Essays on Things: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Essays on Things, credited to William Lyon Phelps, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Essays on Things by William Lyon Phelps. Read in English by LibriVox Volunteers. William Lyon Phelps was founder of the Pundits, a secret society at Yale, noted for its collection of the wittiest and most erudite students, and he later became one of the most beloved professors at Yale for many years. He was sought after as a lecturer, preacher, and scholar. His writing output covered a wide range of literary guides to novels, poetry, and drama from Shakespeare to Russian novels,, as well as works on the Bible. In this collection of fifty-two short essays, with unusual wit, insight, and breadth of learning, Phelps covers such serious topics as “War,” “Russia Before the Revolution,” “Church Unity,” and “Optimism and Pessimism,” but also draws insights from the mundane such as, “A Pair of Socks,” Molasses,” “Tea” and “Spooks.” Not to be left out are his travels such as, “Going to Church in Paris,” “Going to Honolulu,” and “London as a Summer Resort.” - Summary by Larry Wilson

Recording facts

• Recording title: Essays on Things
• Author credits: William Lyon Phelps
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 52
• Listed recording duration: 6:28:27

Catalogue topics

• humor
• philosophy
• essay
• meditations
• American Literature

Opening tracks: first 24 of 52

1. 01 - Sunrise — 7:04
2. 02 - Molasses — 7:35
3. 03 - Resolutions When I Come to Be Old — 8:06
4. 04 - English and American Humour — 8:08
5. 05 - A Pair of Socks — 6:37
6. 06 - An Inspiring Cemetery — 6:24
7. 07 - Ancient Football — 6:29
8. 08 - Rivers — 8:34
9. 09 - One Day at a Time — 8:00
10. 10 - City and Country — 6:00
11. 11 - Age Before Beauty — 7:00
12. 12 - Church Unity — 9:20
13. 13 - Political History — 7:04
14. 14 - A Room Without a View — 7:39
15. 15 - Tea — 7:58
16. 16 - The Weather — 8:13
17. 17 - War — 6:32
18. 18 - Man and Boy — 7:28
19. 19 - Ambition — 7:09
20. 20 - Birds and Statesmen — 8:42
21. 21 - Russia Before the Revolution — 7:54
22. 22 - The Devil — 6:00
23. 23 - The Forsyte Saga — 7:44
24. 24 - Profession and Practice — 7:08

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.