Download or read book The Soul of the Ape and My Friends the Baboons written by Eugene Marais and published by A Distant Mirror. This book was released on with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eugene Marais spent three years living in the South African wilderness in close daily contact with a troop of baboons. He later described this as the happiest, most content time of his troubled life. This period produced two works which are testament to his research and conclusions; they have very different histories. Firstly, there was a series of articles written in Afrikaans for the newspaper Die Vaderland. They were then published in book form under the title Burgers van die Berge, and were first published in an English translation in 1939 under the title My Friends the Baboons. These pieces were written in a popular vein suitable to a newspaper readership, and were not regarded seriously by Marais himself. They are a journal; a series of anecdotes and impressions. The Soul of the Ape, which Marais wrote in beautifully clear and precise English, was the more serious scientific document; however after his death in 1936, it could not be found. It was lost for 32 years, and was recovered in 1968, and published the following year. The excellent introduction by Robert Ardrey that is included in this volume was part of the 1969 and subsequent editions of The Soul of the Ape, and adds greatly to an appreciation of its importance. Together, these three texts give us as complete a picture as we will ever get of Marais’ three year study of these complex relatives of humanity, and its implications for the study of consciousness.

Download or read book My Friends the Baboon written by Eugène Nielen Marais and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Soul of the White Ant Complete and Unabridged written by Eugene Marais and published by . This book was released on 2015-03-22 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eugène Marais was born in a farming community near Pretoria in 1872. Journalism was his first career, but he later studied law in London, and by 1910 was in Johannesburg trying to establish himself as an advocate. Increasing depression drove him to retreat to Waterberg, a mountain fastness in northern Transvaal. Settling near a large group of chacma baboons, he became the first man to conduct a prolonged study of primates in the wild. It was this period that produced My Friends the Baboons and provided the major inspiration for The Soul of the Ape. He returned to Pretoria to practise law, to resume his career as a journalist, to continue his animal studies and to write poetry in Afrikaans. In 1926, the year after he had published a definitive article on his original research and conclusions about the white ant, a world-famous European author took half Marais's life-work and published it as his own. This plagiarizing may well have been a major factor in Marais's final collapse. Plagued for many years by ill-health and an addiction to morphine, he took his own life in March 1936.

Download or read book The Soul of the Ape The Soul of the White Ant written by Eugène Nielen Marais and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Social Life of Monkeys and Apes written by Solly Zuckerman and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Download or read book Primates written by Mark Burke and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nonhuman primates (referred to here as primates) provide an invaluable source of information for a multitude of scientific fields including ecology, evolution, biology, psychology, and biomedicine. This volume addresses various topics related to primate research that includes phylogeny, natural observations, primate ecosystem, sociocognitive abilities, disease pathophysiology, and neuroscience. Topics discussed here provide a platform for which to address human evolution, habitat preservation, human psyche, and pathophysiology of disease.

Download or read book My Inventions written by Nikola Tesla and published by A Distant Mirror. This book was released on 2007 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1919, Nikola Tesla wrote several articles for the magazine The Electrical Experimenter. These pieces have been gathered together here. In the last few decades of his life, he ended up living in diminished circumstances as a recluse in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, occasionally making unusual statements to the press. Because of his pronouncements and the nature of his work over the years, Tesla gained a reputation in popular culture as the archetypal ‘mad scientist’. He died impoverished and in debt on January 7, 1943. When he passed, Tesla didn’t leave behind much material for the general public. Also, he didn’t have many close friends who would have had insight into his life sufficient to write about him. Since My Inventions is an autobiography, it is unique in providing a glimpse into Tesla’s mind and his private thoughts. It tells about the man, his motivations and the values that he held. My Inventions is a required read for anyone wanting to know more about one of the greatest inventors of the 20th century – and perhaps of all time. Contents - My Early Life - My First Efforts at Invention - My Later Endeavors - The Discovery of the Tesla Coil and Transformer - The Magnifying Transmitter - The Art of Telautomatics

Download or read book The Social Life Of Monkeys And Apes written by S. Zuckerman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 554 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is Volume IV of four in a collection on Comparative Psychology. Originally published in 1932, this study is referred to as a classic, in both historical terms and its usefulness in the study of primates.

Download or read book Of the same breath written by Lucie A. Möller and published by UJ Press. This book was released on 2017-10-01 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of the Same Breath opens the door to a better understanding of why and how the animals and places of southern Africa have been given the names they have today. The vast reaches of the information provided in this book have been drawn together to create a veritable cornucopia of answers to the old question of how names originated. In this linguistically thought-provoking book, readers will be guided through the origins of animal names and toponyms, from the coastline of South Africa to the northern border of Namibia, and from the mighty elephant to the humble grasshopper.

Download or read book Reconstruction by Way of the Soil written by and published by A Distant Mirror. This book was released on 1945-12-01 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guy Wrench takes us on a wide-ranging journey through the history of some of the world’s most important civilizations, concentrating on the relationship between humanity and the soil. He shows the reader how farming practices, and the care – or lack of care – with which the soil is treated have brought about both the rise and fall of civilizations, from the ancient Romans, to the Chinese, and the Muslim world. This history by Guy Wrench is a wide-ranging history of the agricultural policies and politics of several (actually many) different cultures through history. The author looks for parallels and similarities between the rise and decline of the cultures he discusses, and what he finds is interesting, and educational. Guy Wrench’s politics, and also his optimism, shine through in his writing.This text has many merits as a historical survey. “Our agriculture is wrongly based. It is a system largely directed at curing evils which it itself is responsible for. It is the wisdom of the country and the traditional farmers we need now; the wisdom of those who have built up long-lasting agriculture and whose wisdom lies in tradition. They have fashioned it through physical work and close and immediate observation; through the personal intimacy with nature which we have come to associate with the poet. In fact, peasant life is poetic, and it is so precisely because of this intimacy. The music, dance and art of peasants are the creative expression of their lives, and as such are characteristic of their environments and the land on which they live. Nothing collective or traditional, as peasant life is, originates from people separated from the soil, as are townfolk. The poems and essays that played a notable part in the country life of the Chinese, the Tibetan art which finds its way into every home, the sylvan setting of Japanese villages, of the Balinese and Burmese, the vocal harmony of Swiss peasants returning from their fields, the reproduction of floral beauty and colour in festive dress of so many countries; these are the product of the poet that lies in every peasant’s heart. It is this intimacy that inspires creativity in the poet, as the Greeks recognized in their choice of word for poet, namely, a ‘maker’ or creator, and which Dante voiced in the Divine Comedy, when he wrote that the poet was not the disciple of the imagination, but rather one who knows the secrets of nature.” – Guy Wrench CONTENTS Rome. The Roman foods. The Roman family. Roman soil erosion. Farmers and nomads. Contrasting pictures. Banks for the soil. Economics of the soil. The English peasant and agricultural labourer. Nyasa. Tanganyika. Sind and Egypt. Fragmentation. East and West Indies. German colonies: the mandates. Russia, South Africa, Australia. A kingdom of agricultural art in Europe. An historical reconstruction.

Download or read book A History of the 1812 Expedition to Russia written by Philippe de Segur and published by A Distant Mirror. This book was released on 1827 with total page 834 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this famous memoir, Philippe-Paul de Ségur, a young aide-de-camp to Napoleon, tells the story of the unfolding disaster of the 1812 invasion of Russia with the keen eye of a crack reporter and an astute grasp of human character. His book, a fundamental inspiration for Tolstoy’s War and Peace, is a masterpiece of military history that teaches an all-too-timely lesson about imperial hubris and its risks.

Download or read book The Great Apes written by Chris Herzfeld and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreword / by Jane Goodall -- The uncanniness of similitude : wild men, simians, and hybrid beings -- Skeletons, skins, and skulls : apes in the age of colonial expansion and natural history collections -- Apes as guinea pigs : primates and experimental research -- Great apes in the eyes of scientists : what does it mean to be an ape? -- Apes that think they are human : astronaut apes, painting apes, talking apes -- Conquering the field : pioneers, the quest for origins, and primates -- Socialities, culture, and traditions among primates : when the boundary between humans and apes blurs -- Women and apes : sex, gender, and primatology -- Becoming-human, being-ape

Download or read book Baboon Metaphysics written by Dorothy L. Cheney and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-08-04 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1838 Charles Darwin jotted in a notebook, “He who understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke.” Baboon Metaphysics is Dorothy L. Cheney and Robert M. Seyfarth’s fascinating response to Darwin’s challenge. Cheney and Seyfarth set up camp in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, where they could intimately observe baboons and their social world. Baboons live in groups of up to 150, including a handful of males and eight or nine matrilineal families of females. Such numbers force baboons to form a complicated mix of short-term bonds for mating and longer-term friendships based on careful calculations of status and individual need. But Baboon Metaphysics is concerned with much more than just baboons’ social organization—Cheney and Seyfarth aim to fully comprehend the intelligence that underlies it. Using innovative field experiments, the authors learn that for baboons, just as for humans, family and friends hold the key to mitigating the ill effects of grief, stress, and anxiety. Written with a scientist’s precision and a nature-lover’s eye, Baboon Metaphysics gives us an unprecedented and compelling glimpse into the mind of another species. “The vivid narrative is like a bush detective story.”—Steven Poole, Guardian “Baboon Metaphysics is a distillation of a big chunk of academic lives. . . . It is exactly what such a book should be—full of imaginative experiments, meticulous scholarship, limpid literary style, and above all, truly important questions.”—Alison Jolly, Science “Cheney and Seyfarth found that for a baboon to get on in life involves a complicated blend of short-term relationships, friendships, and careful status calculations. . . . Needless to say, the ensuing political machinations and convenient romantic dalliances in the quest to become numero uno rival the bard himself.”—Science News “Cheney and Seyfarth’s enthusiasm is obvious, and their knowledge is vast and expressed with great clarity. All this makes Baboon Metaphysics a captivating read. It will get you thinking—and maybe spur you to travel to Africa to see it all for yourself.”—Asif A. Ghazanfar, Nature “Through ingenious playback experiments . . . Cheney and Seyfarth have worked out many aspects of what baboons used their minds for, along with their limitations. Reading a baboon’s mind affords an excellent grasp of the dynamics of baboon society. But more than that, it bears on the evolution of the human mind and the nature of human existence.”—Nicholas Wade, New York Times

Download or read book The Dark Stream written by L Rousseau and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leon Rousseau's The Dark Stream offers a fascinating insight into the life of Eugène Marais, one of the most complex and outstanding Afrikaners who ever lived, but is at the same time a panorama of South African history. Rousseau's account of the life of Eugène Marais begins in the early days of Pretoria (1871) and ends three years after Hitler's rise to power. Between these two dates are sandwiched many of the great events of Afrikaner and South African history: the British occupation of Pretoria, the beginning of the Afrikaans language movement, the Jameson raid, 'the naughty nineties' (when Marais was in London), the Boer War and its aftermath, World War I, and the rise of Afrikaner nationalism. Against this changing canvas, Rousseau introduces the reader to Marais in all his complexity, he explores Marais's talents as a naturalist, hypnotist, doctor and psychologist. He gives us an insight into Marais as an advocate, citizen of the world, magician and author and also takes us into his life as the widower, the lover and the tragic morphine addict.

Download or read book The Problem of Increasing Human Energy written by Nikola Tesla and published by A Distant Mirror. This book was released on 2019-02-27 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NIKOLA TESLA was a gifted electrical and mechanical engineer, and was one of the most influential inventors of the last century. Eventually holding over 700 patents, Tesla worked in a number of fields, including electricity, robotics, radar, and the wireless transmission of energy. His discoveries laid the groundwork for many of the twentieth century’s greatest technological advances. This book contains Tesla’s thoughts on humanity’s relationship with the universe, and also his explanation and scientific extrapolation on the technological advancements embodied in his work. This text, first published in Century Illustrated Magazine in June 1900, is yet another example of the genius of Nikola Tesla. CONTENTS Introduction • The onward movement of humanity• The energy of the movement• The three ways of increasing human energy 1 • The first problem: how to increase human mass• The burning of atmospheric nitrogen 2 • The second problem: how to reduce the force retarding the human mass• The art of telautomatics 3 • The third problem: how to increase the force accelerating the human mass• The harnessing of the Sun’s energy 4 • The source of human energy• The three ways of drawing energy from the Sun 5 • Great possibilities offered by iron for increasing human performance• Enormous waste in iron manufacture 6 • Economical production of iron by a new process 7• The coming of age of aluminium• The doom of the copper industry• The great civilizing potency of the new metal 8 • Efforts toward obtaining more energy from coal• Electric transmission• The gas engine• The cold-coal battery 9 • Energy from the medium• The windmill and the solar engine• Motive power from terrestrial heat• Electricity from natural sources 10 • A departure from known methods• The possibility of a ‘self-acting’ engine or machine• The ideal way of obtaining motive power 11 • First efforts to produce the self-acting engine• The mechanical oscillator• The work of Dewar and Linde• Liquid air 12 • Discovery of unexpected properties of the atmosphere• Strange experiments• Transmission of electrical energy through one wire without return• Transmission through the Earth without any wire 13 • Wireless telegraphy• The secret of tuning• Errors in the Hertzian investigations• A receiver of wonderful sensitivity 14• Development of a new principle• The electrical oscillator• Production of immense electrical movements• The Earth responds to man• Interplanetary communication now probable 15 • Transmission of electrical energy to any distance without wires now possible• The best means of increasing the force accelerating the human mass

Download or read book The Soil and Health written by Albert Howard and published by A Distant Mirror. This book was released on 2020-03-22 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a newly edited revision of Albert Howard's important text on organic farming and gardening, and the central role of humus in maintaining soil health and fertility. No single generation has the right to exhaust the soil from which humanity must draw its sustenance. Modern agricultural practices, with their emphasis on chemicals, poisons, and toxins, lead to the impoverishment and death of the soil. THE SOIL AND HEALTH is a detailed analysis of the vital role of humus and compost in soil health — and the importance of soil health to the health of crops and the humans who eat them. The author is keenly aware of the dead end which awaits humanity if we insist on growing our food using artificial fertilisers and poisons. Albert Howard (1873-1947) was one of the leaders of the British organics movement in the mid-twentieth century. He was the first westerner to document and publish research on traditional techniques of agriculture, including Indian and Chinese farming and management of the soil. "Agriculture is the fundamental industry of the world and must be allowed to occupy the primary position in the economies of all countries." — Albert Howard CONTENTS 1 - Soil Fertility and Agriculture 1.1 The operations of Nature - The life of the plant - The living soil - The significance of humus - The importance of minerals 1.2 Systems of agriculture - Primitive forms of agriculture - Shifting cultivation - The harnessing of the Nile - Staircase cultivation - The agriculture of China - The agriculture of Greece and Rome - Farming in the Middle Ages 1.3 Soil fertility in Great Britain - The Roman occupation - The Saxon conquest - The open-field system - The depreciation of soil fertility - The low yield of wheat - The Black Death- Enclosure - The Industrial Revolution and soil fertility - The Great Depression of 1879 - The Second World War 1.4 Industrialism and the profit motive - The exploitation of virgin soil - The profit motive - The consequence of soil exploitation - The easy transfer of fertility - The road farming has travelled 1.5 The intrusion of Science - The origin of artificial fertilisers - The advent of the laboratory hermit - The unsoundness of Rothamsted - Artificials during the two world wars - The shortcomings of current agricultural research 2 - Disease in Present-day Farming and Gardening 2.1 Diseases of the soil - Soil erosion - The formation of alkaline land 2.2 The diseases of crops - Sugar Cane - Coffee - Tea - Cacao - Cotton - Rice - Wheat - Vine - Fruit - Tobacco - Leguminous crops - Potato 2.3 Disease and health in livestock - Foot-and-mouth disease - Soil fertility and disease - Concentrates and contagious abortion - Selective feeding by instinct - Herbs and livestock - The maintenance of our breeds of poultry 2.4 Soil fertility and human health 2.5 The nature of disease 3 - The Problem of Manuring 3.1 The origins and scope of the problem - The phosphate problem and its solution - The reform of the manure heap - Sheet-composting and nitrogen fixation - The utilisation of town wastes 3.2 The Indore Process - Some practical points - The New Zealand compost box - Mechanisation - The spread of the Indore Process 3.3 The reception by scientists 4 - Conclusions and Suggestions

Download or read book Franz Schubert A Biography written by Henry Frost and published by A Distant Mirror. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clarity of outline, conciseness, and formal beauty are excellent things in musical works, but an exquisite fancy, a noble imagination, and a lofty poetic spirit are of infinitely greater account; and no one ever possessed these inestimable gifts in richer profusion than Franz Schubert. This new edition of Henry Frost’s 1892 biography of Franz Schubert has been edited and revised. The original references to pieces by Opus number have been replaced with the more commonly used D numbers. Many illustrations of places and people have been added throughout the text, and a complete catalog of Schubert’s works has been included. “With faith man steps forth into the world. Faith is far ahead of understanding and knowledge; for to understand anything, I must first of all believe something. Faith is the higher basis on which weak understanding rears its first columns of proof; reason is nothing but faith analysed.” – Franz Schubert