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Phileas Fogg is English exactitude personified. He eats breakfast at 8:23, shaves at 9:37, and leaves for the Reform club at 11:30. He reads, eats, and doesn‘t travel. But one day, after getting into an argument over an article in the Daily Telegraph, he is prompted to make the £20.000 wager with his club friends that he can travel all the way around the world in eighty days. And so he leaves, accompanied only by his new French valet Passepartout: it is 8:45 P.M. on Wednesday the 2nd of October 1872 and he fully intends to be back by the 21st of December. Around the World in 80 days is one of French author Jules Verne most famous works. Published in 1873, it was adapted into the 2005 movie featuring Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Owen Wilson.Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French novelist who mostly wrote adventure fiction inspired by the scientific advances of the 19th century. With the help of editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel he wrote a series of books called "Extraordinary Travels", which includes "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1864), "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1870), and "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1873). Widely popular with both children and adults, Verne is one of the most translated authors of all times, and still inspires people the world over.

Ethan Frome is a novel published in 1911 by the Pulitzer Prize winning American author Edith Wharton. It is set in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The novel was adapted into a film, Ethan Frome, in 1993. Ethan Frome tells the story of a tragic love triangle. Set in the highly symbolic wintry landscape of Starkfield, Massachusetts, the narrative centers on the title character's fraught relationships with his "sickly, cantankerous" wife Zeena and his young, beautiful cousin Mattie Silver.

The Mysterious Island (French: L'Ile mystérieuse) is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though thematically it is vastly different from those books. An early draft of the novel, initially rejected by Verne's publisher and wholly reconceived before publication, was titled Shipwrecked Family: Marooned With Uncle Robinson, seen as indicating the influence on the novel of Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson.

Sara Crewe is devastated when the news of her beloved father‘s death in India reaches her at her boarding school in London. Miss Minchin, the heartless and greedy headmistress, immediately moves Sara to the attic and forces her to become her servant. Despite being used to luxury, Sara quickly adjusts to her new life and never stops being kind and polite to everyone. Little does she now that someone out there is looking for her, and they might be much closer than they think. Author Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett – most famous for her novel The Secret Garden (1911) – originally wrote A Little Princess as a short story, and later a play, finally turning it into a novel on her publisher‘s recommendation in 1905. As smart and imaginative as Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables, Sara has been winning over readers for over a hundred years, and A Little Princess is considered one of the best children‘s stories of all time.Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) was born in Manchester, England, but emigrated to the United States after her father‘s death. She wrote stories for magazines to help her family financially, and would later write plays and novels. Her most famous works are `A Little Princess‘ (1905) and `The Secret Garden‘ (1911).

One summer, a fragile and shy little girl and her working-class parents move in as caretakers for a large house in the suburbs that has been hastily abandoned by its owners. After getting settled comfortably in the servants‘ apartments, the girl sets out to explore the house. A single room is locked, however, but for some reason the girl has access to it. Inside, she meets another little girl ... just as delicate as herself ... ‘In the Closed Room‘ (1904) is an eerie ghost story by the author of `The Secret Garden‘, Frances Hodgson Burnett. A chilling and intense mystery for the not so faint at heart.Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) was born in Manchester, England, but emigrated to the United States after her father‘s death. She wrote stories for magazines to help her family financially, and would later write plays and novels. Her most famous works are `A Little Princess‘ (1905) and `The Secret Garden‘ (1911).

One day, an ape named Kala finds a small human boy in the jungles of Africa. She names him Tarzan ("White skin" in ape language), and raises him as her own. In time, differences between himself and his tribe become clear to Tarzan, and when he finds a human-made cabin with books and photographs, he starts to understand why. Little does he know that his encounters with other humans have only just begun. This 1912 novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs was first published in a pulp magazine and quickly became so popular that twenty-three sequels followed. The story of Tarzan has been adapted to film many times, the 1999 Disney movie with its Phil Collins soundtrack being a fan favourite.Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) was an American author, best known for his novel `Tarzan of the Apes‘ (1914) and its sequels as well as the Barsoom series. During World War II, he was one of the oldest U.S war correspondents.

Arguably the best compilation of mystery stories ever, `The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes‘ (1892) is for any lover of intrigue and sophisticated humour. Sherlock‘s talent for solving cases based on things only he notices never disappoints, and everyone‘s curiosity is sure to be sustained till the end of each story. There is a reason Sherlock Holmes has been adapted more than a hundred times for various media. 2009-2011 saw Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock and Watson, and even Will Ferrell has taken a stab at the popular character. Fans of the popular BBC series `Sherlock‘ (2010-2017) by Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, which starred Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, should definitely check out this original source material. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a British writer, best known for his thrilling stories about the adventures of the detective Sherlock Holmes. He published four novels and more than 50 short stories starring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The stories are seen as important milestones in the history of crime fiction.

Rupert of Hentzau is a sequel by Anthony Hope to The Prisoner of Zenda, written in 1895, but not published until 1898. This story commences three years after the conclusion of Zenda, and deals with the same fictional country somewhere in Germanic Middle Europe, the kingdom of Ruritania.

24 short stories in fairly typical Bierce fashion ghostly, spooky, to be read (or listened to) in the dark, perhaps with a light crackling fire burning dimly in the background. Stories of ghosts, apparitions, and strange, inexplicable occurrences are prevalent in these tales, some of which occur on or near Civil War fields of battle, some in country cottages, and some within urban areas. Can Such Things Be? implies and relates that anything is possible, at any time.

"I returned to the City about three o‘clock on that Monday afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I had been three months in the Old Country, and was fed up with it." So opens John Buchans The Thirty-Nine Steps and with it he creates a whole new genre: the adventure novel. Richard Hannay, the protagonist, finds himself reluctantly drawn into a chain of events that drags him away from the civilisation of London and into the Scottish wilderness, where he is chased both by villains and by policemen.This book has been adapted countless times, the most famous one certainly being Alfred Hitchcock‘s 1935 version. Full of excitement and good humour, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a modern classic you‘ll never want to put down.John Buchan (1875-1940) was a Scottish writer, historian and unionist. Born in Perth, he grew up in Fife where he developed the keen love for the Scottish nature that can be found in his work. After graduating from Oxford with a degree in Classics, he became the personal secretary of Alfred Milner, the Secretary of State of War and for the Colonies. Later he wrote for the British War Propaganda Bureau and was a correspondent in France for The Times. In 1935, he became viceregal representative in Canada, where he passed away five years later. He wrote throughout his life, leaving behind him hundreds of works, including novels, short shorties, and biographies of famous men such as Walter Scott and Oliver Cromwell, and he was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1928. Yet Buchan remains most famous for his spy thriller adventures, which have delighted readers for generations.

A young man named Anodos experiences dream like adventures in Fairy Land, where he meets tree spirits, endures the presence of the overwhelming shadow, journeys to the palace of the fairy queen, and searches for the spirit of the earth. The story conveys a profound sadness and a poignant longing for death.

Wharton's 1917 novella Summer, like her more famous work Ethan Frome, is set in a very small rural New England town. Charity Royall longs to escape the claustrophobic confines of North Dormer and the inappropriate advances of her guardian Mr. Royall, who adopted her as a child from the nearby Mountain community. Hope arrives in the form of city boy Lucius Harney, who has come to research the architecture of the region; but will his presence in Charity's life mean her salvation or her undoing?

"There is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as possible in a short time," said the Wizard."As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked Dorothy." During an earthquake in California Dorothy and her friends are swallowed up by cracks in the earth and find themselves in a whole new land – the Land of Mangaboos. The Mangaboos are a vegetable people, and they accuse Dorothy and her friends of causing the earthquake and sentence them to death. The 1939 movie, `The Wizard of Oz‘ starring Judy Garland, perfectly told the story of a little girl‘s first adventure, but the story of Oz and Dorothy far from ended then. With his trademark inventions on display, author L. Frank Baum delivers another imaginative and delightful book in the Oz series, though many will agree that this fourth one is darker and more troubling than its predecessors. L. Frank Baum (1956-1919) was an American author, actor, and filmmaker best known for his children‘s books, particularly `The Wonderful Wizard of Oz‘ (1900) and its thirteen sequels. He started writing young and created a journal with his brother, which they handed out for free.

Old enemies are back to make life hard for Tarzan in `The Beasts of Tarzan‘ (1916), the third novel in the thrilling adventure series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Dividing their time between Africa and England, Tarzan and Jane and their little son Jack are comfortably settled. But when they get kidnapped and separated, they must fight harder than ever to find a way back to each other. Tarzan returns to his roots in this particularly jungle-oriented novel in the series, and, using his primal intelligence, manages to secure the help of a panther, a native warrior, and a tribe of apes. Relentless in its pace and drenched in cliffhangers, this might just be the most exciting Tarzan novel yet. Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) was an American author, best known for his novel `Tarzan of the Apes‘ (1914) and its sequels as well as the Barsoom series. During World War II, he was one of the oldest U.S war correspondents.

New York born John Kendrick Bangs was associate editor and then editor of Life and Harper magazines, eventually finding his way into the Humour department. Here he began to write his own satire and humour. Ghosts I Have Met and Some Others is a delightfully humourous collection of short tales relating encounters with ghosts.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," writes Charles Dickens in the opening of this dark and meaningful classic novel. It is the year 1775 and Jarvis Lorry is tasked with a secret mission for his employer. 17-year-old Lucie Manette joins him on his travels from London to Paris and is shocked to learn that her father is alive and has been released from eighteen years in a Paris prison. Set in the two metropolises just prior (and during) the French Revolution, Dickens paints a distinct picture of the social and political events of the time. `A Tale of Two Cities‘ is masterfully written, includes Dickens' perhaps greatest villain, and ties up everything in an especially satisfying ending.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English author, social critic, and philanthropist. Much of his writing first appeared in small instalments in magazines and was widely popular. Among his most famous novels are Oliver Twist (1839), David Copperfield (1850), and Great Expectations (1861).

Bernice is turned into a proper society girl by her more desirable cousin, who feels Bernice is a drag on her social life. But when Bernice starts to win over all the boys in town, the girls turn viciously against each other. Based on letters F. Scott Fitzgerald originally sent to his little sister advising her on how to be more attractive to men, `Bernice Bobs Her Hair‘ is one of eight vivid stories in Fitzgerald‘s first short story collection. In another, `The Off-Shore Pirate‘, a girl gets captured by pirates and falls in love with the captain. It was adapted into a romantic comedy and starred silent movie actress Viola Dana. `Flappers and Philosophers‘ (1920) are tales about young dreamers whose dreams get broken, tales which perfectly encompass thezeitgeist of the 1920s.F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the greatest American novelists of the 20th century and author of the classics `Tender is the Night‘ and `The Great Gatsby‘. His writing helped illustrate the 1920s Jazz Age that he and wife Zelda Fitzgerald were in the centre of.

One night at Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean and greedy man, gets a visit from the ghost of his dead business partner. The ghost warns him about the awful punishment that awaits if he continues to live his life selfishly. The next three nights, Scrooge is visited by three separate spirits who confront him with Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. Will the horrors and the joy Scrooge sees make him change his ways? Adapted for film and television more times than any other Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol (1843) is one of the most famous Christmas stories ever told. In the popular 2009 animated film, Jim Carrey voices the grouchy main character alongside Gary Oldman and Colin Firth. Warm, empathetic, and socially aware, this classic novella is bound to put any listener in the proper Christmas mood.Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English author, social critic, and philanthropist. Much of his writing first appeared in small instalments in magazines and was widely popular. Among his most famous novels are Oliver Twist (1839), David Copperfield (1850), and Great Expectations (1861).

The Idiot is anything but, yet his fellow boarders at Mrs. Smithers Pedagog's home for single gentlemen see him as such. His brand of creative thought is dismissed as foolishness yet it continues to get under their skin, because when you're beneath contempt you can say what you please. - This is the first of John Kendrick Bangs' "Idiot" books and was published by Harper and Brothers in 1895.

The Global Empire has correctly been described as Bard & Söderqvist’s philosophically most profound work. In this book, they explore what a world view is, how it is constructed, how it is defended under pressure from surrounding technological change, and how it finally implodes and must be replaced at the tipping point that is called a paradigm shift. The authors then move ahead and construct a new credible world view for the internet age where they replace the God of feudalism and the Individual from capitalism with The Net itself as the metaphysical centre of the digital age. The placing of The Net over The Earth is the starting point from which humans can identify themselves as dividuals rather than individuals, living inside subcultures rather than nation-states.The Global Empire is then filled with early examples of this metaphysics already being subconsciously implemented, and the book discusses how almost all ideological constructions are dramatically affected by this necessary change of focus. Everything is from now on a result of network dynamics in a world where everything affects everything else, including itself. It is consequently The Net itself that creates the entity which carries the title of the book, namely the global empire. This book is part 1 of 3 in the Futurica Trilogy. About the triology: The Futurica Trilogy is a work of philosophy, sociology and futurology in three closely related movements. The first volume, The Netocrats, deals with human history from the perspective of the new elite of Informationalism, the emerging society of information networks, shaped by digital interactivity, making prophecies about the digital future of politics, culture, economy, et cetera. The second volume, The Global Empire, explores the near future of political globalisation and the struggle to form new, functioning ideologies for a world where global decision making is a necessity.The third volume, The Body Machines, deals with the sad demise of the Cartesian subject. It discusses the implications of a materialist image of humanity and explains how it relates to the new, emerging hypertechnological paradigm. It explains why we are all nothing but body machines, and why this is actually good news.

Following the massive international success The Netocrats and its ambitious follow-up The Global Empire, in this third installment of The Futurica Trilogy, Bard & Söderqvist approach something far more personal - the fragile human being herself and, most of all, her brain. The Body Machines, with a title borrowed from René Descartes, explains what a brain is, how it has developed and how it functions, and why it spends such an incredible amount of time and energy on fooling itself. The Body Machines matches and mixes the latest neuroscience with philosophy and psychoanalysis, in the process portraying a confused but incredibly interesting little machine that is doomed to constantly create new fictions about itself and its surroundings for its own consumtion, but which remains social by nature, and therefore able to create, together with other similar machines, enormously productive communities. The Body Machines is not only a work of science but also a work of philosophy, a prophetic book on how the humans of the digitalised and globalised future will have to view themselves, their world, and what values and valuations will come to dominate and replace the old and dysfunctional humanism. This is a hybrid book by hybrids for hybrids. This book is part 3 of 3 in the Futurica Trilogy. About the triology: The Futurica Trilogy is a work of philosophy, sociology and futurology in three closely related movements. The first volume, The Netocrats, deals with human history from the perspective of the new elite of Informationalism, the emerging society of information networks, shaped by digital interactivity, making prophecies about the digital future of politics, culture, economy, et cetera. The second volume, The Global Empire, explores the near future of political globalisation and the struggle to form new, functioning ideologies for a world where global decision making is a necessity. The third volume, The Body Machines, deals with the sad demise of the Cartesian subject. It discusses the implications of a materialist image of humanity and explains how it relates to the new, emerging hypertechnological paradigm. It explains why we are all nothing but body machines, and why this is actually good news.

When his wife cheats on him, Golden Walter leaves his mundane life to start a new one at sea. Horrific news forces him to turn around, however, but before he can reach home, a storm carries his ship to a faraway country. A country inhabited by people he has seen before. In a vison. With novels like `The Wood Beyond the World‘ (1894) William Morris has gone down in history as the forerunner for much of the modern-day fantasy genre. C.S. Lewis, who wrote `The Chronicles of Narnia‘, cited Morris as one of his favourite authors, and J.R.R. Tolkien was influenced by Morris‘ fantasies in writing `The Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy.William Morris (1834-1896) was a British writer, textile designer and Socialist. His earliest works were historical fiction, but today he is known for being the forerunner of modern-day fantasy. He took a keen interest in Iceland and translated a series of Icelandic sagas to English together with the Icelandic scholar Eiríkur Magnússon.

After the monumental Futurica Trilogy comes a book that dares to describe individualism as the now defunct religion it always was and describe a reality that is primarily virtual, rather than physical. While the authors do not mind challenging the reader’s view of the self and the world, their main intention here is to induce passive receivers of the future to become more active participants. This work offers engaging observations and perceptive interpretations of contemporary society. Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist are Swedish philosophers and authors of the internationally successful Futurica Trilogy. They lecture the world over about the current global internet revolution. Bard & Söderqvist are regarded as pioneers in the literary genre futurica, where philosophy, social theory and futurology merge.After joining forces in the late 1990s, Bard & Söderqvist argued that the interactive revolution is the most profound and radical of all technological revolutions in the history of mankind, that it completely transforms society in every aspect: politics, the economy, culture, social power structures, the collective world view and the whole concept of being human. Bard & Söderqvist demonstrated the effects of network dynamics on various levels of a globalised world.They not only made controversial predictions in the early years of the new millennium (and cleverly foresaw both the dot.com crash and the September 11 terror attacks), they have since then been proven right in virtually every aspect and even in the most minute of details. Not only did Bard & Söderqvist foresee revolutionary innovations such as Google, Facebook, Al-Qaida and Wikileaks; they also went deeper and looked into the very power struggle of the on-going revolution itself. Bard & Söderqvist are now back with a proposal for a complete new metaphysics for the digital age, and it is called Syntheism - Creating God in The Internet Age.

Anyone, as Freud tells us in Reflections on War and Death, forced to react against his own impulses may be described as a hypocrite, whether he is conscious of it or not. One might even venture to assert - it is still Freud's argument - that our contemporary civilisation favours this sort of hypocrisy and that there are more civilised hypocrites than truly cultured persons, and it is even a question whether a certain amount of hypocrisy is not indispensable to maintain civilisation.

Totem and Taboo: Resemblances Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics is a book by Sigmund Freud, published in German in 1913. It is a collection of four essays first published in the journal Imago (1912-13), employing the application of psychoanalysis to the fields of archaeology, anthropology, and the study of religion. The four essays are entitled: The Horror of Incest; Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence; Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thoughts; and The Return of Totemism in Childhood.

Psychopathology of Everyday Life, is a book which passed through four editions in Germany and is considered the author's most popular work. With great ingenuity and penetration the author throws much light on the complex problems of human behavior, and clearly demonstrates that the hitherto considered impassable gap between normal and abnormal mental states is more apparent than real. This translation is made of the fourth German edition, and while the original text was strictly followed, linguistic difficulties often made it necessary to modify or substitute some of the author's cases by examples comprehensible to the English speaking reader. (Introduction to the translation by A. A. Brill)

History is always written from the perspective of the ruling or rising elite at the time of writing. Concepts like The Stone Age, The Bronze Age, et cetera, were of course unknown during those periods that used to be called the stone age and the bronze age. They were invented during the 19th century to make sense of a development that seemed to reach its climax with industrialisation and the modern factory.The Netocrats is a history of the world from the perspective of the netocrats, the rising elite of Informationalism, the emerging society of information networks, shaped by digital interactivity. And it also looks beyond the past and the present, far into the future of all the central aspects of society: politics, culture, economy, consumption, creation of social identity, et cetera. Why do these dramatic changes occur? How do they compare with information-technological revolutions in the past like speech, writing and print? Who will benefit? Which, of course, makes The Netocrats not only the most penetrating but also the most indispensable guide to the digital future. This book is part 1 of 3 in the Futurica Trilogy.About the triology: The Futurica Trilogy is a work of philosophy, sociology and futurology in three closely related movements. The first volume, The Netocrats, deals with human history from the perspective of the new elite of Informationalism, the emerging society of information networks, shaped by digital interactivity, making prophecies about the digital future of politics, culture, economy, et cetera. The second volume, The Global Empire, explores the near future of political globalisation and the struggle to form new, functioning ideologies for a world where global decision making is a necessity. The third volume, The Body Machines, deals with the sad demise of the Cartesian subject. It discusses the implications of a materialist image of humanity and explains how it relates to the new, emerging hypertechnological paradigm. It explains why we are all nothing but body machines, and why this is actually good news.

The book chronicles the extraordinary life and leadership of Rome's Emperor Julius Caesar, from his early years to his assassination. History of Julius Caesar is one of many biographies aimed at young people written by Jacob Abbott and his brother. The biographies are written in such a way that makes them appealing and easily accessible to everyone.

Margaret of Anjou, wife of England's Henry VI, played a key role in launching the storied War of the Roses - the 30 year civil conflict fuelled by the Lancasters and the Yorks, each vying for the British throne in the 15th century. Margaret of Anjou is one of many biographies aimed at young people written by Jacob Abbott and his brother. The biographies are written in such a way that makes them appealing and easily accessible to everyone.

During the reign of King Alfred, Danish forces have invaded the English countryside. Although the English try to repulse these attacks, they are overrun by the savagery and sheer numbers of the Danes. One of those deeply touched by these attacks is young Edmund. As a boy, he watched as his father was slain in battle fighting the Danes. Although young, he was intelligent, and noted the mistakes made on the battlefield. As he grew into a man, he put that knowledge into use and created a uniquely trained group of soldiers and built a new, stronger ship called the Dragon. Manning this ship with his special soldiers, Edmund joins the battle for freedom from Danish oppression. His adventures take him all throughout Europe and lead to glory, wealth, and eventually love.