Download or read book Dragons Teeth and Thunderstones written by Ken McNamara and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2020-08-06 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For at least half a million years, people have been doing some very strange things with fossils. Long before a few seventeenth-century minds started to decipher their true, organic nature, fossils had been eaten, dropped in goblets of wine, buried with the dead, and adorned bodies. What triggered such curious behavior was the belief that some fossils could cure illness, protect against being poisoned, ease the passage into the afterlife, ward off evil spirits, and even kill those who were just plain annoying. But above all, to our early prehistoric ancestors, fossils were the very stuff of artistic inspiration. Drawing on archaeology, mythology, and folklore, Ken McNamara takes us on a journey through prehistory with these curious stones, and he explores humankind’s unending quest for the meaning of fossils.
Download or read book Language Change and Nineteenth Century Science written by Catherine Watts and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-06-05 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever looked at a word and thought: ‘I wonder where that came from’? You might well find the answer in this book, which considers the origin and formation of some of the many thousands of new words that were coined in English during the nineteenth century in the broad field of ‘science’. Changes in society are often accompanied by the need to find names for such changes which, in turn, has an impact on how the language develops as a result. The British Industrial Revolution ushered in a new era of language change, which led to many new coinages in the English language reflecting scientific knowledge as it developed. Many of these neologisms belong to specialist vocabulary, but others do not, and it is these lay coinages which form the focus of this book and are located within their social, cultural and historical backgrounds. Aimed at postgraduate students of the English language and all those interested in the history of the English language, this work explores new worlds and offers an original and fascinating etymological journey through nineteenth-century science in its broadest sense.
Download or read book The Thunderweapon in Religion and Folklore written by Christian Blinkenberg and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Geology s Significant Sites and their Contributions to Geoheritage written by R. M. Clary and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2024-07-23 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributions in this book explore several geologically significant sites and, in doing so, acknowledge and explore not just the geological exposures themselves, but also the people and issues that are fundamentally intertwined with the history of our science and its impact on our society. Through selective examples of outcrops and locales integral to the history of geology, we explore the evolution of modern geology, as well as the geodiversity and geoheritage of our planet. While the volume is far from comprehensive, the chapters contained herein detail a range for geoheritage value, scale of geoheritage sites and potential for geoheritage opportunities that will promote a broader, richer understanding of the complexity of the geoheritage of Earth. Importantly, many chapters offer a cautionary tale of sites almost lost to posterity and submit their take-away lessons for community mobilization towards geoheritage site protection.
Download or read book Edward Lhwyd written by Brynley Roberts and published by University of Wales Press. This book was released on 2022-06-15 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Environmental Uncanny written by Brian A. Irwin and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-06-27 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Environmental Uncanny argues that the increasing destitution of our world is the result of a certain forgetfulness: we have forgotten that the basis of our knowledge is not calculative reason, but our participation in the natural world. The modern built environment is exemplary of this forgetfulness, and induces an uncanniness that can help us to understand the nature of our environmental crisis. This book offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on the global environmental crisis. Ranging from traditional phenomenology, including substantial discussion of both Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger, to philosophy of biology, to architectural and urban design theory, to landscape photography, it makes illuminating connections to paint a multifaceted picture. Tracing the root causes of dwindling biodiversity, deforestation and suburban sprawl, we can find how might we mark the path back toward a mode of rich inhabitation in a contemporary age. In charting out how it is that we are losing our world, Irwin offers a thought as to how we might regain it.
Download or read book Unearthing the Underworld written by Ken McNamara and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2023-07-06 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A geological saga that digs deep, revealing how even the most ordinary rocks can be stepping stones to the hidden history of our planet. Unearthing the Underworld reveals the hidden world of rocks—the keepers of secrets of past environments, changing climates, and the pulse of life over billions of years. Even the most seemingly ordinary stone can tell us much about the history of this planet, opening vistas of ancient worlds of ice, raging floods, strange unbreathable atmospheres, and prehistoric worlds teeming with life. Remarkably, many types of rocks owe their existence to living organisms—from the remains of bodies of dead animals to rocks formed from rotting ancient forests, or even created by the activity of fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Anything but dull and uninteresting, rocks are intriguing portals that illuminate the secret underworld upon which we live.
Download or read book Folklore and Zoology written by Floe Foxon and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2024-09-03 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scientific excursion into folklore, zoology, and cryptozoology, this text highlights a field, often called a pseudoscience, which seriously considers the possible existence of hidden or unknown animals not recognised in conventional zoology. Folklore and Zoology accessibly reviews the science of DNA samples; film and photograph analysis; hair and footprint examination; and the statistics behind such alleged animals as Sasquatch and the Yeti, Nessie and Champ, the Griffin and the Thunderbirds, and the possible survival of the thylacine, ivory-billed woodpecker, eastern cougar, and others. With over 400 references, Folklore and Zoology is among the most complete scientific review of cryptozoology to date, with discussion of the history and future, and successes and failures of this controversial and fascinating field, offering a fresh synthesis of a highly interdisciplinary literature. This book is ideal reading for students and academics interested in and studying zoology, palaeontology, and folklore courses.
Download or read book Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan written by Paul Kekai Manansala and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2006-10-01 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan" examines how the seafaring trading people known as the "Nusantao" from Insular Southeast Asia influenced world history. This is a "blook," a book based on a weblog (blog). The decision to publish the book came after requests to make the information in the blog available in an easier-to-read and more portable format. The advantage of the printed work is that the blog entries are arranged in easy-to-manage chronological order with out the need for the clicking through the blog archives. The glossary entries are also in alphabetical order for easy look-up, and a word index and table of contents further increase the readiblity of the blog/book. Important supplementary articles have also been included in the appendices. A must-read for those who think there is more to history than what we find in "mainstream" publications.
Download or read book The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia written by William James Perry and published by . This book was released on 1918 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Ancestral Power of Amulets Talismans and Mascots written by Nigel Pennick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: • Looks at the age-old spiritual principles, folklore, and esoteric traditions behind the creation of magical objects as well as the use of numbers, colors, sigils, geometric emblems, knots, crosses, pentagrams, and other symbols • Explores hundreds of artifacts, such as hagstones, Norse directional amulets, car hood mascots, objects made from bones and teeth, those connected with plants and animals, charms associated with gambling, and religious relics • Includes photos of artifacts from the author’s extensive collection Offering an illustrated exploration of the origins and history of amulets, lucky charms, talismans, and mascots, including photos of unique and original artifacts from his extensive collection, Nigel Pennick examines these objects from a magical perspective, from ancient Egypt to the present. He looks at the age-old spiritual principles, folklore, and esoteric traditions behind their creation as well as the use of numbers, colors, sigils, geometric emblems, knots, crosses, pentagrams, and other symbols. Pennick explores magical charms and objects manufactured from bones, teeth, claws, and horns and those that include symbols of the human body. He also discusses religious relics as well as the combining of charms to make more powerful objects, from the bind runes of the Norse and the crowns of ancient Egypt to the Mojo hand and the medicine pouch. Revealing the lasting power of amulets, talismans, charms, and mascots, Pennick shows that these objects and symbols have retained their magic across the centuries.
Download or read book The Tomb of the Mili Mongga written by Samuel Turvey and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-02-15 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The Tomb of the Mili Mongga lives up to its magnificent billing' DAILY TELEGRAPH - A fossil expedition becomes a thrilling search for a mythical beast deep in the Indonesian forest – and a fascinating look at how fossils, folklore, and biodiversity converge. A tale of exciting scientific discovery, The Tomb of the Mili Mongga tells the story of Samuel Turvey's expeditions to the island of Sumba in eastern Indonesia. While there, he discovers an entire recently extinct mammal fauna from the island's fossil record, revealing how islands support some of the world's most remarkable biodiversity, and why many of these unique endemic species are threatened with extinction or have already been lost. But as the story unfolds, an unexpected narrative emerges – Sumba's Indigenous communities tell of a mysterious wildman called the 'mili mongga', a giant yeti-like beast that supposedly lives in the island's remote forests. What is behind the stories of the mili mongga? Is there a link between this enigmatic entity and the fossils that Sam is looking for? And what did he discover when he finally found the tomb of a mili mongga? Combining evolution, anthropology, travel writing and cryptozoology, The Tomb of the Mili Mongga explores the relationship between biodiversity and culture, what reality means from different cultural perspectives, and how folklore, fossils and conservation can be linked together in surprising ways.
Download or read book The Open Court written by and published by . This book was released on 1930 with total page 840 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Open Court written by Paul Carus and published by . This book was released on 1930 with total page 810 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Book of the Dragon written by Judy Allen and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The dragon drifts his way through the art and mythology of the ancient and modern worlds like a recurring dream. And dreamlike, his forms and attributes change, from East to West and from age to age. He doesn't exist, and yet he features in ancient cosmology and western medieval romance; the alchemists used him as a symbol; early travellers insisted that they saw him and drew his images on maps; and psychologists analysed his impact on the human mind. He has been drawn, painted, carved, written about, hunted, slain, prayed to and sacrificed to and offered gifts and abuse in equal measure for centuries. The 140 illustrations range from a Ch'ing dynasty robe to Piero della Francesca's Saint Michael"--author's website.
Download or read book The Book of the Damned written by Charles Fort and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Time travel, UFOs, mysterious planets, stigmata, rock-throwing poltergeists, huge footprints, bizarre rains of fish and frogs-nearly a century after Charles Fort's Book of the Damned was originally published, the strange phenomenon presented in this book remains largely unexplained by modern science. Through painstaking research and a witty, sarcastic style, Fort captures the imagination while exposing the flaws of popular scientific explanations. Virtually all of his material was compiled and documented from reports published in reputable journals, newspapers and periodicals because he was an avid collector. Charles Fort was somewhat of a recluse who spent most of his spare time researching these strange events and collected these reports from publications sent to him from around the globe. This was the first of a series of books he created on unusual and unexplained events and to this day it remains the most popular. If you agree that truth is often stranger than fiction, then this book is for you"--Taken from Good Reads website.
Download or read book The Cosmic Teeth written by Lawrence Parmly Brown and published by . This book was released on 1930 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: