Did you know that many classic books were written by late-blooming authors? They make up the biggest group here on the blog, with good reason.
According to Dr. George Bartzokis, a UCLA neuropsychiatrist, people actually do grow wiser as they grow older. The nerve fibers in their brains become more insulated. This means
they can do very complicated processing on many levels, which is really what wisdom is…Complex tasks like ruling countries or writing novels—these are most often better done by people who have built the most myelin.
This is exciting news for all of us late-blooming authors! So I’ve compiled this list of free Kindle books to inspire your next act.
I find Kindle For PC the most enjoyable way to read on a screen. You can download it here. And of course, Apple has its iBook format, available through iTunes.
Some of these will default to Amazon Unlimited, a $9.99 per month subscription program. If you don’t want to join, just look for the small “Want to buy at $0.00?” or “$0.00 to buy” link.
The following free Kindle books were written by late-blooming authors I’ve profiled:
1: Tales From Mother Goose by Charles Perrault (1628-1703)—Perrault compiled these folk tales from oral tradition at age 69, after he retired from civil service.
2: The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1659-1731)—Defoe was wine merchant, tax collector and spy before he wrote this classic adventure story at age 60.
3: Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)—The modern FranklinCovey planning system takes inspiration from Franklin’s self-improvement program. He started his autobiography at age 65.
4: Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace (1827-1905)—Long before it was a perennial Easter movie, Ben-Hur was a bestselling novel written by a Civil War general whose life reads like fiction.
5 & 6: A Journey To The Center Of The Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne (1828-1905)—Verne failed at writing plays and trading stocks before turning to his fabulous tales at age 35. But he didn’t quit his day job until age 42.
7: Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker (1847-1912)—Stoker’s widow posthumously published Dracula’s Guest, a collection of short stories. It contains some real gems, including the title tale, a mysterious “deleted scene” from the famous novel.
8: The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932)—Although Grahame wrote short stories in his 20s, he took a hiatus from writing to become a father and penned his classic children’s tale at age 49. He based Mr. Toad on Alastair, his headstrong little boy.
9: A Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories by Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)—Beatrix published The Tale of Peter Rabbit, her first book, at age 36. But she became one of England’s foremost conservationists, which she considered her greatest achievement, in her 50s.
10 & 11: Tarzan Of The Apes and The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950)—Burroughs was a failed entrepreneur before he (like Verne) turned to adventure writing at age 35.
Here are free Kindle books by late-blooming authors I’ve not yet profiled:
12: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)—Cervantes was a tax collector, soldier, and slave before he wrote what some consider the first modern novel at age 58.
13: The Awakening and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin (1851-1904)—Chopin began writing when she was 41 but was too far ahead of her time. Although The Awakening was never actually banned, it was censored for bucking social norms and depicting female sexuality.
14: Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)—Coppola’s used Heart Of Darkness (which Conrad wrote at age 42) as the basis for Apocalypse Now.
Enjoy!
Opening Image: Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by the British artist David Martin (1767)