Showing results by narrator "Max Bollinger" in All Categories

Human analysis differs from every other system of character analysis in that it classifies man into five types according to his biological evolution. No person achieves success or happiness when compelled to do what he naturally dislikes to do, since likes and dislikes stay with him to the grave. One of the biggest modern problems is that of helping men and women to discover and to capitalize on their inborn traits. Each of the five types is discussed in detail, with specific and detailed examples.

Unhappy in his marriage, a Moscow bank worker, Dmitri Gurov, is vacationing in Yalta, Crimea, where he sees a young lady walking along the seafront with her small dog. They are soon engaged in an affair and spend most of their time together walking and taking drives to Oreanda . Returning to Moscow and his daily routine, working by day and clubbing by night, Gurov expects to soon forget young Anna but finds he is haunted by her memory. Read in English, unabridged.

The magi, as you know, were wise men - wonderfully wise men - who brought gifts to the newborn King of the Jews in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. Read in English, unabridged.

There are thieves, and there are thieves. And I have happened to come across an honest thief. But how can a thief be honest? One of Dostoyevsky's short masterpieces tells a story rich in psychological insight into human behaviour, emotion and often irrational relationships. Read in English, unabridged.

Nikolai Ivanich has never reconciled himself to life in the city and makes plans to acquire enough money to buy a small estate where he can grow gooseberries, a symbol in his mind of happy life in the countryside. He saves every penny and spends his days dreaming of the future estate: where the main building will be located, ducks swimming in a pond, and where the gooseberry bushes will be planted. His brother sees it as an escape from reality and an unnecessary limitation. Read in English, unabridged.

I am a novelist, and I suppose I have made up this story. I write 'I suppose,' though I know for a fact that I have made it up, but yet I keep fancying that it must have happened somewhere at some time, that it must have happened on Christmas Eve in some great town in a time of terrible frost. Read in English, unabridged.

A beautiful Christmas story of love, forgiveness and uneasy life. Set in Chicago on a bitterly cold Christmas night. William considers stealing both to satisfy his hunger and to find excitement in his dull life, but when a woman drops a parcel, he gives it to her instead of running off with it. He feels as if he is a failed thief, in the same manner as he has failed at everything - college, journalism, real estate, performing.

A piano tuner called Murkin, a close-shaven man with a yellow face, with a nose stained with snuff and cotton wool in his ears, came out of his hotel room into the passage. And looking at his frightened face one might have supposed that the ceiling had fallen in on him. 'Upon my word, Semyon!' he cried, seeing the attendant running towards him. 'What is the meaning of it? I am a rheumatic, delicate man and you make me go barefoot! Why is it you don't give me my boots all this time? Where are they?'

Fairy tales are rarely written exclusively for children. They offer a variety of strong characters, themes and challenges as well as an insight into the mystery of the soul. These tales often contain profound truths that survived many hundreds of years and a universal appeal that makes them both enjoyable and enlightening. Modern concepts of mindfulness can often be found as original themes among these tales.

A collection of short stories from one of the most famous writers of very long novels, Leo Tolstoy, including: 'Ilyas', 'Little Girls Wiser Than Men' and 'The Coffee-House of Surat'.

'For man to be able to live, he must either not see the infinite, or have such an explanation of the meaning of life as will connect the finite with the infinite.' Read in English, unabridged.

An audiobook adaptation of Turgenev's story set on the outskirts of Moscow, in the house of an old widow. The story was written in 1854 by Ivan Turgenev, a great Russian novelist of the nineteenth century. Turgenev wrote Mumu with such vivid images and reflections of the state of tsarist Russia that this piece, together with his other stories, was credited with having influenced public opinion in favour of the abolition of serfdom in 1861.

In the town of Surat, in India, was a coffeehouse where many travellers and foreigners from all parts of the world met and conversed. One day a learned Persian theologian visited this coffeehouse. He was a man who had spent his life studying the nature of the deity and reading and writing books upon the subject. He had thought, read, and written so much about God that eventually he lost his wits, became quite confused and ceased even to believe in the existence of a god. Read in English, unabridged.

Vasilisa had not seen her daughter for four years. Her daughter, Yefimya, had gone after her wedding to Petersburg, had sent them two letters, and since then had seemed to vanish out of their lives; there had been no sight nor sound of her. And whether the old woman was milking her cow at dawn or heating her stove or dozing at night, she was always thinking of one and the same thing - what was happening to Yefimya, whether she were alive.... Read in English, unabridged.

The Thriller is described as the most attractive, handsome, and charming of all human types. A distinctive dresser, a quick thinker, highly ambitious and adaptable. The stage, the film industry, and the arts attract this type of people naturally. But even this seemingly perfect human is not without flaws and weaknesses. Read in English.

Santa Claus lives in the Laughing Valley, where stands the big, rambling castle in which his toys are manufactured. His workmen, selected from the ryls, knooks, pixies and fairies, live with him, and everyone is as busy as can be from one year's end to another. One would think that our good old Santa Claus, who devotes his days to making children happy, would have no enemies on all the Earth; and, as a matter of fact, for a long period of time he encountered nothing but love wherever he might go.

Subtle humour is one of the key elements in Chekhov's imaginative stories. But as an artist, Chekhov is more complicated. He paints life with all its nuances and shades of grey. His stories are full of characters who give us invaluable insight into universal wisdom of everyday life - civilised professionals, enlightened misfits, philanthropic gentry, rich landowners and impoverished royalty holding candles for reason, justice and passion.

Would you go into voluntary solitary confinement for 15 years in order to get rich? And more importantly, what would happen to you in the end? Our protagonist, the banker, agrees to pay millions to a young lawyer who believes he can stay locked up for 15 years in exchange for a multimillion reward. The bet does go ahead, but what it leads to both surprises and frightens the banker. Read in English, unabridged.

This volume of Chekhov stories offers a unique selection, each touching upon fundamentally important subjects such as the purpose and value of life, what it takes to be human, eternal life and higher objectives of human life, happiness, guilt and romance.

A story of a successful farmer, Ilyas, who grew into one of the wealthiest in the area only to lose it all through series of bad accidents. He finds his happiness, however, only after losing all his possessions and achieving peace for himself and his wife. Read in English, unabridged.

Doctors and kind relations will succeed in stupefying mankind, in making mediocrity pass for genius and in bringing civilisation to ruin. Kovrin is a gifted man, well educated. Following the advice of his doctor, he decides to leave his busy city lifestyle and travels to recover his health in a beautiful family country estate. There he meets this mystical and prophetic Black Monk, a character from an ancient legend, which he thinks is nothing more than a hallucination.