Reading Essentials: 322 books

The Berry Scene once again shows that Berry Pleydell is one of the funniest characters ever created. If you're a sucker for old-fashioned British comedy, then Yates always satisfies. He combines a fast-paced Jazz Age detective story with high-spirited romps and comedic twists that generate true belly laughs!

On the way home from Germany after capturing Axel the Red’s treasure, Jonathan Mansel comes upon a corpse in the road. There ensues a gripping tale of adventure and vengeance of a rather gentlemanly kind. On publication, this novel was such a hit that it was reprinted six times in its first year and assured Yates huge popularity. A classic Richard Chandos thriller...

Berry & Co. captures the English upper classes of the Edwardian and Golden Age era, still self-assured, but affected by changing social attitudes and the decline of their fortunes. Grand houses, powerful motor cars, and foreign travel feature prominently in the Berry stories. This book about...

Another Austrian castle, another treasure hunt, more gangs of crooks, more improbably posh heroes and their devoted servants, another Dornford Yates adventure story.

This Robert Bloch classic tells the story of an overpopulated Earth and its perilous problem of diminished resources. However, the government has a plan. Is it for good or evil? Will it work? 

Seeds of Life is a variation on the Jekyll and Hyde theme. A technical assistant is zapped by radiation in a laboratory and is transformed into genius. Initially, the genius builds incredible devices that make millions of dollars. But the genius goes to the Dark Side and his evil threatens to unleash new horrors on the United States. 

One of John Buchan's most famous characters, Sandy Arbuthnot is the hero of this story of adventure in a far flung country. Sandy must battle against a charismatic industrial tycoon who wants to take over the world.

Julius Ricardo hitches a lift home across the English Channel to see his friend Inspector Hanaud and en route picks up an escapee from a prison ship, who holds a grudge against Daniel Horbury, M.P. When Horbury is found dead at his home in Lordship Lane, Inspector Hanaud and Ricardo assist Scotland Yard in the investigation, which also involves the owner of a shipping line.

Tales from Silver Lands is a book by Charles Finger that won the Newbery Medal in 1925. The book is a collection of nineteen folktales of the native populations of Central and South America. These interesting folk stories include tales about giants, witches, and animals.

Little Whitefoot the Wood Mouse needs a warm, safe place and decides to spend the winter in Farmer Brown's barn where he meets a friendly stranger, tumbles into a life-threatening situation, and learns the meaning of the word "trust."

Empire and Communications is Innis's important contribution to the debate about how media influenced the development of consciousness and societies. In this foundational work, he traced humanity's movement from the oral tradition of pre-literate cultures to the written word to electronic media of...

Ronald Knox was one of the most influential British convert-writers of the 20th century. Of his many works, The Belief of Catholics is his best-known book and his premiere piece of apologetics. While it deals extensively with Protestantism, its target is more the unchurched or lightly-church modern. This...

15 sermons preached at Princeton Seminary in the early 1900's by the great scholar of Biblical Theology. Also includes his address on "The Nature and Aims of Biblical Theology."

Written in response to the devastation of World War I, Why Men Fight lays out Bertrand Russell's ideas on war, pacifism, reason, and personal liberty. Russell argues that when individuals live passionately, they will have no desire for war or killing. Conversely, excessive restraint or propaganda causes us to live unnaturally and with hostility toward those who are unlike ourselves.