The ancient reason there are 60 minutes in an hour
A mysterious 5,000-year-old decision led directly to how we still count time today.
By Jocelyn Timperley
Books about Time at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/16707
Apollonius of Rhodes: The Man Who Changed Ancient Greek Literature for Ever
Few figures in Ancient Greek literature have been as consequential and enigmatic as Apollonius of Rhodes.
By Nick Kampouris
https://greekreporter.com/2026/04/05/apollonius-rhodes-man-change-greek-literature/
Rhodius Apollonius at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/433
B-Sides: Thomas De Quincey’s “The English Mail-Coach”
https://www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-thomas-de-quinceys-the-english-mail-coach/
The essay at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=The+English+Mail-Coach
As a ‘book scientist’ I work with microscopes, imaging technologies and AI to preserve ancient texts
by Christina Dinh Nguyen
Old manuscripts at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=old+manuscripts
The Loneliness of A Room of One’s Own
Virginia Woolf put forward an enduring vision of women with the space and financial stability to write. But it’s also a sad vision—of isolated writers, cut off from peers or mentors.
by Joanna Scutts
https://newrepublic.com/article/206731/loneliness-room-one-virginia-woolf-hold-up
Virginia Wooldf at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89
Who Were the Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nu83pQl7mgQ
At PG:
Gwendolyn Bennett
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Gwendolyn+Bennett
Alice Dunbar Nelson
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Alice+Dunbar+Nelson
Anne Spencer
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Anne+Spencer
Zora Neale Hurston
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Zora+Neale+Hurston
Anne Spencer
As part of the world’s oldest digital library, Project Gutenberg’s Philippine section focuses on texts where the copyright has expired. It is the definitive source for those looking to download foundational works of Filipino literature in multiple formats.
Why the Temple of Artemis Was the Greatest Wonder of the World
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was so magnificent that it was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
by Kieren Johns
https://www.thecollector.com/ephesus-temple-of-artemis/
Temple of Artemis at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=temple+of+artemis
Project Gutenberg Needs Your Donation
Your contributions enable us to plan our budget, assist our volunteers, and, where urgently needed, hire people with specialized skills. We still have a lot of work to do and gaps to fill. Donations like yours give us a financial cushion to address some of those gaps. We are filled with gratitude for the efforts of those volunteers and contributors like you.
#OTD In 1860, George Eliot’s novel The Mill on the Floss is published by John Blackwood in three volumes.
https://lithub.com/lit-hub-weekly-march-30-april-3-2026/
"The Mill on the Floss" at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Mill+on+the+floss
A Poet of Science Who Shook Faith in God
Biographer Richard Holmes reveals how Tennyson predated Darwin and speaks to us today
By Kevin Berger
https://nautil.us/a-poet-of-science-who-shook-faith-in-god-1279489
Tennyson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2987
A Reader’s Guide to Poetry for National Poetry Month
By The Editors
Read poems, learn poetic forms, and discover writers in this National Poetry Month roundup.
Poetry at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/637
Project Gutenberg News — April 2026
Math at Project Gutenberg
300th Anniversary of “Shakespeare Restored”
100th Anniversary of Harper Lee
504 Gateway Timeouts
New Releases at Gutenberg.org - March 2026
Links
Why The Death Zone Of Mount Everest Has Claimed The Lives Of Hundreds Of Climbers
By Genevieve Carlton
Low oxygen levels, frigid temperatures, high winds, and frequent avalanches make Mount Everest's Death Zone one of the world's most lethal places.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/mount-everest-death-zone
Books about Everest at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=Mount+Everest
Thirty previously unpublished verses by Empedocles discovered on a papyrus from Cairo
by University de Liege
edited by Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Robert Egan
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-previously-unpublished-verses-empedocles-papyrus.html
Empedocles at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Empedocles
"Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall they be saved."
First-Ever ‘Jane Goodall Day’ Will Take Place on April 3 To Honor the Late Conservationist’s Mission
By Regina Sienra
Inside The Contested Origins Of The ‘Jack And Jill’ Nursery Rhyme
By Kaleena Fraga
From the executions of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to a satirization of King Charles I's liquor tax, there are countless theories about the true meaning of "Jack and Jill."
https://allthatsinteresting.com/jack-and-jill-nursery-rhyme
Jack and Jill from the book "Denslow's Mother Goose" at PG:
When Satirical Magazines Confront Real Crises
In Chile and Argentina, satirical publications used humor to expose political crises overlooked by the mainstream press.
By: Livia Gershon
Silence: a brief literary history
by Kate McLoughlin
Without silences, we wouldn’t have the exquisite hush of medieval lullabies, the suspenseful secrets of the realist novel, or jagged modernist poetry.
This month the Distributed Proofreaders (DP) blog is a book about the US pre-Civil War abolitionist, "The Life of John Brown."
