Let’s relax with more from this wonderful guide to studying art in Europe. This time, where to shop in London, the best boarding houses, and then we’re off to Paris with some genteel commentary about being a woman in a man’s artsy world. Take up your brushes, ladies!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Studying Art Abroad and How to Do It Cheaply” at the Internet...

Let’s, uh, improve our health with this compendium of questionable herbal advice from 1650. But first, the kind of sleep-inducing, self-congratulatory introduction in which only a 17th-century apothecary can excel. Delightful!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The Complete Herbal” at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49513   Music:...

Let’s hop in our sleepy wayback machine and relax with more from this remarkable little history of everything. This time, the Roman Empire, Hannibal, and the rise of the emperors. Quiescamus!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “A Short History of the World” at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35461   Music: "Cosmic Tingles” by Lee...

Let’s journey to sleep with Henry David Thoreau as he explores the back of beyond in Maine, ponders the fate of forests, visits some barely-there towns, and…gets accosted by politicians? Talk about timing!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The Maine Woods” at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42500   Music: "Boring Books for Bedtime” by...

Let’s celebrate the spooky season with more from this history of lycanthropy and a long chapter of wolfish folktales. Bears, hares, and dogs drinking cider are also mentioned. Honestly, the human imagination is so delightfully weird.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The Book of Werewolves” at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5324   ...

Let’s sail the seas of sleep with more from this marvelous travelogue from the South Seas. This time, we encounter a waterspout and get happily marooned on an idyllic island. Cast away your cares, friends. It’s a lovely tale.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Faery Lands of the South Seas” at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54479   ...

Let’s fall asleep with a new reading from this wonderful look into our universe. This time, we contemplate the phases of the moon, the life and death of the stars, and our position in this vast and whirling universe. The stuff of starry visions indeed!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Astronomy for Young Folks” at Project Gutenberg here:...

Let’s fall asleep with a new listener request! This time, we travel back in time to learn the origins of that most pleasant and cozy of places, the country inn. From manors to monasteries and pilgrimage houses, it’s quite a relaxing trip.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Old Country Inns of England” at Project Gutenberg here:...

Let’s close out our month of new versions of old episodes with a fresh recording of our very first foray into the 1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Consumers Guide. In this episode, we trip through the Drugs Department, and what a trip it is. How anyone survived 19th-century medicine, I cannot say.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Music: "Heaven Be Here,” by PC III,...

Let’s relax with a new recording of a very old episode from a book I had completely forgotten about! Tonight, we learn what constitutes “thinking,” ponder clouds and forks in the road, and consider the similarity between children and scientists. Cutting edge stuff for 1910!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Music: "Heaven Be Here,” by PC III, licensed under CC...

Let’s relax with another new recording of a very old episode—Part One of a fave on this podcast. In this first episode from Mrs. B, we learn the duties of the mistress of the house, from rising early to hiring servants and wearing pleasing color combos. Frankly, it’s enough to send anyone to sleep with exhaustion!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The Book...

Let’s relax and sleep with a shiny new recording of a very old episode. This time, dreamy sleep awaits our travel and list lovers as we read a schedule of transatlantic steamer sailings from 1925. You may recognize a few famous names if you stay awake long enough. Bon voyage!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Music: "Cosmic Tingles,” by Lee Rosevere, licensed...

Let’s relax and sleep with the first of some fresh new recordings of very, very old episodes. This time, we learn what architecture covers, what we should study, and why putting buildings in healthy spots is a good idea. Obvious? Apparently not!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The Ten Books on Architecture” at Project Gutenberg: ...

Let’s relax and sleep with more history of the British Isles from the wonderful Bede. This time, we wander through four centuries of Roman influence, build some walls, and learn about Saint Alban, who got a miraculous drink on a hill!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Ecclesiastical History of England” at Project Gutenberg:...

Let’s continue a month of requests from our Patreon raffle winners with more about the operation of agricultural machinery. This time, some Q&A and a surprisingly excellent scientific explanation of the states of matter. Steamy!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Farm Engines and How To Run Them” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43867 ...

Let’s continue a month of requests from our Patreon raffle winners with more about the physical characteristics of animal classes. This time, we learn about camels, chameleons, and the totally-not-made-up manticore. Science!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “History of Animals” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59058   Music: "Ocean...

Let’s kick off a month of requests from our Patreon raffle winners with more about the delicious staff of life. This time, bread baking for (19th century) beginners, yeasty science, and the complexities of communion wafers. Tasty!   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The History of Bread” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53219   Music:...

Let’s relax and sleep with more about Einstein’s theories of relativity, how geometry gets messy on a sphere, the validity of measuring with eels, and a bit about Pythagoras, who feared beans. Who knew?   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The ABC of Relativity” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67104   Music: "Boring Books for...

Let’s relax and sleep with more about the origins of that magical medium, movies! This time, we explore motion, mess with gelatin, and call “Action!” on the development of celluloid film thanks to one George Eastman.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Moving Pictures” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67972   Music: "Boring Books for...

Let’s relax and sleep with more from this solo journey by sailboat. This time, we cross the Atlantic, serenade dolphins, and…a seafaring ghost saves our narrator from a cheese-induced fever? Sure, why not. I don’t write them, friends.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Sailing Alone Around the World” at Project Gutenberg:...

Let’s relax and sleep with more from a classic that combines mathematics and social commentary with pointed angularity. This time, our narrator is inducted into that most secret of secrets…three dimensions. Why, it’s madness, I tell you.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Flatland” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/201   Music: "Boring...

Let’s celebrate our 300th episode and 10 MILLION listens with a bit of fireworks! That sounds exciting, but it’s really just a sleepy catalog of firework displays in England up to the 19th century. Flaming dragon battles and “philosophical fireworks” are somewhat mentioned, so that’s fun.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “Pyrotechnics” at Project Gutenberg:...

Let’s return to a political classic and learn more about how to govern as a prince. This time, we hear why neither the rich nor the mercenary can be trusted, why it’s easy to earn the people’s faith by being nice, and the excellent word “dastardy” is used.   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Read “The Prince” at Project Gutenberg:...

This week, let’s relax with the intricacies of car maintenance as we learn the proper care and operation of a 1912 Model T Ford. Why, it’s so simple, anyone can fill the dope caps and grind the valves. Ford thinks you can, anyway, and isn’t that a bit cheering?   Help us stay ad-free and 100% listener supported! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boringbookspod Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/d5kcMsW   Music: "Boring Books for Bedtime,” by Lee Rosevere, licensed...