Download or read book Voynich Manuscript written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-12-11 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A facsimile of an object of unknown authorship that has been the source of study and speculation for centuries and remains undecipherable to this day.

Download or read book The Rosetta Codex written by Richard Paul Russo and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-12-06 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cale Alexandros was five years old when the path of his life was irrevocably altered. As the scion of a wealthy and powerful family, he enjoyed a privileged existence—until his family’s starship was attacked en route to Morningstar, the lone outpost of civilization on a savage planet known as Conrad’s World. In an escape ship, Cale crash-landed in the wilds, and was picked from the wreckage by nomads. For years, Cale is forced to endure life as a slave, sold and shuffled from one group of brutish thugs to another—until a trader recognizes a glimmer of promise in Cale’s eyes, and frees him. Cale travels far and wide, but he never forgets what happened long ago, in the desert wastes . . . when, in a strange, ancient temple, he found a book with pages made of a strange metal, and writings he could not identify. When he finally reaches Morningstar, he comes to realize that the book is a key to understanding a language never heard by mankind, an alien dialect. It also holds a secret that some people want to learn, a treasure that some want for themselves, and a revelation that some will do anything to control.

Download or read book The Secret of Our Success written by Joseph Henrich and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.

Download or read book The Aleppo Codex written by Matti Friedman and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature A thousand years ago, the most perfect copy of the Hebrew Bible was written. It was kept safe through one upheaval after another in the Middle East, and by the 1940s it was housed in a dark grotto in Aleppo, Syria, and had become known around the world as the Aleppo Codex. Journalist Matti Friedman’s true-life detective story traces how this precious manuscript was smuggled from its hiding place in Syria into the newly founded state of Israel and how and why many of its most sacred and valuable pages went missing. It’s a tale that involves grizzled secret agents, pious clergymen, shrewd antiquities collectors, and highly placed national figures who, as it turns out, would do anything to get their hands on an ancient, decaying book. What it reveals are uncomfortable truths about greed, state cover-ups, and the fascinating role of historical treasures in creating a national identity.

Download or read book The Complete Idiot s Guide to Biblical Mysteries written by Donald P. Ryan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides insight into biblical stories, miracles, and figures through historical context and scholarship, and explores the present controversies over lost texts, creationism, and archaeological findings.

Download or read book The Apocalypse Codex written by Charles Stross and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For outstanding heroism in the field (despite himself), computational demonologist Bob Howard is on the fast track for promotion to management within the Laundry, the supersecret British government agency tasked with defending the realm from occult threats. Assigned to External Assets, Bob discovers the company (unofficially) employs freelance agents to deal with sensitive situations that may embarrass Queen and Country. So when Ray Schiller—an American televangelist with the uncanny ability to miraculously heal the ill—becomes uncomfortably close to the Prime Minister, External Assets dispatches the brilliant, beautiful, and entirely unpredictable Persephone Hazard to infiltrate the Golden Promise Ministries and discover why the preacher is so interested in British politics. And it’s Bob’s job to make sure Persephone doesn’t cause an international incident. But it’s a supernatural incident that Bob needs to worry about—a global threat even the Laundry may be unable to clean up…

Download or read book The Constantine Codex written by Paul Maier and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-23 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harvard Professor Jonathan Weber is finally enjoying a season of peace when a shocking discovery thrusts him into the national spotlight once again. While touring monasteries in Greece, Jon and his wife Shannon—a seasoned archaeologist—uncover an ancient biblical manuscript containing the lost ending of Mark and an additional book of the Bible. If proven authentic, the codex could forever change the way the world views the holy Word of God. As Jon and Shannon work to validate their find, it soon becomes clear that there are powerful forces who don’t want the codex to go public. When it’s stolen en route to America, Jon and Shannon are swept into a deadly race to find the manuscript and confirm its authenticity before it’s lost forever.

Download or read book The Shroud Codex written by Jerome R. Corsi and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-04-13 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a New Jersey priest has a near-death experience he begins to resemble the image depicted on the Shroud of Turin, prompting a skeptical Vatican representative to investigate the claim and subsequently question the assumptions he has held for so long. THE PRIEST… Brought back to life on an operating room table, Father Paul Bartholomew is haunted by visions of Christ as Golgotha. Then, as he celebrates Mass, blood starts running down his arms. The horrified congregation watches him collapse, his vestments soaked in the blood pouring from wounds on his wrists. Mysteriously, he now resembles in almost every physical aspect the Christ-like figure represented on the Shroud of Turin. THE SKEPTICS… Worried lest Bartholomew’s case be proved a hoax, the Vatican employs two prominent scientists to investigate. Dr. Stephen Castle, an American psychiatrist, is renowned for his book arguing that religion is a figment of human imagination. Professor Marco Gabrielli, an Italian religious researcher and chemist, has made a career of debunking supposed miracles, of explaining the unexplainable. THE MIRACLE… For centuries, the Shroud of Turin has defied science. Is this ancient remnant truly Christ’s burial cloth, or the biggest fraud ever perpetrated? When the priest’s uncanny resemblance to the picture on the Shroud prompts Castle and Gabrielli to investigate the artifact itself, each is finally forced to face mysteries reason alone cannot explain—in a journey of discovery that plumbs the farthest reaches of science and the human spirit.

Download or read book Codex Silenda the Apprentice and the Secret Labyrinth written by Brad Jefferson and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-12 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leonardo da Vinci has set up an elaborate trap within a complex labyrinth beneath his studio to protect his valuable designs and artwork to deter would-be thieves. But his three unsuspecting and inquisitive apprentices whose attempts to pry into those secrets are caught in this maze of challenges, which if unsuccessful in solving, jeopardize their employment and bright future as artists, and possibly their lives.The story takes place in Florence, Italy in the late 1400s and includes insights into Leonardo da Vinci's persona as well as the extreme challenges and adventures of his inquisitive apprentices. The story begins with discovery and ends with a revelation that possibly solves one of the long-standing mysteries that have perplexed historians for centuries.

Download or read book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind written by Julian Jaynes and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000-08-15 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Book Award Finalist: “This man’s ideas may be the most influential, not to say controversial, of the second half of the twentieth century.”—Columbus Dispatch At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion—and indeed our future. “Don’t be put off by the academic title of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Its prose is always lucid and often lyrical…he unfolds his case with the utmost intellectual rigor.”—The New York Times “When Julian Jaynes . . . speculates that until late in the twentieth millennium BC men had no consciousness but were automatically obeying the voices of the gods, we are astounded but compelled to follow this remarkable thesis.”—John Updike, The New Yorker “He is as startling as Freud was in The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jaynes is equally as adept at forcing a new view of known human behavior.”—American Journal of Psychiatry

Download or read book Mysteries and Secrets of the Masons written by Patricia Fanthorpe and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2006-05-13 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our world is mysterious and conspiratorial. Networking is key - people who exercise power accept that success depends upon who you know. Some of these networks are obvious and visible, while others are hidden. Criminals and fundamentalist cults are sinister - but some secret societies help and guard us. There are wheels within wheels. Unsuspected power sources are interconnected. Concealed watchers and listeners monitor phones, emails, and the Internet. Knowledge is power - and secret knowledge is greater power. Masonry has many secrets. Signs, codes, ciphers, passwords, and symbols abound - for those who recognize their meanings. Masons are prominent throughout the world today in academic circles, armed services, police, government, commerce and industry, finance, and medicine. What are their aims and how important is their influence? Researchers believe some of Masonry’s famous members have included Edward VIII, George VI, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, General Douglas MacArthur, Gene Autry, and Virgil Grisson

Download or read book Codex Enigmatum written by Rami Hansenne and published by Innovario. This book was released on 2019-07-29 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Codex Enigmatum is a richly illustrated puzzle book, filled with a diverse mix of unique and interrelated brain teasers, riddles and conundrums. It features many one-of-a-kind escape room type puzzles designed specifically for this book, as well as unconventional twists on well-known puzzle genres. Each puzzle solution yields a key to unlock future puzzles and in order to unlock the secrets of the codex, you will need to quest your way through over 60 varied and eccentric enigmas requiring a combination of lateral thinking, logical deduction, spatial reasoning and pattern recognition. Are you up to the challenge?

Download or read book The Secret History of Giants written by Ari Berk and published by Candlewick Press (MA). This book was released on 2008 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lavish exploration of giants touches on folklore and myth, truth and whimsy, ranging from tales of giants in ancient Greece to the Celts and their Green Knight. Includes flaps, booklets, gatefolds, and an elegant tassel. Illustrations.

Download or read book Codex Seraphinianus written by Luigi Serafini and published by Rizzoli Publications. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of its original publication, this special edition of the beloved, best-selling cult classic features a new design, new cover illustration, and 15 never-before-seen drawings. Featuring a handsome new package redesigned by the author himself, this edition is a must-have for fans and collectors of Luigi Serafini’s art. First published in 1981 in Milan by F.M. Ricci, the book has been hailed as one of the most unusual yet beautiful art books ever made. A visual encyclopedia of an unknown world written in an unknown language, it has fueled much debate over its meaning. Written for the information age and addressing the import of coding and decoding in genetics, literary criticism, and computer science, it has now fascinated and enchanted two generations. While its message may be unclear, its appeal is obvious: it is a most exquisite artifact, blurring the line between art book and art object. This edition presents it in a new, unparalleled light complete with 15 new illustrations by the author. With the advent of new forms of communication, continuous streams of information, and social media, the Codex is more relevant and timely than ever. A limited numbered deluxe edition, bound in real cloth and presented in a handsome slipcase, is also available. It includes a signed print of a new illustration made by the author to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death in 1321 of Dante Alighieri, one of Italy’s greatest writers and creator of The Divine Comedy.

Download or read book Mysteries and Secrets of Numerology written by Patricia Fanthorpe and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do the secrets of life lie hidden in numbers? Mysteries and Secrets of Numerology investigates the ancient and widespread belief that numbers have unexplained powers to influence our lives, everything we do, and everything around us, so that, as the brilliant scientist and philosopher Sir James Hopwood Jeans wrote, "The Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician." Numerology extends throughout the history of the world – from Pythagoras to the mysteries of ancient Babylonia and India, from Norse runes to Egyptian hieroglyphs and ancient Hebrew Gematria. Names, places, and dates all seem to have mysterious numerological significance. Some are positive and supportive; others appear to be negative and act as warnings. Where does the truth lie? In the face of so much global and historical evidence, and in the light of the power of numbers in nature, science, and technology, the secrets and mysteries of numerology are well worth investigating.

Download or read book Codex written by Lev Grossman and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-05-31 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A long lost library. A priceless manuscript. A deadly secret... About to depart on his first vacation in years, Edward Wozny, a young hot-shot banker, is sent to help one of his firm's most important and mysterious clients. When asked to unpack and organise a personal library of rare books, Edward's indignation turns to intrigue as he realises that among the volumes there may be hidden a unique medieval codex, a treasure kept sealed away for many years and for many reasons. Edward's intrigue becomes an obsession that only deepens as friends draw him into a peculiar and addictive computer game, as mystifying parallels between the game's virtual reality and the legend of the codex emerge and the lines between reality, fantasy and mysterious legend start to blur ...

Download or read book Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature Ideas and Practices written by Christian H. Bull and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-10-28 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a wide array of sources, this anthology sets out to analyze the concepts of mystery and secrecy that occur in the ritual and rhetoric of antique Mediterranean religion, with an emphasis on Gnosticism, Christianity, and Paganism.