Alchemy has been with us since the beginning of recorded history. It has been present in almost every culture, from Old Kingdom Egypt and the China of Lao Tzu; from the Greece of Alexander the Great to the era of Islamic conquest; from the islands of the Indonesian archipelago to the twilight world of Victorian occultism. It has been called ‘the mightiest secret that a man [or woman] can possess’, yet it has also been derided as ‘the history of an error’. It has often been portrayed as a fraudulent, delusional quest for wealth and worldly power through the attempt to transmute base metals into gold, but has also been regarded as a Divine art, the highest gift of God, one that should only be practiced by the sincere seeker and the pure of heart.
"In this book, I aim not to replace other histories of food but to offer readers a useful alternative: to take a genuinely global perspective; to treat food history as a theme of world history, inseparable from all the other interactions of human beings with one another and with the rest of nature; to treat evenhandedly the ecological, cultural and culinary concepts of the subject; to combine a broad conspectus with selectively detailed excursions into particular cases; to trace connections, at every stage, between the food of the past and the way we eat today; and to do all this briefly. . . One can philosophize quite well while preparing supper.
Обстоятельная хроника-справочник становления и развития науки и техники, начиная с каменного века и до наших дней. Серьезная книга, которую легко и увлекательно читать. Пригодится ESP студентам и преподавателям, а также всем, кто задается вопросами: что, где, когда и как. In this age of genetic engineering and global warming, it is more important than ever to understand the history and current trends of science and technology. With so much information out there, though, it' s hard to know where to start. That' s where The History of Science and Technology -- the most comprehensive and up-to-date chronology of its kind -- comes in.
Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture
by: James S Donnelly Volumes I-II
Written for a broad audience of students, academics and general readers. It spans prehistoric times to the present and treats both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in detail.
The impact of the Irish upon the arts, popular culture, scholarship, and politics has been immense. Literature in English cannot be fully understood without consideration of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, among others. The Irish struggle for independence in the early twentieth century, and the strife that continues today over north-south question, have received international attention and concern. The Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture is written for a broad audience of students, academics, and general readers. It spans prehistoric times to the present, and examines both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in detail. It offers, in A-Z format, 25 long, thematic articles on politics, economics, religion, the arts, and society; 200 mid-length entries on key movements, periods, institutions, and cities; and 175 succinct articles on specific people, groups, and events. Entries represent an inclusive, cross-disciplinary approach, written by specialists in history, archaeology, anthropology, geography, politics, economics, the Irish and English languages and literatures, the visual arts, and other fields.
Earth Time Exploring the Deep Past from Victorian England to the Grand Canyon
by Douglas Palmer
The dramatic history of planet Earth and the rocky road to understanding the past
* A probing account of the history of the earth and an introduction to the many eccentric characters that have attempted to understand its origins.
* Full of fascinating anecdotes about 19th century explorers and natural philosophers who first carved up Earth's history just as others were carving up the globe.
* Unravels the fascinating history of rock strata and the implications they have had on accepted theories on the Earth's life.
* Considers the future of the earth, and what a repeat of some of the catastrophic events of the earth's past, such as major earthquakes and asteroid collisions, could mean for life today.
