Public Speaking

A wandering family, far from any written word, depended on what its members said to one another. Clarence Stratton begins with a bold contention: no other means of communication has ever matched speech in importance.

Writing in the age of the telephone and dictaphone, Stratton looks across assemblies, courtrooms, classrooms and business offices, where people’s words can sway decisions—or waste a roomful of time. He draws a sharp line between empty chatter and speech with ideas behind it, arguing that the ability to express those ideas clearly is not a gift bestowed at birth but a skill built through practice. In business it can save time; in command, a clear voice may even determine whether an order is understood. What separates a speaker who moves others from one who merely talks?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.