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The Machine Stops

WRITTEN BY:
E.M. Forster

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

The electricity went out throughout the San Francisco Bay Area this week. It was not an act of nature, the will of God, or an unexpected disaster befalling the geographic region. The cause was that the electric company decided it was best for everyone concerned that they shut down their machines. The imposed loss of electricity was jarring. As the final review of these audio segments was taking place during the shutdown, it did not take a leap of imagination to appreciate the genius of E.M. Forster’s THE MACHINE STOPS.

Remember, in 1909, telephones were in place, but radio was still in its early stages. Television or the transmission of images from one location to another was not even a pipe dream. Yet, each passage of this premonitory short story rings true, as if it was written yesterday. Our civilization assumes it is creating a technological utopia to make our individuality a place of comfort and joy. Yet, if we pierce the veil of our own creation, a stalking dystopian world of despair awaits. THE MACHINE STOPS is one of the best novellas ever written about the world we live in today. It provides a basis for deep reflection of our core values as a global civilization. It illustrates how fragile the world we created hangs on the premise that the machines never stop. 

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0106_MachineStops_EMForster.pdf

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E. M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy and also the attitudes towards gender and homosexuality in early 20th-century British society. Read more on Wikipedia.

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The Prophet

WRITTEN BY:
Khalil Gibran

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

In this short story containing 26 poetic essays, Al Mustafa is traveling to the harbor in Orphalese, to board a ship that will carry him back to the isle of his birth. When he enters the city, many people come to meet him and beseech him to speak to them and tell them all that has been shown to him during his twelve-year stay in their city. And so the Prophet speaks to them.  

Mustafa’s speeches are presented in individual sections, dealing with a variety of subject matters including love, marriage, work, crime, pain, and many other topics. At the end of the book, Mustafa bids a final farewell to the people, boards the ship, and vanishes into the mist.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0105_Prophet_KhalilGibran.pdf

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Kahlil Gibran

This Lebanese-American writer, poet, and painter, is primarily known for his 1923 book The Prophet. Many of Gibran’s writings deal with Christianity, especially on the topic of spiritual love. During the last 20 years of his life, he lived in the United States, where his works gained recognition and influence within the American popular culture.

The Unrest Cure

WRITTEN BY:
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro)

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

J.P Huddle and his sister live a staid life in the country where they have settled a little too comfortably into elderly middle-age. When Clovis, a fellow passenger on the train hears of their dilemma he decides that instead of a rest cure, what they need is an un-rest cure. Listen to the humorous chaos that ensues when the Huddle household is turned upside down in the name of an UNREST CURE.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0090_UnrestCure.pdf

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SAKI
(Hector Hugh Monro)

This British writer poet and writer is best known for his short stories. He was killed in World War I while serving active duty.

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Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment

WRITTEN BY:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

A poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge after awaking from an opium induced dream of Xanadu, the summer palace of the Emperor Kublai Khan. A much more extensive poem came to him upon awaking, but he was interrupted while writing it down and then could not remember the remaining lines.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0103_Kubla-Khan_Samuel-Taylor-Coleridge.pdf

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Samuel Taylor Coleridge

An English poet, literary critic and philosopher who was one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England. He was instrumental in introducing the German idealist philosophy to English-speaking cultures.

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The Prussian Officer

WRITTEN BY:
D. H. Lawrence

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

This classic short story is a fleeting look at the relationship between a Prussian Captain and his orderly. While the Captain exhibits sexual tension towards the young orderly, the feeling is not reciprocated. As a result, the psychological pressure between the two men escalates to an explosive and devastating conclusion.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0102_PrussianOfficer_DHLawrence.pdf

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D.H. Lawrence

This English writer embodies a collected work that represents an extended reflection on the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialization. Like many of his writings, The Prussian Officer includes sexual overtones that were quite explicit for the times, culminating in a British obscenity trial for his novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The jury decision to allow publication of the novel is considered a turning point in freedom of expression.

Steep Trails (Excerpts)

WRITTEN BY:
John Muir

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

These four excerpts, from the writings of John Muir, document his naturalist studies in a number of different settings. These highly descriptive stories detail his expeditions in the rugged outdoors. His documented studies led him to an awe of the natural splendors of the earth, and eventually to a position of preservation. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley and other wilderness areas.

Four Excerpts are included:

1. A Geologists Winter Walk
2. A Perilous Night on Shasta Summit
3. Nevada’s Dead Towns
4. People and Towns of Puget Sound

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0073_SteepTrails_JohnMuir.pdf

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John Muir

John Muir is the most famous and influential American naturalist and conservationist. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States.

The Book of Wisdom

FROM THE HOLY BIBLE

WRITTEN BY:
King Solomon

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

The Book of Wisdom, also referred to as the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the Old Testament books of the Bible and is classified with a number of other books that have the main purpose of instruction. The author, although many times wrongly attributed to Solomon, was an Alexandrian Jew who was attempting to strengthen the religious commitment of the Hellenistic Jewish community and, if possible, to convert the Gentiles.

The Book Of Wisdom has three main parts: Chapters 1 – 5 stress the superiority of the pious and wise over the godless; Chapters 6 – 9 praise personified Wisdom; and Chapters 10 – 19 illustrate the marvels of Wisdom.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0055_BookofWisdom.pdf

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Main Street (Excerpt)

WRITTEN BY:
Sinclair Lewis

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

This book tells the wonderful story of Carol Milford, a city girl in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the beginning of the story she is full of hope and aspirations as she completes her studies at college. Her dreams are those of changing the world in which she lives and making a true contribution to society. She marries a doctor from a small town in the country and moves to his home in Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Gopher Prairie is a town like any other small town in America and the town folks don’t really see a need for change at all.. Follow Carol as she tries to impose her ideas on the small town folk and gradually her large dreams and aspirations fade into the tall grass of the middle Midwest.

EXCERPT NOTE: This audio is only the first third of the entire novel, but the complete book can be downloaded from http://www.gutenberg.org

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0050_MainStreet_SinclairLewis.pdf

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Henry Sinclair Lewis

Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. His works are known for their insightful and critical views of American society and capitalist values, as well as for their strong characterizations of modern working women and he was the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Main Street was wildly popular, selling 180,000 copies in the first six months after publication in 1921 and within two years selling multi-millions of copies.

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Reincarnation and the Law of Karma

WRITTEN BY:
William Walker Atkinson

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

A fascinating and insightful document on the theory of rebirth and the principles of spiritual cause and effect. This study tracks the belief in the theory of reincarnation throughout cultures and enlightens the listener to the principles that make this concept sustain throughout thousands of generations.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0085_Reincarnation-LawOfKarma_Atkinson.pdf

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William Walker Atkinson

William Walker Atkinson was an American attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of New Thought movement. Due in part to Atkinson’s intense personal secrecy and extensive use of writing pen names, he is now largely forgotten, despite having written more than 100 books in the last 30 years of his life.

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Don Quixote (Excerpt)

WRITTEN BY:
Miguel de Cervantes

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

This is a fantastical comedy about an old man who has read so many books about knights errant that he is convinced that he is one himself. He sets out on a series of adventures with his trusted and true servant Sancho Panza. But with every adventure it is amazing that he is able to survive the story itself.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0084_DonQuixote_MiguelCervantes.pdf

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Miguel de Cervantes

This Spanish novelist, poet and playwright is the author of Don Quixote, often considered the first modern novel. His work is considered among the most important in all of literature and his influence on the Spanish language has been very great.