Leofranc Holford-Strevens brings us this fascinating study of time using a range of examples from Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar's imposition of the Leap Year to the 1920's project for a fixed Easter. Those interested in time, history, and the development of the calendar will enjoy this absorbing exploration of an aspect of our lives that we all take for granted.
From the cat's meow to the bowerbird's bright-blue nest, animals constantly and variously exchange information. Avians, primates, seals, whales, even insects and lizards send signals in order to find and keep their mates; to deceive predators, or to warn them away; to mark their territories; to train their young; and to pass on useful information. Neurobiologist Rogers and social scientist Kaplan (also the author of books on Australian feminism) have written an accessible, consistently absorbing and scientifically scrupulous survey of how animals send signals and of what evolutionary theory tells us about how they came to do so.
The volume examines the motives for lexical borrowing from English during the last century, the processes involved in the penetration of English vocabulary into new environments, and the extent of its integration into twelve languages representing several language families. Many of these absorbing languages are studied here for the first time.
Harnessing children's natural curiosity about the world, this engaging series introduces kids to key science concepts through a simple question-and-answer format.
Absorbing artwork illustrates how friction, slopes, pushing, and pulling affect motion.
Absorbing Perfections - Kabbalah and Interpretation
In this wide-ranging discussion of Kabbalah - from the mystical trends of medieval Judaism to modern Hasidism - one of the world's foremost scholars considers different visions of the nature of the sacred text and the methods used to interpret it. Moshe Idel takes as a starting point the fact that the postbiblical Jewish world lost its geographical center with the destruction of the Temple and so was left with a textual center, the Holy Book. Idel argues that a text-oriented religion produced language-centered forms of mysticism.