Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, translated by Jules Verne
Some adventurers go in a hot air balloon to explore Africa. It felt like it should have been an interesting adventure, but I had trouble getting involved with it in the same ways as other Jules Verne books.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe
This narrative is Poe's lone novel. It starts as a fairly straightforward travel novel. There are voyages at sea, shipwrecks, mutinies and other similar things. However, this being Poe it does take a turn towards the gruesome. The see a ship that they hope is their savior. The Captain seems to be nodding towards them. However, they later see a bird take a chunk out of him and realize that everyone on the ship is well dead. In a later episode the narrator and his companions are near starvation and turn to cannibalism. They go to an island where they seem to befriend the natives, only to have most of their group killed by them. (The narrator and his companion lucked out in getting separated from the group.) Later they end up in remote areas of the south seas. The book comes to an abrupt ending with perhaps some of the true narrative "missing". This book fits well in the canon of fictional travel books from Gulliver's Travels to Around the World in 80 Days and the Land that Time Forgot.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
At the very end of the audiobook, it was called out as a librivox recording. Did they just filter out the internal annoying librivox disclaimers to make for a clean audiobook? It was much more listenable than a typical librivox.
I couldn't help but have the Rush's Tom Sawyer go through my head as I listened to this book. The song doesn't have much to do with it other than the title.
In the story, Tom has a number of adventures. He is a dedicated slacker with a kind heart. When tasked with whitewashing a fence, he convinces others to pay him for the privilege of doing it. He later accumulates tickets from Sunday School students and is able to claim a large prize when an official appears. (Alas, he had not learned what he was supposed to for getting the tickets and named David and Goliath as apostles.)
Some of the big adventures include witnessing a crime and later locating a treasure. Tom and his friend had some harrowing experiences and even faked their own death. (They were able to witness their own funeral.) They returned after hearing the details. The criminal was accidentally locked up. in a cave, leading to his death.
Despite being old, the book is very relatable to readers today, though I imagine people would cringe at some of the language being offensively racist. (However, the language was just what was commonly used and not used maliciously.) Tom is up to a lot of mischief, but is still caring and generally doesn't hurt people. He has some "naive" romance where he proposes "engagement" to a girl.
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle translated by William Gardiner
This book is a mixture of science and science fiction. It explores the various bits of astronomy that were known in the 17th century, and then speculates on the other species that inhabit planets and moons. The author suspects that the moon and other planets have inhabitants. They observe the earth in a way similar to how we observe the moon and other planets. It may have been written as pure science, but could easily read as a modern science fiction book.
A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
The Librivox narration of this book was very well done. It was easy to understand, even at 4x speed. In the book, Defoe details the experience in England during a year of the bubonic plague. There is debate as to whether this should be considered "history" or "historical fiction". Regardless of what it is, the author excellently portrays the experiences living through the era. Many of the same concerns that we have had during the Covid-19 pandemic are represented in this period. Some people think they are above it and then find themselves suffering. The society is turned inside out as they are trying to manage the plague. The basic economy has trouble functioning since there is no telling what the future will entail.
The Man in the Moone by Francis Godwin
According to Wikipedia, the original title was The Man in the Moone or A Discourse of a Voyage Thither by Domingo Gonsales. That is quite a mouthful. The book is a very early utopian science fiction. A man runs into trouble in Spain and goes to another land. After various adventures he is on a remote island, and communicating with a bird. He learns to travel on it and eventually escapes a conflict by going up to the moon. On the moon, he encounters a civilization. Their civilization is a Utopian version of earth civilization. Life on the moon is similar to earth, but they speak an odd language see earth in the sky somewhat like we see the moon and food is a bit different. They also have some special "magic stones" with various properties. He later goes back to earth with some of these and lands in China. Today, the science feels all out of whack. However, back in these days, it must feel plausible. If you can sail around the world to find strange but human civilizations, why not fly on a bird to see the same on the moon? The book is fairly short and an interesting mixture of exploration and science fiction.
Brief Lives Volume 2 by John Aubrey
I listened to the Librivox version of this. (Also available on Project Gutenberg) I tried listening to this volume at a slower speed, and still had trouble with the narration. The content could also be challenging. At times there were big chunks of Latin. Then it would switch over to gossipy information about some famous characters. This one also includes a few appendices.
Brief Lives Volume 1 by John Aubrey
I listened to the Librivox version of this. (Also available on Project Gutenberg) I could not understand it very well. I had trouble grasping why. I thought the narrator may be too fast, so I slowed down a lot. The language also did not seem to difficult once I was able to focus on it. The accent of the narrator was also not very bad. According to wikipedia, he had a collection of manuscripts that was later assembled by editors after he died. I used his death date as publication date. The content is an opinionated history of famous figures. Most lived around his time, though there were some going further back.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith
Adam Smith explores morals and the reason we feel and act different ways. Do we need to empathise with others? How do intent and outcome work together? If somebody is dropping rocks, they are not likely to receive any punishment. However, if another person walks underneath, the dropper may be punished for hurting them. Is this just? The same action with the same intent had different outcomes and different results. We see that commonly in society today. There is a desire to get retribution and assign blame when something "goes wrong", even if similar behavior has been fine before. Then this is taken another step to declare that similar behavior bad. These are age old questions. Smith does a good job of exploring morality and our understanding of it.
Who's the Dupe? by Hannah Cowley
This is a short two act play from a few centuries ago. The Librivox recording does have a full cast. However, the style of reading by each reader differs enough to make it a challenge to understand. (One reads extremely slowly, while others are much faster.) It is a comedy that deals with marriage. There is some conflict with the desires of the daughter and the father. One suiter ends up spewing out a large amount of pseudo-erudite drivel in an attempt to appeal to the others. There are some random expressions like "zounds" that would feel at home in 20th century camp. This feels like it would be hilarious to watch performed.
Pharsalia (On the Civil War) by Lucan
This is an old epic poem talking about war and Caesar. It seemed like there was a lot of violence and conflict. I had trouble getting much more from it. Long translated poems are not the easiest to grasp.
Looking Backward: 2000–1887 by Edward Bellamy
Someone from the late 1800s suddenly finds himself in the 2000. He marvels at the society that looks so different from the time he left. The society had ditched capitalism and adopted a socialist structure. The government runs everything. Everyone does the work they are able to do and gets a similar wage. They still have the ability to choose how they want to spend their earnings. In spite of (or perhaps because of) these societal changes, the society seems otherwise very much like the old society, but with some advancements. Retail looks more like an "amazon showroom". One goes to a retail outlet where a clerk helps you. However, he does not influence your decision. He does assist you in getting almost immediately delivery of your goods. The book is very Utopian. The 1800s person questions the functioning of this socialism, but those concerns are just brushed away. Things simply "work".
The Improvement of Human Reason: Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan ( حي بن يقظان ) by Ibn Ṭufayl
This is a fairly text which feels religious. A boy is isolated in the wilderness. He discovers much about other living things and himself. It feels that he is logically uncovering the basis for religious beliefs. Only after many years does he meet another human. The librivox recording is not bad, but it does require focus to listen to.
The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott
Lady of the Lake is an epic poem that tells the story of some battles and fighting. I really have a challenge staying focussed on the overall narrative.
The Destination Of Man by Johann Gottlieb Fichte
This is a very dense book that explores religion and philosophy. There are some theoretical questions on why we are here and how the role of God plays in our lives. There seemed to be some interesting thoughts, however, I had trouble keeping everything in my mind as I was going through it.
Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill
This is one of the key essays on the concept of utilitarianism. Mill does not claim to invent it. However, he does aim to defend many of the misconceptions. There are many struggles in connecting "general happiness" with "individual happiness".
The Vocation of the Scholar by Johann Gottlieb Fichte
This is a short work of Fichte's philosophy. While the translated title is "Vocation of the Scholar", the lectures are more of a general look at man's role in universe. What is the role of man for himself? What is his role and responsibility in society? How do classes fit in? Then finally, near the hind, what responsibilities do scholars have with all of this?
An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Robert Malthus
Malthus gets a lot of recognition for having his dystopian projections turn out ot be very wrong. When he lived, there were less than a billion people on earth. He predicted imminent doom and gloom. The book is filled with detailed mathematical analysis. People would have more kids. More kids would require more food. This would reduce the quality of life for everyone and lead to starvation and a significant drop in the quality of life for everyone. Today we have over 8 billion people on the earth and one of the big problems is overconsumption of food.
How wrong was he? Could the industrial revolution just delayed a day of reckoning? Have we mortgage future through consumption of fossil fuels? Or will we just find additional technology that can continue to help us work forward? Will there be a new "Malthusian trap"?
Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity by William Paley
William Paley took a look at nature and determined that there was so much organized complexity that their had to be a creator. This book then goes into extreme detail of everything that was observed. We hear about different functionality in animals, from the way they move to consume their senses. The structure of the arguments are similar to modern intelligent design arguments against evolution. However, this book was written before Darwin was even born. Were the evolution arguments written in response to these arguments?
Atala by François-René de Chateaubriand
People from Europe are living in North America and getting along with the "Indians". There is talk of Christianity and working to help the people. I'm assuming this was in the "French" colonies of North America. This was prior to the Louisiana Purchase and the formation of Canada, so this could have been within a vast area.
