Download or read book Stealing God s Thunder written by Philip Dray and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2005-12-27 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Dray captures the genius and ingenuity of Franklin’s scientific thinking and then does something even more fascinating: He shows how science shaped his diplomacy, politics, and Enlightenment philosophy.” –Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Today we think of Benjamin Franklin as a founder of American independence who also dabbled in science. But in Franklin’s day, the era of Enlightenment, long before he was an eminent statesman, he was famous for his revolutionary scientific work. Pulitzer Prize finalist Philip Dray uses the evolution of Franklin’s scientific curiosity and empirical thinking as a metaphor for America’s struggle to establish its fundamental values. He recounts how Franklin unlocked one of the greatest natural mysteries of his day, the seemingly unknowable powers of lightning and electricity. Rich in historical detail and based on numerous primary sources, Stealing God’s Thunder is a fascinating original look at one of our most beloved and complex founding fathers.
Download or read book Heavenly Venerate of Five Gods written by Di YiRen and published by Funstory. This book was released on 2020-05-19 with total page 804 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heavens and earth are the army, I am the general, Hong Yu is the official, and I am the king. The Heaven and Earth, the determinant of destiny. A heaven's pride level expert of this era had to bear the blessing of the Five Gods, changing his fate in a way that defied the will of the heavens. In the blink of an eye, the world had been turned upside down. Hot blood is eternal, passion is in all directions, fight with me to the sky! Fight!
Download or read book Hurricane of Independence written by Tony Williams and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sleeper history hit of 2008, released in paperback to coincide with the heart of hurricane season On September 2, 1775, the eighth deadliest Atlantic hurricane of all time landed on American shores. Over the next days, it would race up the East Coast, striking all of the important colonial capitols and killing more than four thousand people. In an era when hurricanes were viewed as omens from God, what this storm signified to the colonists about the justness of their cause would yield unexpected results. Drawing on ordinary individuals and well-known founders like Washington and Franklin, Tony Williams paints a stunning picture of life at the dawn of the American Revolution, and of the weighty choice people faced at that deciding moment. Hurricane of Independence brings to life an incredible time when the forces of nature and the forces of history joined together to produce courageous stories of sacrifice, strength, and survival.
Download or read book Brilliant written by Jane Brox and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2010-06-29 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “superb history” of artificial light traces the evolution of society—“invariably fascinating and often original . . . [it] amply lives up to its title” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). In Brilliant, Jane Brox explores humankind’s ever-changing relationship to artificial light, from the stone lamps of the Pleistocene to the LEDs embedded in fabrics of the future. More than a survey of technological development, this sweeping history reveals how artificial light changed our world, and how those social and cultural changes in turn led to the pursuit of more ways of spreading, maintaining, and controlling light. Brox plumbs the class implications of light—who had it, who didn’t—through the centuries when crude lamps and tallow candles constricted waking hours. She identifies the pursuit of whale oil as the first time the need for light thrust us toward an environmental tipping point. Only decades later, gas street lights opened up the evening hours to leisure, which changed the ways we live and sleep and the world’s ecosystems. Edison’s bulbs produced a light that seemed to its users all but divorced from human effort or cost. And yet, as Brox’s informative portrait of our current grid system shows, the cost is ever with us. Brilliant is infused with human voices, startling insights, and timely questions about how our future lives will be shaped by light
Download or read book Melville s Other Lives written by Christopher Sten and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2022-07-19 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Melville’s Other Lives is the first book-length study on The Piazza Tales—Herman Melville’s only authorized collection of short fiction published in his lifetime—and the first book to explore the rich and varied subject of embodiment in any published collection of Melville’s stories. As Christopher Sten shows, all of the stories in The Piazza Tales present encounters between established white male figures: a writer, a lawyer, a ship captain, a homeowner, an architect, a world traveler, and characters who are outsiders, minorities, outcasts, or "others": a seamstress, an office drudge, enslaved Africans, a traveling salesman, island castaways, the poor. In each, Melville concentrates on the trials of the human body, its pain and trauma, its struggles and frustrations. Some tales concern common trials such as illness or invalidism ("The Piazza"), the tedium of office work ("Bartleby"), or the aggravation of door-to-door salesmen ("The Lightning-Rod Man"). Others concern extraordinary trials: the traumatic violence of a rebellion on a slave ship ("Benito Cereno"), the hardships of surviving on a wasteland archipelago ("The Encantadas"), the perils of creating a monstrous "man-machine" ("The Bell-Tower"). In their concern for the cultural meanings of such trials, Melville’s stories look forward to the work of Michel Foucault, Raymond Williams, and other cultural materialists who have shown how cultures define, control, and oppress bodies based on their otherness. As a storyteller, Melville understood how such cultural dynamics operate and seized on our collective obsession with the human body as subject, symbol, and vehicle to dramatize his tales.
Download or read book Of Gods and Mortals written by Andrea Sfiligoi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-10-20 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two armies prepare for war. Thor, surrounded by crackling lightning, leads the assault of a horde of Viking berserkers. Preparing to receive this charge stands a wall of grim-faced, determined Spartan hoplites, commanded by Ares himself... Of Gods and Mortals is a skirmish wargame that gives players the opportunity to command the greatest heroes, warriors and monsters of legend – and the gods and goddesses that ruled over them. Whether you want to lead the forces of Greek, Egyptian, Celtic or Norse mythology to battle, or build your own pantheon, Of Gods and Mortals presents everything you need. Each player takes control of a god, a handful of legendary characters and a number of mortal troops, forming a warband that must work in harmony to succeed. Although the gods are incredibly powerful, they are only as strong as the faith of the mortals who follow them – if their worshippers are cut down, gods become weaker, and if a deity is vanquished in combat, its followers may flee the field of battle. Success lies in employing a strategy that uses all your troops, from the mightiest to the most humble, as effectively as possible.
Download or read book Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death written by John V H Dippel and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost 200 years ago the Northeast endured a dramatic, devastating series of cold spells, destroying crops, forcing thousand to migrate west, and causing many to wonder if their assumptions about a world governed by a beneficial Providence were valid. The so-called "year without a summer" also exposed weaknesses in political and theological authorities, spurring a trend toward scientific inquiry and greater democracy. An endangered New England agriculture gave impetus to that region's manufacturing sector. The alarming threat to existence in that part of the country (as well as most of Western Europe) thus helped usher in the modern era. This book is written with the parallels between 1816 and our current "climate change" in mind: it introduces informed non-specialists to the myriad of social, psychological, political, demographic, and economic consequences which can be brought about by abrupt change. A major meteorological event profoundly affected our nation’s development in 1816. This book shows how this weather phenomenon acted as an accelerator of trends which were just emerging in the early 19th-century - toward greater democracy and the spread of information; settlement of the Western frontier; use of the scientific method to investigate and understand natural phenomena; questioning of long-held religious beliefs as a result of increased knowledge; and industrialization as the means to expand the scope and wealth of the United States. Like all my books, America’s First Climate Crisis is written in an accessible, engaging style, using anecdotes and thumbnail sketches to evoke the mood and important personalities of the day. While thoroughly researched, the book avoids the pitfall of academic writing by appealing to the curiosity of intelligent readers who may be put off by uninspired or technical language. The book is organized around various consequences of the disastrous harvests of 1816: after outlining the nature and scope of this calamity, I describe how it brought about a massive exodus to the Ohio Valley and shift in political and economic might to that region; how it undermined the once-unquestioned authority of New England’s Federalist establishment; how it gave greater credence to scientific explanations for weather events and disasters; how it compelled New England merchants to abandon their opposition to manufacturing; and how it helped create a modern awareness of humanity’s place in the universe.
Download or read book The Right Place the Wrong Position written by K. Douglas Berry and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2003-06 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Gods of Fire and Thunder written by Fred Saberhagen and published by JSS Literary Productions, LLC. This book was released on 2020-09-09 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Haraldur the northman once joined Jason on his fabled quest for the Golden Fleece, but now he wants nothing more to do with gods and adventure. Returning to his homeland for the first time in many years, he hopes only to settle down on a farm of his own—until he comes across an impenetrable wall of eldritch fire and a lovesick youth determined to breach the wall at any cost. Behind the towering flames, he is told, lies a beautiful Valkyrie trapped in an enchanted sleep, as well as, perhaps, a golden treasure beyond mortal reckoning. It is the gold that tempts Hal to agree, against his better judgment, to assist the youth in his quest. But to find a way past the fiery wall, they must first brave gnomes, ghosts, and the wrath of the gods themselves. For a mighty battle is brewing, and Hal soon finds himself caught up in a celestial conflict between Thor the Thunderer, Loki the Trickster, and most powerful of all, Wodan, the merciless Lord of Battles!
Download or read book The Bonobo and the Atheist In Search of Humanism Among the Primates written by Frans de Waal and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2013-03-25 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this lively and illuminating discussion of his landmark research, esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal argues that human morality is not imposed from above but instead comes from within. Moral behavior does not begin and end with religion but is in fact a product of evolution. For many years, de Waal has observed chimpanzees soothe distressed neighbors and bonobos share their food. Now he delivers fascinating fresh evidence for the seeds of ethical behavior in primate societies that further cements the case for the biological origins of human fairness. Interweaving vivid tales from the animal kingdom with thoughtful philosophical analysis, de Waal seeks a bottom-up explanation of morality that emphasizes our connection with animals. In doing so, de Waal explores for the first time the implications of his work for our understanding of modern religion. Whatever the role of religious moral imperatives, he sees it as a “Johnny-come-lately” role that emerged only as an addition to our natural instincts for cooperation and empathy. But unlike the dogmatic neo-atheist of his book’s title, de Waal does not scorn religion per se. Instead, he draws on the long tradition of humanism exemplified by the painter Hieronymus Bosch and asks reflective readers to consider these issues from a positive perspective: What role, if any, does religion play for a well-functioning society today? And where can believers and nonbelievers alike find the inspiration to lead a good life? Rich with cultural references and anecdotes of primate behavior, The Bonobo and the Atheist engagingly builds a unique argument grounded in evolutionary biology and moral philosophy. Ever a pioneering thinker, de Waal delivers a heartening and inclusive new perspective on human nature and our struggle to find purpose in our lives.
Download or read book The Lightning Thief written by Rick Riordan and published by Disney Electronic Content. This book was released on 2009-05-02 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse-Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him.
Download or read book Prevail written by Susie Larson and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scripture is God's love letter to us. Everything he asks of us is for our good and his glory. But that doesn't mean life is easy, and sometimes we need to be reminded of God's power over all that we face. We need something or someone to shake us up and teach us the truth about God and ourselves! Susie Larson's newest devotional, Prevail, guides us through the arc of the Scriptures while encouraging us to feel and trust in his presence in our everyday lives. Using practical Scripture passages, thought-provoking questions, and her very own Bible-margin notes, Susie offers 365 days' worth of opportunities for us to strengthen our walk in faith while finding a new level of freedom and redemption.
Download or read book The Christian Leader written by and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 876 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Introduction to Mythology written by Lewis Spence and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Truth Will Relevance written by Brian Frank and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2010-07 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Truth, Will & Relevance: Essays for a Generative Age outlines an innovative way to understand human nature and conduct - conceived specifically to address today's complex opportunities and challenges using the technology that defines our time.
Download or read book The Standard Reference Work written by Harold Melvin Stanford and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ariadne s Thread written by William F. Hansen and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ariadne's Thread is a mini-encyclopedia of more than a hundred such international oral tales, all present in the literature of ancient Greece and Rome. It takes into account writings, including early Jewish and Christian literature, recorded in or translated into Greek or Latin by writers of any nationality. As a result, this book will be invaluable not only to classicists and folklorists but also to a wide range of other readers who are interested in stories and storytelling."--BOOK JACKET.
