Yoga does not seem to command the same form of respect from modern day society as it once did in the past. It is sad that the beauty of yoga has somehow lost its brilliant luster, tarnished by the fast paced lifestyles of today’s globalization. To make it easy for the common man to understand, the whole philosophy has been reduced to a simple concept.

Yoga of Sound is an audio book that might be interesting:

Yoga in its true form may be a little complicated for the western world to understand. It is a very dangerous and unethical to merely dabble on the surface and then talks about this subject as an expert! Due to the lack of a deeper understanding, most westerners view yoga as a physical activity. Yoga has been reduced to a physical activity to achieve internal balance and serenity.

It originates from the Hindu religion and it is actually a part of the Hindu philosophy. In the faraway land of India, it is recognized as a spiritual practice that includes a series of complex and systematic physical moves. But the western world prefers to refer yoga as a mere physical practice.

Most westerners are aware of the strange symbols associated with yoga practice, but often they are misunderstood. It is practiced as a popular sport. The allure of yoga as an effective way to gain inner peace and balance has beckoned many to embrace this activity as well. Nevertheless many have been attracted to yoga as a form of practice to achieve inner peace and balance.

Almost all who proclaim themselves as yoga masters perpetrate these claims and the masses are undoubtedly fascinated. The numerous amount of fatal errors found in the practice of yoga outside of India shows that this art has been widely misunderstood at large. These errors were caused by each racial group’s internal culture and form. In order to truly understand this concept moments of quiet, peaceful times are necessary to contemplate on this philosophy, and that is certainly an element that is absent in the hectic lifestyle of the western civilization.

Sometimes, the most important part of this practice is neglected, for instance the essential meditation. The west seems obsessed with the desire to accumulate massive amounts of wealth and gaining power, which is a priority according the principles of Hinduism. True wisdom, as defined by the parameters of the Hindu religion would be an impossible feat to achieve when this paradigm is adopted. One crucial aspect essential for a successful meditative session is time and patience. The westerners do not place a high degree of importance in the attainment of philosophical wisdom, as it does for the accumulation of massive wealth and gaining power.

Here, yoga as been practiced by those who desire to look good and stay in style. If you wish to know more, you can get hold of some of the available materials out there which is actively promoting this practice as a form of sports. Yoga can be practiced anywhere. There are famous people who embraced this practice and become fake gurus and still they have enough support from their followers. These followers have become the pillars supporting the growth of this false and wrong philosophy.

Breckinridge Elkins is the roughest, toughest, fastest-shootin’, hardest-fightin’ feller in the Bear Creek settlement, and probably in the entire Humbolt Mountains. As he travels further from home, he single-handedly takes on outlaws, settles (and starts) feuds and tries his hand at romancing the girls. He also discovers a lot of strange customs among other folks, such as building houses out of boards and wearing clothes that ain’t buckskins. Set in Nevada during the late 1800’s, this collection of stories is a great rollicking romp through the American frontier as seen through the eyes of one of the most enjoyable characters created in the history of tall tales.

(Summary by RK Wilcox)

• Wikisource e-text
• Wikipedia - Robert E. Howard
• LibriVox’s Bear Creek Collection Vol. 01 Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (187.6 MB)

Practically nothing is known about Habakkuk’s personal history, except for what can be inferred from the text of his book, which consists of five oracles about the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and a song of praise to God. Since the Chaldean rise to power is dated c. 612 BC, it is assumed he was active about that time, making him an early contemporary of Jeremiah and Zephaniah. Jewish sources, however, do not group him with those two prophets, who are often placed together, so it is possible that he was slightly earlier than they. Because the final chapter of his book is a song, it is sometimes assumed in Jewish tradition that he was a member of the tribe of Levi, which served as musicians in Solomon’s Temple. According to the Zohar (Volume 1, page 8b) Habakkuk is the boy born to the Shunamite woman through Elisha’s blessing. Habakkuk is unique among the prophets in that he openly questions the wisdom of God.[citation needed] In the first part of the first chapter, the Prophet sees the injustice among his people and asks why God does not take action: ‘1:2 Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you ‘Violence!’ and will you not save?’ - (World English Bible).
(Summary by Wikipedia)

• E-text
• Wikipedia - American Standard Version
• Wikipedia - Book of Habakkuk
• Wikipedia - Habakkuk
• LibriVox’s The Book of Habakkuk Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (5.3MB)

We volunteers bring you 22 different recordings of Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of May 18th, 2008.

• E-text
• Wikipedia - Wilfred Owen
• Wikipedia - Dulce et Decorum Est
• LibriVox’s Dulce et Decorum Est Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (23.6MB)

‘A Heart Like His’ by Virgina H. Pearce was a wonderful audio book.
Throughout the book, I found myself feeling uplifted and excited about service opportunities.
The premise of the book is based on a challenge a group of women decided to take upon themselves to prepare
them to meet the needs of the women in their ward.The challenge was to open and enlarge their hearts
without adding tasks or special activities to their very busy lives.I really appreciated that the author
recognized that the lives of most of us are incredibly busy, and we don’t need another ‘to do’ to add to our list.
I loved the idea that the way to open and enlarge our hearts is not about what we do, but how we do things.
My favorite part of the book was when the women of the group,
who each had a unique background and lifestyle, shared their
experiences with the challenge.
I really appreciated the examples of different ways to open and enlarge a heart.
It made the challenge easier to relate to.

‘A Heart Like His’ by Virginia H. Pearce is a great audio book.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to know how
to be like Christ despite very busy lifestyles.

I loved the Especially for Youth CD’s as a young man and as a missionary, and I continue to enjoy them now as a young adult.

After the death of her mother, Katey Tyler leaves her home in Connecticut for a European Grand Tour and a search for long lost relatives living in England. What she finds is pure romance and adventure. Fortune places her in the position of rescuer to one small, kidnapped child, but misfortune finds her accused of the crime by the child’s hotheaded American uncle, the sea captain Boyd Anderson. This is Katey’s introduction to the aristocratic Malory family of Regency-era England, the loveable characters of eight previous novels by historical-romance writer Johanna Lindsey (The Devil Who Tamed Her, 2007).

Emma is a comic novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1816, about the perils of misconstrued romance. The main character, Emma Woodhouse, is described in the opening paragraph as ‘handsome, clever, and rich’ but is also rather spoiled. Prior to starting the novel, Austen wrote, ‘I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like.’ (Summary from Wikipedia)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Jane Austen
• Wikipedia - Emma
• LibriVox’s Emma Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book

‘I have promised to introduce you today to the fairy-land of science - a somewhat bold promise, seeing that most of you probably look upon science as a bundle of dry facts, while fairy-land is all that is beautiful, and full of poetry and imagination. But I thoroughly believe myself, and hope to prove to you, that science is full of beautiful pictures, of real poetry, and of wonder-working fairies:’

(From the Introduction to The Fairyland of Science)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Arabella Buckley
• LibriVox’s The Fairyland of Science Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (199.6MB)

In this biography for young adults, Mary A. Hamilton gives a British person’s perspective on the 16th President of the United States. A glowing tribute to ‘Honest Abe’, the author traces Lincoln’s ancestral roots and recounts his birth in Kentucky, his youth in Indiana, his adult life in Illinois and his years in the White House. She also provides a good background on the causes and course of the American Civil War.

Hamilton is not always historically precise. For example, she erroneously names Jefferson Davis as the Southern Democratic candidate for president running against Lincoln and Douglas in 1860 rather than John C. Breckinridge. However, overall ‘The Story of Abraham Lincoln’ is a good summarization and interesting account of the life, values and politics of Lincoln.

Cautions: Chapter 7 contains a single use of an epithet for African-Americans in a quotation from a British magazine. Chapter 8 ends with an example of a stereotypical Southern black dialect which many may find offensive.

(Summary by John Lieder.)

• Mainlesson e-text
• LibriVox’s The Story of Abraham Lincoln Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (75.1MB)

The Prayer of Manasseh is a short work of only 15 verses that purports to be the penitential prayer of the Judean king Manasseh, who is recorded in the Bible as one of the most idolatrous (2 Kings 21:1-18). However, after having been taken captive by the Assyrians, he prays for mercy (2 Chronicles 33:10-17) and turns from his idolatrous ways. (Summary by Wikipedia)

• E-text
• Wikipedia - Prayer of Manasseh
• LibriVox’s Prayer of Manasseh Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book 1.5MB

Welcome to the world of audiobooks. An audiobook is a recording of the contents of a book read aloud. There are tens of thousands of audiobooks available in the world, in various languages, ranging all the way from education to entertainment.
Nokia Audiobooks is a beta concept that enables you to enjoy audiobooks while on the go. It includes a highly efficient audio compression technology optimized for voice (AMR-WB), a player application for S60 (Nokia Audiobook Player), and an audio converter tool for PC (Nokia Audiobook Manager). Whereas traditional music player applications are optimized for music, Nokia Audiobook Player is optimized for audiobooks, enabling you to browse chapters, set bookmarks, and automatically continue from where you last time stopped listening.

A typical 400 page novel translates into a 10-20 hours long audiobook, which would traditionally take more than dozen CDs or hundreds of megabytes of low-quality MP3 files. Nokia Audiobooks uses a codec called AMR-WB, which is optimized for voice. With Nokia Audiobooks, you will get 5-10 times more content to your phone with similar voice quality, compared to content compressed with MP3 at 64 or 128 kbps. Consequently, you can easily store multiple audiobooks on your memory card - and still have plenty of capacity left for other things (like pics and video) you find important in life.
AMR-WB codec: Nokia Audiobooks uses standardized Adaptive Multi Rate-WideBand speech encoder (3GPP 26.190 / ITU-T G.722.2 See www.3GPP.org / www.itu.ch) for audio data compression in order to keep memory requirement for a book very small while maintaining excellent speech quality.

Compatibility(for audiobookplayer_1_03_s60_30)
Tested with Nokia N73, N76, N80, N93, N91, E70, E65, E62, E60, E50, 5500 sport, 3250. Should work but not fully tested with all devices based on S60 3rd Edition.
Compatibility (for audiobookplayer_1_03_s60_31.sis)
Tested with Nokia N95, N76, E90, 6290, 6110 Navigator. Should work but not fully tested with all devices based on S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1.

‘Among other qualities which have been supposed to belong to a dead man’s hand, are its medicinal virtues, in connection with which may be mentioned the famous ‘dead hand,’ which was, in years past, kept at Bryn Hall, Lancashire: Thus the case is related of a woman who, attacked with the smallpox, had this dead hand in bed with her every night for six weeks, and of a poor lad living near Manchester who was touched with it for the cure of scrofulous sores.’

Though not all chapters have such gruesome subjects as The Dead Hand, all are full of a curious mixture of superstition and local history that will delight and amuse the modern listener.

(Summary by David Barnes).

• Gutenberg e-text 17050
• Wikipedia - T.F. Thiselton Dyer
• LibriVox’s Strange Pages from Family Papers Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (217.8MB)

Katharine E. Dopp was well-known as a teacher and writer of children’s textbooks at the turn of the 20th Century. She was among the first educators to encourage the incorporation of physical and practical activity into the elementary school curriculum at a time when such activities were becoming less commonplace in a child’s home environment. The Tree-Dwellers - The Age of Fear is the first in a series of elementary school texts written by Ms. Dopp that focus on the anthropological development of early human groups. Each lesson begins by posing a few questions for the child to think about, then factual information about these early humans is presented in story form using language a 6-7 yr old child can easily read and understand, followed by suggested activities that will help the child to experience first-hand some of the points presented in the story. The book also contains suggestions and references for teachers to aid in the successful use of the text. (Summary by J. M. Smallheer)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
• LibriVox’s The Tree-Dwellers Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book 68.5MB

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
Read by Máia Whitaker (of KnitWitch’s SciFi/Fantasy Zone and Superior Audioworks).
First appeared in Women of War, ed. Tanya Huff & Alexander Potter.

I could’ve followed the sounds. The closer I get, the louder voices grow-yelling obscenities, cheering, clapping in approval.

These women love fights.

I used to let them do it too, without interference, until the repair bills got too much. Then the House shrink told me about the added toll of repeated trauma-the fights would often replicate something that happened Out There-and I realized that no matter how much steam got blown off, the fights weren’t worth the expense.

Still, I wished for those old days sometimes.

Rated R. Contains violence, profanity, and strong themes of war and psychological trauma.

Referenced Sites:
‘Recovering Apollo 8″ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
7th Son: OBSIDIAN, ed. J.C. Hutchins

The Official Blurb

Tarzan of the Apes is Burroughs’ exciting, if improbable, story of an English lord, left by the death of his stranded parents in the hands of a motherly African ape who raises him as her own. Although he is aware that he is different from the apes of his tribe, who are neither white nor hairless, he nevertheless regards them as his ‘people.’ When older, larger, stronger apes decide that he an undesirable to be killed or expelled from the tribe, it is fortunate that Tarzan has learned the use of primitive weapons.

Although small and weak by ape standards, Tarzan is a human of god-like strength and agility to men who discover him. By studying these people, he gradually decides he is not an ape at all, but human.

And when he meets Jane, a beautiful American girl marooned with her father and friends on the hostile coast of Africa, Tarzan conceives love for her. When they are unexpectedly rescued before Tarzan can find a way to reveal his feelings to Jane, he determines to become civilized and follow her into the world of people - to find her and wed her, though he must cross continents and oceans, and compete with two other suitors for her hand.

My Review

Everyone knows who Tarzan is. Or at least we think we do! When I finally got round to listening to the actual book I found out things that had never been hinted at by the saturday morning Tarzan films.

Tarzan is raised by the Apes, and the book reveals what that means. It means Tarzan doesn’t have a lot of the human feelings and sensibilities. Humans at first scare him, then he becomes a murderer and a canibal. He doesn’t know any better of course and so doesn’t even consider it as doing anything wrong.

The story evolved a little slowly, and started with Tarzan’s parents going on a trip. However once the parents pop-their-clogs the story becomes a lot more interesting. The auther develops the Apes as real characters and we as listeners are not bored by their interactions.

The story jumps another notch once humans move into the apes part of the jungle. So we have a story that speeds up and gets better as it goes and therefore draws you in and keeps you interested.

The reader is this case is fast becoming one of my favourite Librivox readers, Mark Smith. He also read Mysterious Island which I reviewd a while ago.

Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3

Total Score 7/9

You can find the book at Librivox.

Not a review, but a piece of self publicity! My latest audio book is now available for free download from librivox!

It’s called “Army Life in a Black Regiment” and was written by Thomas Wentworth Higginson who commanded the first black regiment raised during the American Civil War.

For fans of the film “Glory” you’ll hear familar passages, as the film script seems to have lifted entire chunks of text from this book.

It’s been a facinating read.

Listen, share and spread the word.

Download the mp3 audio

The Lovely Princess Beatrice has stayed true to her long lost prince Bertie for many a long day. But there was a time when she was seen walking in the Palace Gardens with another prince! Still worse, the Wicked Queen was determined to hold a Royal Wedding to boost the popularity ratings of the Royal Family. Bertie the Frog’s hopes of being turned back into a prince and marrying Beatrice were almost dashed into a million tiny pieces.

Read by Natasha. Duration 25 minutes.

The Official Blurb

A noir page-turner detailing the roller-coaster adventures of Masha, a reluctant young assassin. When Masha meets American businessman, Charlie Hammerschmidt, she thinks she’s found the ticket out of Kiev’s underworld. When Charlie is murdered in her apartment, she discovers the ride is just beginning. The Masha Chronicles is a full cast PodioDrama .

My Review

I was attracted to this story because of the Full-Cast nature of it. I actually like full cast audio dramas very much. As the blurb suggests this story starts in Kiev and moves over to the States in what is an exciting underworld adventure.

There are no “good” characters in this story of murder and theft and I found that rather dispointing. I like my stories to have good guys as well as bad guys. The lead character “Masha” is unfortunately such a selfish unplesant person that her predicaments do not engender any sympathy.

The story moves quickly, there is rarely time for breath in fact, so if you enjoy modern thrillers with the gritty darkness of being focused on the underworld this might be the story for you.

The production is fine, and the full cast does keep the ears awake.

Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 1/3

Total Score 6/9

I’m happy to point out the launch yesterday of Pod Castle, the fantasy short story podcast spin off from the science fiction podcast Escape Pod. Their first story is “Come Lady Death” by Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn. If you’re rolling your eyes at the thought of listening to stories of chainmail bikinis and dragons, let me point out that fantasy, broadly defined, is any story dealing with magic or the supernatural. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Conan the Barbarian stories are all fantasy, but so are One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Tempest, and Indiana Jones. Judging by the breadth of fantasy stories that Escape Pod has already published, I’m sure that Pod Castle will feature many types of fantasy.

In related news, Steve Eley, the host of Escape Pod, recently announced that after being let go from his day job he will be spending his primary efforts on Escape Pod and the other Escape Artists podcasts: Pod Castle and PsuedoPod, the horror story podcast. Steve gives away all three for free and only asks for donations in return. There is some advertising on the websites and podcasts, but they’re pretty minor and non-annoying. So, if you’re able, please give a donation to Escape Artists and show your support for one of the greatest sources for free audio. If you’re unfamiliar with Escape Pod, I’ll be reviewing one of my favorite stories of theirs later this week.