Download or read book Gunpowder Alchemy written by Jeannie Lin and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-11-18 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1842, the gunpowder might of China’s Qing Dynasty fell to Britain’s steam engines. Furious, the Emperor ordered the death of his engineers—and killed China’s best chance of fighting back… Since her father’s execution eight years ago, Jin Soling kept her family from falling into poverty. But her meager savings are running out, leaving her with no choice but to sell the last of her father’s possessions—her last memento of him. Only, while attempting to find a buyer, Soling is caught and brought before the Crown Prince. Unlike his father, the Emperor, the Prince knows that the only chance of expelling the English invaders is to once again unite China’s cleverest minds to create fantastic weapons. He also realizes that Soling is the one person who could convince her father’s former allies—many who have turned rebel—to once again work for the Empire. He promises to restore her family name if she’ll help him in his cause. But after the betrayal of her family all those years ago, Soling is unsure if she can trust anyone in the Forbidden City—even if her heart is longing to believe in the engineer with a hidden past who was once meant to be her husband… Includes a preview of the second book in the Gunpowder Chronicles. Praise for Jeannie Lin and her novels “Tantalizing.”—Publishers Weekly “Compelling, memorable.”—Library Journal “[Lin] is an exceptional storyteller.”—RT Book Reviews USA Today bestselling author Jeannie Lin grew up fascinated with stories of Western epic fantasy, Eastern martial arts adventures, and romance novels. Formerly a high school teacher, Jeannie is now known for writing groundbreaking, award-winning historical romances set in Tang Dynasty China, including her Golden Heart award-winning debut, Butterfly Swords, as well as The Dragon and the Pearl, My Fair Concubine, and The Lotus Palace.
Download or read book Gunpowder written by Jack Kelly and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Chinese alchemists fashioned the first manmade explosion sometime during the tenth century, no one could have foreseen its full revolutionary potential. Invented to frighten evil spirits rather than fuel guns or bombs-neither of which had been thought of yet-their simple mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal went on to make the modern world possible. As word of its explosive properties spread from Asia to Europe, from pyrotechnics to battleships, it paved the way for Western exploration, hastened the end of feudalism and the rise of the nation state, and greased the wheels of the Industrial Revolution. With dramatic immediacy, novelist and journalist Jack Kelly conveys both the distant time in which the "devil's distillate" rose to conquer the world, and brings to rousing life the eclectic cast of characters who played a role in its epic story, including Michelangelo, Edward III, Vasco da Gama, Cortez, Guy Fawkes, Alfred Nobel, and E.I. DuPont. A must-read for history fans and military buffs alike, Gunpowder brings together a rich terrain of cultures and technological innovations with authoritative research and swashbuckling style.
Download or read book Gunpowder written by Jack Kelly and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Chinese alchemists fashioned the first manmade explosion sometime during the tenth century, no one could have foreseen its full revolutionary potential. Invented to frighten evil spirits rather than fuel guns or bombs-neither of which had been thought of yet-their simple mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal went on to make the modern world possible. As word of its explosive properties spread from Asia to Europe, from pyrotechnics to battleships, it paved the way for Western exploration, hastened the end of feudalism and the rise of the nation state, and greased the wheels of the Industrial Revolution. With dramatic immediacy, novelist and journalist Jack Kelly conveys both the distant time in which the "devil's distillate" rose to conquer the world, and brings to rousing life the eclectic cast of characters who played a role in its epic story, including Michelangelo, Edward III, Vasco da Gama, Cortez, Guy Fawkes, Alfred Nobel, and E.I. DuPont. A must-read for history fans and military buffs alike, Gunpowder brings together a rich terrain of cultures and technological innovations with authoritative research and swashbuckling style.
Download or read book The Alchemy of Air written by Thomas Hager and published by Crown. This book was released on 2009-08-18 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the Haber-Bosch discovery that changed billions of lives—including your own. At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster: Mass starvation was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world’ s scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two men who found it: brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, and saved millions of lives. But their epochal triumph came at a price we are still paying. The Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder and explosives that killed millions during the two world wars. Both men were vilified during their lives; both, disillusioned and disgraced, died tragically. The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of a discovery that changed the way we grow food and the way we make war–and that promises to continue shaping our lives in fundamental and dramatic ways.
Download or read book Clockwork Samurai written by Jeannie Lin and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National bestselling author Jeannie Lin’s Gunpowder Chronicles continue as a woman left adrift by the fall of a Dynasty attempts to reclaim her family’s honor... As a physician, Jin Soling can see that the Emperor is cracking, relying on Opium to drown his troubles. The Ch’ing Empire is failing, and war with the British is imminent, but the man to whom Soling was once engaged has a bold idea to save it. A leader within the Ministry of Engineering, Chang-wei suggests an alliance with Japan, whose scientists claim to have technical advancements that could turn the tide of the war. But Japan has kept itself in isolation for the last two hundred years, cutting all diplomatic ties with the Ch'ing Empire. Chang-wei must enter the island nation in disguise to seek an alliance—an alliance forbidden by the Japanese shogunate. Seeking to escape the politics of the imperial court, Soling arranges her own passage on the airship to Japan. But once they land, Chang-wei and Soling become targets of the shogunate's armored assassins. Caught between two empires, in a land distrustful of foreigners, the deadly war machines are the least of their worries... Includes an exclusive excerpt of Gunpowder Alchemy. Praise for Jeannie Lin and her novels “Tantalizing.”—Publishers Weekly “Compelling, memorable.”—Library Journal “[Lin] is an exceptional storyteller.”—RT Book Reviews
Download or read book A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder written by James Riddick Partington and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly 600 years, from battles of the early 14th century to the dropping of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, firearms derived from gunpowder and other chemicals defined the frightful extent of war. In this classic work, first published in 1960, distinguished historian James Riddick Partington provides a worldwide survey of the evolution of incendiary devices, Greek fire, and gunpowder. 21 illustrations.
Download or read book Gunpowder Alchemy written by Jeannie Lin and published by . This book was released on 2017-09-14 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1842, the gunpowder might of China¿s Qing Dynasty fell to Britain¿s steam engines. Furious, the Emperor ordered the death of his engineers, eliminating China¿s best chance of fighting back.Since her father¿s execution eight years ago, Jin Soling has kept her family from falling apart. With her mother addicted to opium and her younger brother in danger of being sent off to the factories, Soling has no choice but to sell off the last of her father¿s possessions. Unwittingly, her actions bring her to the attention of the imperial court¿the same court that betrayed her father. The Crown Prince has launched a secret mission to bring together the remnants of the former Ministry of Science. To restore her family¿s name, Soling must track down the rebel alchemist who holds the secret to powering the imperial fleet. Her only ally is a man she¿s just met¿the engineer with a mysterious past who was once meant to be her husband¿
Download or read book Spy Handler written by Victor Cherkashin and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2008-08-05 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Victor Cherkashin's incredible career in the KGB spanned thirty-eight years, from Stalin's death in 1953 to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In this riveting memoir, Cherkashin provides a remarkable insider's view of the KGB's prolonged conflict with the United States, from his recruitment through his rising career in counterintelligence to his prime spot as the KGB's number- two man at the Soviet Embassy in Washington. Victor Cherkashin's story will shed stark new light on the KGB's inner workings over four decades and reveal new details about its major cases. Cherkashin's story is rich in episode and drama. He took part in some of the highest-profile Cold War cases, including tracking down U.S. and British spies around the world. He was posted to stations in the U.S., Australia, India, and Lebanon and traveled the globe for operations in England, Europe, and the Middle East. But it was in 1985, known as "the Year of the Spy," that Cherkashin scored two of the biggest coups of the Cold War. In April of that year, he recruited disgruntled CIA officer Aldrich Ames, becoming his principal handler. Refuting and clarifying other published versions, Cherkashin will offer the most complete account on how and why Ames turned against his country. Cherkashin will also reveal new details about Robert Hanssen's recruitment and later exposure, as only he can. And he will address whether there is an undiscovered KGB spy-another Hanssen or Ames-still at large. Spy Handler will be a major addition to Cold War history, told by one of its key participants.
Download or read book The Rebellion Engines written by Jeannie Lin and published by . This book was released on 2021-07 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War looms on the horizon. Can a young woman caught between family and country keep her loved ones alive? China, 1853. Jin Soling's divided loyalties rest on a knife's edge. Paired with Chen Chang-wei, her former betrothed, Soling works as a physician in a secret factory building automatons to march on the empire's battleground cities. Though Soling and Chang-wei's bond has grown stronger, the strain of serving a country in turmoil threatens to tear them apart. From a dangerous smuggling run in pirate-infested waters to a dramatic confrontation in the winding streets of Shanghai, Soling learns that the greatest danger might not come from foreign invaders, but from forces inside their borders. Will Soling sacrifice her life and love to an empire that has forgotten its own people? The Rebellion Engines is the mind-blowing conclusion to the Gunpowder Chronicles steampunk fantasy trilogy.
Download or read book Science in Traditional China written by Joseph Needham and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's preeminent authority on Chinese science explores the philosophy, social structure, arts, crafts, and even military strategies that form our understanding of Chinese science, making instructive comparisons along the way to similar elements of Indian, Hellenistic, and Arabic cultures. A major portion of the book concentrates on Taoist alchemy that led not only to the invention of gunpowder and firearms, but also, through the search for macrobiotic life-elixirs, to the rise of modern medical chemistry.
Download or read book The Gunpowder Age written by Tonio Andrade and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-29 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A first look at gunpowder's revolutionary impact on China's role in global history The Chinese invented gunpowder and began exploring its military uses as early as the 900s, four centuries before the technology passed to the West. But by the early 1800s, China had fallen so far behind the West in gunpowder warfare that it was easily defeated by Britain in the Opium War of 1839–42. What happened? In The Gunpowder Age, Tonio Andrade offers a compelling new answer, opening a fresh perspective on a key question of world history: why did the countries of western Europe surge to global importance starting in the 1500s while China slipped behind? Historians have long argued that gunpowder weapons helped Europeans establish global hegemony. Yet the inhabitants of what is today China not only invented guns and bombs but also, as Andrade shows, continued to innovate in gunpowder technology through the early 1700s—much longer than previously thought. Why, then, did China become so vulnerable? Andrade argues that one significant reason is that it was out of practice fighting wars, having enjoyed nearly a century of relative peace, since 1760. Indeed, he demonstrates that China—like Europe—was a powerful military innovator, particularly during times of great warfare, such as the violent century starting after the Opium War, when the Chinese once again quickly modernized their forces. Today, China is simply returning to its old position as one of the world's great military powers. By showing that China’s military dynamism was deeper, longer lasting, and more quickly recovered than previously understood, The Gunpowder Age challenges long-standing explanations of the so-called Great Divergence between the West and Asia.
Download or read book The Alchemy of Stone written by Ekaterina Sedia and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A novel of automated anarchy & clockwork lust."--Cover.
Download or read book The Engineer written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Chinese Invent Gunpowder written by John Murphy and published by 'The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc'. This book was released on 2021-07-15 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few inventions have changed the world as much as gunpowder has. But did you know that its creation may date back nearly 2,000 years? It’s one of the so-called Four Great Inventions of China, and it likely all started with an accident. In this in-depth book, readers will learn more about the long and intricate background of gunpowder, from its unlikely beginnings to its use in old Chinese weapons and fireworks and its spread throughout the world. Photos give more background to the text, while extra features such as sidebars encourage further curiosity.
Download or read book The Chemistry of Alchemy written by Cathy Cobb and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique approach to the history of science using do-it-yourself experiments along with brief historical profiles to demonstrate how the ancient alchemists stumbled upon the science of chemistry. Be the alchemist! Explore the legend of alchemy with the science of chemistry. Enjoy over twenty hands-on demonstrations of alchemical reactions. In this exploration of the ancient art of alchemy, three veteran chemists show that the alchemists' quest involved real science and they recount fascinating stories of the sages who performed these strange experiments. Why waste more words on this weird deviation in the evolution of chemistry? As the authors show, the writings of medieval alchemists may seem like the ravings of brain-addled fools, but there is more to the story than that. Recent scholarship has shown that some seemingly nonsensical mysticism is, in fact, decipherable code, and Western European alchemists functioned from a firmer theoretical foundation than previously thought. They had a guiding principle, based on experience: separate and purify materials by fire and reconstitute them into products, including, of course, gold and the universal elixir, the Philosophers' stone. Their efforts were not in vain: by trial, by error, by design, and by persistence, the alchemists discovered acids, alkalis, alcohols, salts, and exquisite, powerful, and vibrant reactions--which can be reproduced using common products, minerals, metals, and salts. So gather your vats and stoke your fires! Get ready to make burning waters, peacocks' tails, Philosophers' stone, and, of course, gold!
Download or read book My Fair Concubine written by Jeannie Lin and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The USA Today–bestselling author of The Dragon and the Pearl “combines wit, seduction, skill, and intelligence in a tantalizing take on ‘My Fair Lady’” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Yan Ling tries hard to be servile—it’s what’s expected of a girl of her class. Being intelligent and strong-minded, she finds it a constant battle. Proud Fei Long is unimpressed by her spirit—until he realizes she’s the answer to his problems. He has to deliver the emperor a “princess.” In two months can he train a tea girl to pass as a noblewoman? Yet it’s hard to teach good etiquette when all Fei Long wants to do is break it, by taking this tea girl for his own . . . “Lin has a gift for bringing the wondrous and colorful world of ancient China to readers. The history and culture of the era are beautifully bound together with a classic romance theme. Those yearning for new worlds and age-old adventures will savor Lin’s novel.” —Romantic Times
Download or read book The Blackthorn Key written by Kevin Sands and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1665 London, fourteen-year-old Christopher Rowe, apprentice to an apothecary, and his best friend, Tom, try to uncover the truth behind a mysterious cult, following a trail of puzzles, codes, pranks, and danger toward an unearthly secret with the power to tear the world apart.
