Over the last few years, I have dabbled in a number of business ventures. It keeps my brain alive to do so. And a little extra money never goes amiss in a household with children.
One type of business venture that has intrigued me is repackaging books that have come into the public domain. Being in the pubic domain means that the copyright has expired and anyone can reuse the materials. You can copyright a new version of the material but the original material remains open to anyone to use.
One excellent source of public domain materials is Project Gutenberg. Recently I was browsing the new materials posted there when I came across Peter the Great by Jacob Abbott, one of the Makers of History series published in the mid to late 1800s. I was immediately intrigued. This material reminded me of one of our favorite history resources; historical fiction by G. A. Henty written in the same time period and recently reprinted.
Could this be a project for me? I started researching and the more I read, the more I liked. Jacob Abbott was a prolific author and his writing was geared mainly to a younger audience with dozens of historical narratives as well as other stories such as the Rollo books. His work is continuing to come into the public domain giving me plenty of source materials for years to come.
I also discovered that his work is already being reprinted for the homeschool community. Far from being a discouragement, this verified my own feeling that his material would be attractive to that market.
Finding his work on a Living Books list published by Valerie's Living Books again simply reinforced what I was thinking.
Since my husband has long encouraged me to venture into audio books, and I had just learned how to do this and acquired the necessary equipment during another project last year, the idea of making an audio recording of this material was not long in materializing in my brain. Of course, I also found that this, too, had been done for some of JA's work. However, mine would include additional resources that would be very helpful to homeschoolers wanting to use this works in their history studies.
And so my history project began to take shape...
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Friday, August 3, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
The Many Faces of History
When I was knee high to a grasshopper, I had the privilege of hearing Glenn W. Turner speak in person. Some of you may know him only as the man who went to prison for MLM shenanigans but he was, and still is, one of the most dynamic motivational speakers you could ever hear. I can still hear him in my mind exhorting the audience to "Dare to be Great!"
[Here is a free clip Of Mr. Turner that illustrates why he has impacted thousands of lives. Click on the clip at the very top of the page.]
My mom, a beautician by profession, had bought into his company, Koscot, and was making good money selling the excellent cosmetics and recruiting and training other girls to sell also. I won't get into the politics of the thing, but Mr. Turner was indicted for practices that were very little different than what other MLM companies were doing at the time. MLM has come a long way since then but that is a whole other post for a different blog...
Or maybe not. I started this post wanting to make the point that I was raised by a strong minded and industrious woman who more often worked for herself than for other people. That I get my entrepreneurial streak honestly.
However, as often happens when I dare to sit down at a keyboard, my post has gone astray and I find myself on another track heading for a destination that was better than the one I had in mind when I first drove to the train station.
My new destination is called The Many Faces of History. And my thesis is that there is no such thing as an unbiased historical account. It is simply impossible.
History is made up of stories and stories require a story teller. And that story teller has a life, a perspective, loves, hates, political views, religious views - all that goes into shaping the particular lens that they view the world through.
Just the mere decision of what facts to include and what facts to leave out have a powerful impact on the story that results. Or which version to believer when the facts are in dispute.
I will give an example from the first book I am working on for my project. [Peter the Great from the Makers of History series by Jacob Abbott] At one point, Peter's oldest son dies after a life of debauchery, idleness and treachery. There seems to be debate about whether he died from illness or whether Peter had him killed. I intend to do more research on the matter but I already know that I won't find out the answer conclusively. And what I choose to believe depends in large part on the biases I bring to my research.
While sifting through an author's biases can sometimes be frustrating, it can also be fascinating. It adds another layer to the study of history that teaches us to be discerning readers while sharpening and defining our own perspectives. The only real problem is if we think that the face we see most easily is the only one to be discovered.
[Here is a free clip Of Mr. Turner that illustrates why he has impacted thousands of lives. Click on the clip at the very top of the page.]
My mom, a beautician by profession, had bought into his company, Koscot, and was making good money selling the excellent cosmetics and recruiting and training other girls to sell also. I won't get into the politics of the thing, but Mr. Turner was indicted for practices that were very little different than what other MLM companies were doing at the time. MLM has come a long way since then but that is a whole other post for a different blog...
Or maybe not. I started this post wanting to make the point that I was raised by a strong minded and industrious woman who more often worked for herself than for other people. That I get my entrepreneurial streak honestly.
However, as often happens when I dare to sit down at a keyboard, my post has gone astray and I find myself on another track heading for a destination that was better than the one I had in mind when I first drove to the train station.My new destination is called The Many Faces of History. And my thesis is that there is no such thing as an unbiased historical account. It is simply impossible.
History is made up of stories and stories require a story teller. And that story teller has a life, a perspective, loves, hates, political views, religious views - all that goes into shaping the particular lens that they view the world through.
Just the mere decision of what facts to include and what facts to leave out have a powerful impact on the story that results. Or which version to believer when the facts are in dispute.
I will give an example from the first book I am working on for my project. [Peter the Great from the Makers of History series by Jacob Abbott] At one point, Peter's oldest son dies after a life of debauchery, idleness and treachery. There seems to be debate about whether he died from illness or whether Peter had him killed. I intend to do more research on the matter but I already know that I won't find out the answer conclusively. And what I choose to believe depends in large part on the biases I bring to my research.
While sifting through an author's biases can sometimes be frustrating, it can also be fascinating. It adds another layer to the study of history that teaches us to be discerning readers while sharpening and defining our own perspectives. The only real problem is if we think that the face we see most easily is the only one to be discovered.
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