Twenty short nonfiction works in the public domain, independently chosen by the readers. Topics include meteor showers, smallpox inoculation, telegraphy, fear of death, church bell change-ringing , painting as a pastime, prejudice against Jews from Mark Twain's perspective, the view from Braddock Heights, Maryland, philosophical reflections by Saint Bonaventure, Paracelsus, and Friedrich Jacobi, letters written by Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, and eulogies to Alexander Hamilton and John Keats.
The Degrees of Ascension to God by Saint Bonaventure was translated by Thomas Davidson.
