Certain Personal Matters
H. G. Wells
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Although best known for his works of science fiction, social commentary and history, H.G. Wells here gives us humorous and light-hearted pieces on a wide variety of intriguing topics from chess to death. Each essay is a gem of wit and delight. - Summary by Larry Wilson (6 hr 23 min)
Chapters
Thoughts on Cheapness and My Aunt Charlotte | 10:19 | Read by Foon |
The Trouble of Life | 13:30 | Read by Larry Wilson |
On the Choice of a Wife | 8:47 | Read by Foon |
The House of Di Sorno | 10:18 | Read by D. Wood |
Of Conversation | 11:31 | Read by Scotty Smith |
In a Literary Household | 8:40 | Read by Graham Scott |
On Schooling and the Phases of Mr. Sandsome | 13:43 | Read by Elisabeth |
The Poet and the Emporium | 10:01 | Read by Graham Scott |
The Language of Flowers | 9:12 | Read by Graham Scott |
The Literary Regimen | 9:36 | Read by Graham Scott |
House-Hunting as an Outdoor Amusement | 11:15 | Read by Greg Giordano |
Of Blades and Bladery | 9:48 | Read by Greg Giordano |
Of Cleverness | 9:35 | Read by Greg Giordano |
The Pose Novel | 9:20 | Read by GentleJim |
The Veteran Cricketer | 10:56 | Read by Graham Scott |
Concerning a Certain Lady | 10:50 | Read by Greg Giordano |
The Shopman | 8:16 | Read by Melody Khoriaty |
The Book of Curses | 10:06 | Read by Graham Scott |
Dunstone’s Dear Lady | 8:40 | Read by Graham Scott |
Euphemia’s New Entertainment | 7:47 | Read by Greg Giordano |
For Freedom of Spelling | 11:58 | Read by Foon |
Incidental Thoughts on a Bald Head | 9:03 | Read by Greg Giordano |
Of a Book Unwritten | 14:56 | Read by D. Wood |
The Extinction of Man | 12:05 | Read by Greg Giordano |
The Writing of Essays | 7:21 | Read by Larry Wilson |
The Parkes Museum | 9:01 | Read by Greg Giordano |
Bleak March in Epping Forest | 7:30 | Read by Rowan Etzel |
The Theory of Quotation | 7:00 | Read by Greg Giordano |
Of the Art of Staying at the Seaside | 10:47 | Read by Graham Scott |
Concerning Chess | 10:22 | Read by Larry Wilson |
The Coal-Scuttle | 10:25 | Read by Graham Scott |
Bagarrow | 11:09 | Read by Keir |
The Book of Essays Dedicatory | 5:55 | Read by D. Wood |
Through a Microscope | 9:27 | Read by Rowan Etzel |
The Pleasure of Quarrelling | 11:30 | Read by Greg Giordano |
The Amateur Nature-Lover | 10:30 | Read by Christopher Lawson |
From an Observatory | 5:24 | Read by Melody Khoriaty |
The Mode in Monuments | 10:24 | Read by GentleJim |
How I Died | 6:33 | Read by Larry Wilson |
Reviews
what a wonderful inventive mind HG had . The stories flow.
John Cobb
Wells failed the diversity test
Bill Cosby
Written from a western heteronotmative viewpoint that necessarily excludes voices from marginalized LatinX Americans. Wells needs to rewrite the stories to orbit around the phlight of a nonbinary LatinX guest worker being separated from their Mother by a heteronotmative white male. Then this story will become an instant classic. Barring the rewrite, the story remains problematically raycyst.
Great comedy!
potuc
Of course, as Dr Raycyst says (although without the obvious sarcasm), Wells doesn't have very diverse pieces of humor here. While they are funny, they clearly reveal the sexism of his days.