (the tale of the phantom bugler, which is used by the murderer as a cover) and the Golden Age puzzle. ? Dan Wheeler has been condemned to live his life outside of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as a result of his conviction for forgery, a condition imposed by the former governor of the state, Sam Appleby. Appleby has ambitions for his son to follow in his footsteps, but knows that without Wheeler's support, Appleby junior hasn't much hope. So he hopes to coerce Wheeler's support by holding out the carrot of a full pardon, which would not only allow his wife to keep her inheritance (which comes with the stipulation that she live in Massachusetts--their house is built on the border between Massachusetts and Connecticut) but free his daughter Maida to wed her beloved Jeffrey Allen, a lawyer in Boston. But Wheeler is a man of principle and refuses. Appleby has more tricks up his sleeve, however, and works his plan on Maida. He ends up shot dead in Wheeler's study, and all three Wheelers confess to the deed.

American Fairy Tales is the title of a collection of twelve fantasy stories by L. Frank Baum, published in 1901 by the George M. Hill Company, the firm that issued The Wonderful Wizard of Oz the previous year. ? L. Frank Baum was doing well in 1901, better than ever before in his life. He had written two popular books, Father Goose: His Book and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and was determined to capitalize on this success. In addition to American Fairy Tales, Baum's Dot and Tot of Merryland and The Master Key appeared in 1901. ? Publisher George M. Hill sold the serialization rights to the twelve stories in AFT to five major newspapers, the Pittsburgh Dispatch, the Boston Post, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the St. Louis Republic, and The Chicago Chronicle. The stories appeared between March 3 and May 19, 1901; the book followed in October. The first three papers used or adapted the book's illustrations for their publications of the stories, while the Chronicle and the Republic had their own staff artists do separate pictures.

The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). This and the next 34 Oz books of the famous 40 were illustrated by John R. Neill. The book was made into an episode of The Shirley Temple Show in 1960, and into a Canadian animated feature film of the same name in 1987. It was also adapted in comic book form by Marvel Comics, with the first issue being released in November 2009. Plot elements from The Marvelous Land of Oz are included in the 1985 Disney feature film Return to Oz.

Little Good Boy had just finished eating the last of five rice cakes called "dango," that had been strung on a skewer of bamboo and dipped in soy sauce, when he said to his little sister, called Chrysanthemum: "O-Kiku, it is soon the great festival of the New Year." "What shall we do then?" asked little O-Kiku, not clearly remembering the festival of the previous year. Thus questioned, Yoshi-san had his desired opening to hold forth on the coming delights, and he replied: "Men will come the evening before the great feast-day and help Plum-blossom, our maid, to clean all the house with brush and broom. Others will set up the decoration in front of our honored gateway. They will dig two small holes and plant a gnarled, black-barked father-pine branch on the left, and the slighter reddish mother-pine branch on the right. They will then put with these the tall knotted stem of a bamboo, with its smooth, hard green leaves that chatter when the wind blows. Next they will take a grass rope, about as long as a tall man, fringed with grass, and decorated with zigzag strips of white paper.

Nabi Seth AS atau Nabi Syits AS atau Nabi Set AS adalah anak laki-laki dari Nabi Adam AS dan Hawa (Eve). Ia dilahirkan pada saat Adam berumur 130 tahun (Kejadian 5:3). Nabi Syits AS merupakan saudara muda dari Qabil dan Habil (Kain dan Habel). Menurut kitab Perjanjian Adam, mengisahkan bahwa Adam, ketika mengetahui bahwa ajalnya telah dekat, memanggil Set ke sisinya. Ia menyuruh Set kembali ke Taman Eden, masuk dan mengambil tiga benih dari buah Pohon Kehidupan. Adam kemudian meminta Seth kembali kepadanya dan menempatkan ketiga benih itu di mulutnya sebelum menguburkan jenazahnya. Nabi Seth AS melakukan apa yang diminta ayahnya dan pergi ke Taman Eden. Di gerbang taman itu berdirilah Penghulu Malaikat Mikail, yang menanyakan tujuan Set. Set memberitahukannya, dan Mikail mengizinkannya masuk, dan menunjukkan kepadanya pohon kehidupan itu. Set mengumpulkan tiga benih dari buah pohon itu dan kemudian kembali, melalui pintu gerbang, dan kembali ke ayahnya, yang saat ini telah meninggal. Ia menggali kuburan untuk Adam, dan menguburkannya, setelah menempatkan ketiga benih itu di mulutnya lalu menutup liang kuburnya. Dalam kitab Kejadian dari Kitab Suci Ibrani dan Alkitab, adalah salah satu anak (kemungkinan putra ketiga) dari Adam dan Hawa, dan merupakan adik laki-laki dari Kain dan Habel. Ia dilahirkan setelah Habel (Habil) dibunuh oleh Kain (Qabil). Nama Set disebut sepuluh kali dalam Alkitab, yaitu tujuh kali di kitab Kejadian, sekali di kitab Bilangan, Kitab 1 Tawarikh, dan Injil Lukas. Nabi Set AS bagi Nabi Adam AS adalah seorang anak yang "menurut rupa dan gambarnya". Set diberikan oleh Allah SWT sebagai pengganti Habel yang dibunuh. Ia mempunyai seorang anak yang bernama Enos pada usia 105 tahun dan hidup hingga mencapai usia 912 tahun. Melalui keturunan Set dilahirkanlah Nabi Nuh, Nabi Abraham, Nabi Daud, hingga akhirnya menurunkan Nabi Isa. Menurut kisah Islam, setelah kematian Habil, Adam sangatlah marah kepada Qabil. Kemudian Adam memiliki anak kembar kembali bernama Syits (Set/Seth) dan 'Azura. Syits memiliki arti "hadiah", karena Allah telah memberikan hadiah kepada Adam berupa seorang anak soleh, setelah kematian anaknya yang bernama Habil. Syits selain sebagai anak yang berbakti, ia diyakini sebagai seorang nabi dan rasulallah. Sebagai seorang nabi, Syits menerima perintah-perintah dari Allah yang ditulis dalam 50 suhuf/sahifah. Menurut keterangan Ibnu Abbas, ketika Nabi Syits AS dilahirkan, Nabi Adam AS? sudah berusia 930 tahun. Adam sengaja memilih Syits sebab anaknya yang satu ini memiliki kelebihan dari segi keilmuan, kecerdasan, ketakwaan dan kepatuhan dibandingkan dengan semua anaknya yang lain. Adam mengajarkan semua pengetahuan yang ia miliki kepada Syits. Ia mengajarkan bagaimana menyembah Allah dan beribadah yang lainnya. Setelah kematian Adam, Syits memimpin anak cucu Adam. Ia memimpin dengan peraturan dan hukum Allah, ia membawa persatuan diantara orang-orang disekitarnya. Wahab bin Munabbih mengatakan, ketika Nabi Adam AS wafat, Nabi Syits AS telah berusia 400 tahun. Syits telah diwasiati oleh Adam untuk memerangi saudaranya, Qabil. Dia pergi memerangi Qabil dan akhirnya perang itu pun berkecamuk. Itulah perang pertama yang terjadi antara anak-anak Adam di muka bumi. Dalam peperangan itu, Syits memperoleh kemenangan dan dia menawan Qabil. Nabi Syits AS kemudian memimpin anak cucu Adam dan ia memimpin dengan peraturan dan hukum Allah SWT, ia membawa persatuan dan perdamaian diantara orang-orang disekitarnya. Buku ini mengisahkan hikayat Nabi Syits AS (Seth AS) putra Nabi Adam AS bersumberkan dari Al-Quran & Al-Hadist.

Long, long ago there lived a man called Sentaro. His surname meant "Millionaire," but although he was not so rich as all that, he was still very far removed from being poor. He had inherited a small fortune from his father and lived on this, spending his time carelessly, without any serious thoughts of work, till he was about thirty-two years of age.One day, without any reason whatsoever, the thought of death and sickness came to him. The idea of falling ill or dying made him very wretched."I should like to live," he said to himself, "till I am five or six hundred years old at least, free from all sickness. The ordinary span of a man's life is very short."He wondered whether it were possible, by living simply and frugally henceforth, to prolong his life as long as he wished.He knew there were many stories in ancient history of emperors who had lived a thousand years, and there was a Princess of Yamato, who, it was said, lived to the age of five hundred This was the latest story of a very long life record.

This Point Blank Classics edition includes the full original text as well as an easy to use interactive table of contents.

This Housemartin Classics edition includes the full original text as well as an easy to use interactive table of contents.

This Tribeca Press edition includes the full original text as well as an easy to use interactive table of contents.

This Housemartin Classics edition includes the full original text as well as an easy to use interactive table of contents.

This Tribeca Press edition includes the full original text as well as exclusive images exclusive to this edition and an easy to use interactive table of contents.

This Tribeca Press edition includes the full original text as well as exclusive images exclusive to this edition and an easy to use interactive table of contents.

Set during World War I England, this story centers on a Lady Vivian, a 29-year-old woman who goes to great lengths to secure admiration for her selfless devotion to her war work managing a supply depot and other war service organizations in her region. Though projecting an image of herself as extremely efficient, her refusal to delegate and desire for control creates obstacles for others and great deals of unnecessary work for herself and staff. Her staff of about three-dozen women initially admire her greatly, but with the arrival of a well-bred young lady from Wales, the irritated expostulations of the neighborhood doctor, and a few heartless actions of her own, this view changes (except among her two most devoted allies).?

Ever wondered what to do in polite society if you find an insect in your food? Or how a gentleman should ask a lady to dance? And what on earth is the etiquette for smoking cigars? First published in 1860, Cecil B. Hartley's classic guide to gentlemanly behaviour is a veritable mine of information and indispensable advice for aspiring gentlemen. No matter if a man finds himself at a party, meeting someone new or travelling abroad, he has but to leaf through this book to learn how best to behave, and indeed how not to behave. And if he can find time between his numerous invitations to balls and hunting parties, he could benefit from a perusal of the sections on gentlemanly deportment and conversational technique. Not forgetting, of course, the all-important advice on how to treat ladies, surely an integral part of any true gentleman's training. Published here in a stunning edition alongside The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, this is the perfect gift for the would-be gentleman in your life. While it's an excellent volume for dipping into for hilarious nuggets of outdated advice, this guide also contains advice on all manner of topics, from beard-keeping to chivalry, that are just as relevant today as they were in Cecil B. Hartley's time. As he says himself: 'Once a gentleman always a gentleman' and be sure that you can so carry out the rule, that in your most careless, joyous moments, when freest from the restraints of etiquette, you can still be recognizable as a gentleman by every act, word, or look.

Fingerprints. A single print, being unique - not even identical twins have the same fingerprints - that single print found in the right place at the right time is sufficient to disclose the perpetrator of a crime. ? Actually, there are those who claim that identifying and matching fingerprints is not sufficiently scientific and so the fingerprint doesn't carry the weight in court that it did only a decade ago. DNA is now the sexy evidence. ? In The Red Thumbmark by R Austin Freeman, published in 1907, a single fingerprint is found at the scene of a crime. When the police are able to identify that fingerprint, the case seems closed. ? But Dr Thorndyke, the detective/barrister/medical doctor who takes on defense of this suspect, thinks he can disprove the prosecution's case, based on that same fingerprint. ? It does not take Dr Thorndyke to figure out who the criminal is. The mystery in this wonderful detective tale is who the lovely heroine is in love with. The answer may surprise you.

Detective Classics presents you The Eye of Osiris in a fantastic ebook edition. ? John Bellingham is a world-renowned archaeologist who goes missing mysteriously after returning from a voyage to Egypt where fabulous treasures have been uncovered. Bellingham seems to have disappeared leaving clues, which lead all those hunting down blind alleys. But when the piercing perception of the brilliant Dr Thorndyke is brought to bear on the mystery, the search begins for a man tattooed with the Eye of Osiris in this strange, tantalisingly enigmatic tale. ? R. Austin Freeman is the doyen of the scientific division of detective writing, is best known for his character Dr John Thorndyke. A close and careful investigator and the outstanding medical authority in the field of detective fiction, R. Austin Freeman not only tested the wits of the reader but also inspired many modern detective forensic methods. Much of his long life was spent as a physician and surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He also held posts in West Africa and later was a medical officer at Holloway Prison. The most famous of the Edwardian detective writers, he rescued the detective story from "thrillerdom" and made it acceptable to a more discerning class of reader.