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Berry has written a truly excellent one-volume history of astronomy, and it was apparently a standard text for nearly fifty years after it first appeared in 1898. Berry is a good writer, neither too serious nor too frivolous, and with a pleasantly dry sense of humour; he evidently knows his subject very well. His presentation is impressively balanced: he devotes appropriate amounts of space to all periods of astronomical history up to his time (the Greeks, the Arabs, the Renaissance, the Newtonian period, the 19th century), and he favours neither observational nor theoretical aspects of astronomy but gives equal weight to both. He gives an excellent semi-technical summary of Ptolemaic astronomy and describes how it was further improved by the Arabs, and then by Copernicus; the continuity with Copernicus's work is particularly well done. He then explains how Kepler, thanks to Tycho Brahe's painstaking observations, was finally able to create something that was essentially different from Ptolemy's system; in general, one of the most appealing aspects of the book is the way in which it highlights the interplay between theory and practice. His chapter on Herschel was interesting. He also has a good chapter on the eighteenth century gravitational theorists - Clairaut, D'Alembert, Lagrange and Laplace - who achieved the remarkable feat of taking over Newton's work and converting a piece of English science into something that for over a century was quintessentially French. Berry's thought-provoking explanation is that the English mathematicians tried to follow the lines of the Principia too closely, and imitate Newton's geometrical style of proof; but this was something that only a genius of Newton's calibre could handle, and they got nowhere. The French, more pragmatically, developed the calculus, which turned out to be a far better direction in which to explore.He supports Lord Kelvin's theory that the Sun's energy comes from gravitational contraction, ignoring the fact that this gives an age for the Solar System that is at least an order of magnitude less than the age of the Earth, as determined from geological records. Although he mentions Michelson's accurate determination of the speed of light, there is not a word about the Michelson-Morley experiment (1887), which was just about to result in the Special Theory of Relativity. But the most striking passage of all was this one, concerning Bradley's explanation of the phenomenon of the aberration of light in terms of Newton's "corpuscular theory".Seven years later, Einstein would launch his idea of the "light-quantum", which would soon become the photon; and thus the corpuscular theory would live again. But Berry, evidently a very intelligent and knowledgeable person, has no inkling of this. One cannot help wondering: what vital clues are lying right under our noses, patiently waiting for us to discover them?Overall, an excellent book on astronomy for subject lovers.

The Cowardly Lion of Oz (1923) is the seventeenth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the third written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. It was illustrated by John R. Neill.The story opens with Mustafa of Mudge, a turbaned desert monarch with blue whiskers, who collects lions. Mustafa demands one more lion — he already has nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine and a half lions, but there are no more lions in Mudge, and Mudgers are forbidden by Ozma, on penalty of death, to travel beyond the desert borders of Mudge. However, when Notta Bit More, a clown from the circus in Stumptown (somewhere in the humdrum backblocks of the United States of America), and a serious-minded orphan boy called Bobbie Downs (but renamed as Bob Up, by the cheerful Notta) drop into Mudge together, this seems to Mustafa to be his chance to send a non-Mudge person out to bring the famous Cowardly Lion to be the ten thousandth lion in Mudge. Using a magic ring, he enchants Notta and Bob and compels them to set out on a quest to capture the Cowardly Lion.Meanwhile, in the Emerald City, the Cowardly Lion believes that he has depleted the reserve of courage imbued in him by the Wizard (as told in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). The mischievous Patchwork Girl, Scraps (who was first introduced in an earlier Baum-written title), misdirects the Lion into thinking that he can replenish his courage by eating a courageous man. Since the Lion dislikes the notion of harming anyone, he resolves to do the deed as quickly as possible, and so embarks on his quest to find, and eat, the bravest man in Oz.Unbeknownst to the Cowardly Lion, he is being hunted by Notta Bit More and Bob Up. Accidentally, the three meet each other. Concealing their objective from the lion, Notta and Bob resolve to trick him into going to Mudge.Read the complete novel for further story....

The Land of Little Rain is a book written by American writer Mary Hunter Austin. First published in 1903, it contains a series of interrelated lyrical essays about the inhabitants of the American Southwest, both human and otherwise.The Land of Little Rain is a collection of short stories and essays detailing the landscape and inhabitants of the American Southwest. A message of environmental conservation and a philosophy of cultural and sociopolitical regionalism loosely links the stories together."The Land of Little Rain"The opening essay describes the "Country of Lost Borders," an area of land between Death Valley and the High Sierras. The image created of the land at the beginning of the story is one of almost unbearable heat and dryness, punctuated by violent storms. Despite the description of how inhospitable the landscape is, at the end Austin proposes that the costs the land imposes upon a man are worth it because it provides man with peace of mind and body that cannot be achieved any other way."Water Trails of the Ceriso"The section's title refers to the trails made by wild animals moving towards sources of water. The essay provides descriptions of the many animals that travel along the trails, including coyotes, rabbits, and quails. Their ability to find water where there seems to be none is extolled by Austin, a skill which she believes no human is able to match."The Scavengers"This essay describes the various animals that live in the desert that feed upon carrion—most notably, the buzzards and the carrion crows. This scavenging is portrayed as a natural part of the desert, with a multitude of the scavengers working together to find food. The end of the story criticizes the actions of man with regard to the desert. The unnatural trash he leaves cannot used by the scavengers in the story, and as such serves as a stark contrast to the desert's natural processes for recycling waste."The Pocket Hunter"A pocket hunter is a type of miner who hunts for pockets of ore deposits. In the story, the pocket hunter described by Mary Austin lives off of the land with minimal interactions with the civilized world. This harmony with nature, Austin argues, is essential to the pocket hunter's simple happiness. Despite Austin's muted praise, the pocket hunter wants to strike it rich in order to move to Europe and mingle with the landed elite, a goal he accomplishes. However, by the end of the story, the pocket hunter returns to the desert since it is his "destiny".

Berry has written a truly excellent one-volume history of astronomy, and it was apparently a standard text for nearly fifty years after it first appeared in 1898. Berry is a good writer, neither too serious nor too frivolous, and with a pleasantly dry sense of humour; he evidently knows his subject very well. His presentation is impressively balanced: he devotes appropriate amounts of space to all periods of astronomical history up to his time (the Greeks, the Arabs, the Renaissance, the Newtonian period, the 19th century), and he favours neither observational nor theoretical aspects of astronomy but gives equal weight to both. He gives an excellent semi-technical summary of Ptolemaic astronomy and describes how it was further improved by the Arabs, and then by Copernicus; the continuity with Copernicus's work is particularly well done. He then explains how Kepler, thanks to Tycho Brahe's painstaking observations, was finally able to create something that was essentially different from Ptolemy's system; in general, one of the most appealing aspects of the book is the way in which it highlights the interplay between theory and practice. His chapter on Herschel was interesting. He also has a good chapter on the eighteenth century gravitational theorists - Clairaut, D'Alembert, Lagrange and Laplace - who achieved the remarkable feat of taking over Newton's work and converting a piece of English science into something that for over a century was quintessentially French. Berry's thought-provoking explanation is that the English mathematicians tried to follow the lines of the Principia too closely, and imitate Newton's geometrical style of proof; but this was something that only a genius of Newton's calibre could handle, and they got nowhere. The French, more pragmatically, developed the calculus, which turned out to be a far better direction in which to explore.He supports Lord Kelvin's theory that the Sun's energy comes from gravitational contraction, ignoring the fact that this gives an age for the Solar System that is at least an order of magnitude less than the age of the Earth, as determined from geological records. Although he mentions Michelson's accurate determination of the speed of light, there is not a word about the Michelson-Morley experiment (1887), which was just about to result in the Special Theory of Relativity. But the most striking passage of all was this one, concerning Bradley's explanation of the phenomenon of the aberration of light in terms of Newton's "corpuscular theory".Seven years later, Einstein would launch his idea of the "light-quantum", which would soon become the photon; and thus the corpuscular theory would live again. But Berry, evidently a very intelligent and knowledgeable person, has no inkling of this. One cannot help wondering: what vital clues are lying right under our noses, patiently waiting for us to discover them?Overall, an excellent book on astronomy for subject lovers.

"New Year's Day" is the last of four novellas in Edith Wharton's collection "Old New York". Set in 1870s New York City, it shows the predicament of Lizzie Hazeldean, a young woman in high society who has no way of earning her own money. Her husband is weak with a heart condition. Lizzie is seen coming out of a hotel on New Year's Day and society matrons start to talk about her. Lizzie's story is scandalous and sad, but it is also filled with a great love. Edith Wharton is known for her writings about women making difficult decisions while dealing with the unwritten laws of high society.

The Theaetetus is one of Plato's dialogues concerning the nature of knowledge, written circa 369 BCE.In this dialogue, Socrates and Theaetetus discuss three definitions of knowledge: knowledge as nothing but perception, knowledge as true judgment, and, finally, knowledge as a true judgment with an account. Each of these definitions is shown to be unsatisfactory.Socrates declares Theaetetus will have benefited from discovering what he does not know, and that he may be better able to approach the topic in the future. The conversation ends with Socrates' announcement that he has to go to court to face a criminal indictment.The dialogue is framed by a brief scene in which Euclid of Megara tells his friend Terpsion that he has a written record of a dialogue between Socrates and Theaetetus, which occurred when Theaetetus was quite a young man. This dialogue is then read aloud to the two men by a slave boy owned by Euclid.Socrates asks Theodorus if he knows of any geometry students who show particular promise. Theodorus assures him that he does, but that he does not want to over-praise the boy, lest anyone suspect he is in love with him. He says that the boy, Theaetetus, is a young Socrates look-alike, rather homely, with a snub-nose and protruding eyes. The two older men spot Theaetetus rubbing himself down with oil, and Theodorus reviews the facts about him, that he is intelligent, virile, and an orphan whose inheritance has been squandered by trustees.Socrates tells Theaetetus that he cannot make out what knowledge is, and is looking for a simple formula for it. Theaetetus says he really has no idea how to answer the question, and Socrates tells him that he is there to help. Socrates says he has modelled his career after his midwife mother. She delivered babies and for his part, Socrates can tell when a young man is in the throes of trying to give birth to a thought. Socrates considers his philosophical work as midwifery (Maieutics). This method, later also called Socratic method, consists in eliciting knowledge by a series of questions and answers.Socrates thinks that the idea that knowledge is perception must be identical in meaning, if not in actual words, to Protagoras' famous maxim "Man is the measure of all things." Socrates wrestles to conflate the two ideas, and stirs in for good measure a claim about Homer being the captain of a team of Heraclitan flux theorists. Socrates dictates a complete textbook of logical fallacies to the bewildered Theaetetus. When Socrates tells the child that he (Socrates) will later be smaller without losing an inch because Theaetetus will have grown relative to him, the child complains of dizziness (155c). In an often quoted line, Socrates says with delight that "wonder (thaumazein) belongs to the philosopher". He admonishes the boy to be patient and bear with his questions, so that his hidden beliefs may be yanked out into the bright light of day.

This is a romance set among the wealthy residing in Europe. Two Americans without money but desiring the life of the rich make a deal--they will get married and live off the wedding gifts for a year. They are given gifts and money and dozens of invitations to come and spend their honeymoon abroad, with their wealthy friends, just as planned. Food and housing and parties and dinners out, all on someone else’s money. It was agreed that when better marriage opportunities arose for either, each would be free to go; the marriage would be dissolved without acrimony. That is the agreement. All goes according to plan, at least in the beginning.The writing is excellent, as the writing in Wharton ‘s books usually is. One marvels at her ability to draw situations, express emotions and capture people’s behavior. She had a remarkable talent with words; she knew exactly which word to use when and where. She expertly draws the views of the wealthy and those of high social standing. She adeptly draws the fallacies of such thinking and mode of life. She also throws in humor.Edith Wharton is famous for having written novels that lift the lid on the society in which she lived. In The Glimpses of the Moon, she satirises those bright young things with more money than sense, who divorce their spouses at a drop of a hat, and the poorer hangers on who live off them.

This is a true story about a pampered New England young woman who falls in love with an army officer and they get sent to Arizona in 1873. This superbly entertaining account of the adventures of the wife of a lieutenant in the army is a fast and absorbing read. Summerhayes was raised in Nantucket and partly educated in Germany so imagine her shock when she follows her husband to Wyoming and then Arizona during the Apache wars of the 1870's. Fascinating story of a young bride with her army husband and their experiences in Arizona during the late 18th century. She is a young woman who is totally unprepared for life in the 'wild' west. Her stories of traveling from camp to camp in Arizona and having to make a home in extremely harsh and primitive conditions is awe inspiring. Especially moving is when she has her first child, far from anyone who can help her . She is completely ignorant of childbirth and caring for a newborn.

PREFACE.“Sink or Swim” is the second volume of the “Luck and Pluck Series,” and, like its predecessor, is designed to illustrate the truth that a manly spirit is better than the gifts of fortune.It does not fall to the lot of many boys to meet with such adventures or to encounter such trials as befell the young hero of this story; but it will be of service to all, to adopt Harry Raymond’s motto. If there are any of my young readers who are disposed to envy Harry’s final good fortune, let them remember that the best way to strive for success is to deserve it; and then, if it does not come, there will at least be a consciousness of well-doing, which in itself is a rich reward.