The Canadians of Old by Philippe Aubert de Gaspe ~ Full Audiobook [history]

Classic Audiobook Collection

03/15/23

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583m

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The Canadians of Old by Philippe Aubert de Gaspe audiobook.

Genre: history

In his mid-70s, Philippe Aubert de Gaspé took on the project of recording the culture and heritage of French Canada, especially that of the late 1700s, the world of his youth. The result, published in French in 1863, was the historical fiction 'Les Anciens Canadiens (literally, “The Canadians of Old”).

In this book, inspired by the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott, Aubert de Gaspé collects the customs, traditions, folk tales, superstitions, and songs of the Quebec people, weaves in memories of life in his own ancestral home, and sets all this within the momentous historical events that transformed Canada in the 18th century. Much of the book is historically accurate, based sometimes on the author’s own experiences and sometimes on memories passed on to him by eyewitnesses.

For example, the account of being sent to debtor’s prison came from the author’s own experience.

The fantastic ghost story of “La Corriveau” was based on the true story of a murderess whose body was on public display in iron chains (a “cage”) for weeks after her execution. That initial incident had already blossomed into material for lurid legend; Aubert de Gaspé was the first to incorporate this legend into a work of literature.

The book’s storyline hinges on the British Conquest of Quebec in 1759 and the ensuing trauma caused to French Canada. Fictional characters are intertwined with historical figures such as a famous shipwreck survivor and specific military officers.

This book is an engaging window on cultural history and one of the first great works of French Canadian literature.

The English translator of this edition, Charles G. D. Roberts, was himself a distinguished author. He has been called “the father of Canadian poetry.” - Summary by Bruce Pirie

*Warning: Listeners may be offended by some of the racial labels and depictions. Words that were considered acceptable in the nineteenth century may be offensive today.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:18:29) Chapter 02

(00:41:39) Chapter 03

(01:09:37) Chapter 04

(01:31:59) Chapter 05

(02:14:21) Chapter 06

(03:01:11) Chapter 07

(03:33:45) Chapter 08

(03:49:25) Chapter 09

(04:16:16) Chapter 10

(04:52:23) Chapter 11

(05:18:31) Chapter 12

(05:46:19) Chapter 13

(06:23:16) Chapter 14

(06:56:04) Chapter 15

(07:27:01) Chapter 16

(08:21:02) Chapter 17

(08:50:47) Chapter 18

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The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick ~ Full Audiobook [scifi]

March 14, 2023

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190m

The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick audiobook.

Genre: scifi

In the middle of a desperate interstellar war, Earth is gambling its survival on perfect prediction. Military planners and weapons magnates rely on vast statistical systems to forecast every battle, every treaty, every human choice, reducing the future to a set of manageable probabilities. Then a glitch rips open time itself and delivers an impossible outsider: Thomas Cole, a plainspoken, early-20th-century repairman with a talent for improvisation and a stubborn belief that any machine can be fixed if you understand its parts. To the strategists, Cole is a dangerous anomaly - a 'variable man' who does not belong in their equations and therefore threatens the fragile certainty that keeps their war machine running. As rival factions scramble to capture, study, or eliminate him, Cole is forced to navigate a world of cold logic, corporate ambition, and escalating violence, where being unpredictable can be both a weapon and a death sentence. Philip K. Dick spins a tense, idea-driven chase through a future obsessed with control, asking what happens when one ordinary human being becomes the one factor no system can account for.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:31:16) Chapter 02

(01:11:56) Chapter 03

(01:54:26) Chapter 04

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Next Episode

Apology by Plato ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy]

March 15, 2023

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79m

Apology by Plato audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

Plato's Apology is not an apology in the modern sense, but a powerful courtroom defense in which Socrates speaks for himself before an Athenian jury. Set during the famous trial that threatens his reputation, freedom, and life, the book presents Socrates as an unshaken seeker of truth, answering charges that he corrupts the young and disrespects the city's gods. Through a speech that is at once logical, provocative, and deeply personal, he examines the rumors that have followed him for years and explains why his relentless questioning of politicians, poets, and craftsmen has made him both admired and feared. Rather than pleading for sympathy, Socrates turns the trial into a meditation on wisdom, virtue, justice, and the duty to live an examined life. Plato captures the tension between the individual conscience and the demands of society, showing how dangerous honesty can become in a world that prefers comfort to self-scrutiny. Clear, dramatic, and surprisingly vivid, Apology remains one of the most influential portraits of moral courage ever written, and an essential introduction to Socratic thought.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:36:59) Chapter 2

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