Download or read book The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick written by Peter Lamont and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2005 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores one of the most successful hoaxes of all time from the mystical East, and why people were so easily fooled.
Download or read book The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick written by Peter Lamont and published by Abacus Software. This book was released on 2004 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We assume that the Indian rope trick is a piece of ancient Hindu magic. But think again: it is actually the product of a hoax which appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 1890. This wonderfully researched, playfully written book takes us on a journey through Victorian society where we discover the interest in magic of Charles Dickens; Alfred Russell Wallace; Edward, Prince of Wales; Lord Northbrook and Charles Darwin. We learn how in an age of reason the British came to love all things Oriental and how the legend of the rope trick came to be perpetuated throughout the 20th century as fanatical public figures and aristocrats went to India in search of it and returned claiming to have seen it being performed. This is a charming history book filled with colourful characters, known and unknown, all of whom pursued an obsession. Some were respected members of society, some were incredibly eccentric and utterly deluded. It is set against the background of Victorian society and shows how the writing of history itself can perpetuate myths and legends.
Download or read book The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick written by Peter Lamont and published by Little Brown GBR. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is the greatest legend of the Orient. A rope is thrown into the air and rises into the sky until it is completely vertical. A boy then climbs the rope, higher and higher. There, in broad daylight and surrounded by spectators, the boy disappears. In this book th3e author reveals the truth behind this remarkable legend. The Indian rope trick isn't Indian, it doesn't involve a rope, and it isn't a trick. The author describes how a simple hoax grew into the world's most famous mystery, assisted on its way by those in search of fame and fortune, and by others whose aim was to destroy it in defence of the West.
Download or read book The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick written by Peter Lamont and published by . This book was released on 2006-03 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating & authoritative investigation into the world's greatest mystery. It has been consistently voted one of the world's top ten tricks. For years it has been thought of as an ancient piece of authentic Indian magic. But the thing about the Indian rope trick is that it isn't Indian, it doesn't involve a rope, & it isn't a trick. In this remarkable & acclaimed book, Peter Lamont traces the roots of a spectacular hoax to reveal just how it became the world's most famous mystery. Lamont's historical detective work shows that the truth here is more bizarre than even the most outlandish fiction. A riveting yarn, full of quirky stories & wisdom about our need for mystery. The truth here is more bizarre than even the most outlandish fiction.Ó Illustrations.
Download or read book Rise of Indian Rope Trick B Pbp How a Spectacular Hoax Became History written by Peter Lamont and published by . This book was released on 2005-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Rise of Indian Rope Trick Hb B Cl written by Peter Lamont and published by . This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Secret History of Magic written by Peter Lamont and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-07-17 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pull back the curtain on the real history of magic – and discover why magic really matters If you read a standard history of magic, you learn that it begins in ancient Egypt, with the resurrection of a goose in front of the Pharaoh. You discover how magicians were tortured and killed during the age of witchcraft. You are told how conjuring tricks were used to quell rebellious colonial natives. The history of magic is full of such stories, which turn out not to be true. Behind the smoke and mirrors, however, lies the real story of magic. It is a history of people from humble roots, who made and lost fortunes, and who deceived kings and queens. In order to survive, they concealed many secrets, yet they revealed some and they stole others. They engaged in deception, exposure, and betrayal, in a quest to make the impossible happen. They managed to survive in a world in which a series of technological wonders appeared, which previous generations would have considered magical. Even today, when we now take the most sophisticated technology for granted, we can still be astonished by tricks that were performed hundreds of years ago. The Secret History of Magic reveals how this was done. It is about why magic matters in a world that no longer seems to have a place for it, but which desperately needs a sense of wonder.
Download or read book Jadoowallahs Jugglers and Jinns written by John Zubrzycki and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2018-06-28 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: India’s association with magic goes back thousands of years – from the seals of Mohenjodaro that depicted sorcerers and yogis, to the jugglers and acrobats that dazzled spectators at the courts of Hindu maharajas and Mughal emperors. Tales were told of ropes being thrown up in the air, strong enough for a boy to climb; of fakirs being buried alive for months and brought back to life; and of sanperas charming deadly cobras with their flutes. In the early nineteenth century, touring Indian magicians mesmerized audiences abroad, prompting generations of Western illusionists to emulate them. Jadoowallahs, Jugglers and Jinns: A Magical History of India tells the story of how Indian magic descended from the domain of the gods to become part of daily ritual and popular entertainment, and its transformation from the street to the stage culminating with the rise of the great P. C. Sorcar Sr. Drawing on ancient religious texts, colonial records, newspaper reports, journals and memoirs of Western and Indian magicians, John Zubrzycki offers us a vibrant narrative on Indian magic from ancient times to the present day.
Download or read book Magic in Theory written by Peter Lamont and published by Univ of Hertfordshire Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A useful manual for any magician or curious spectator who wonders why the tricks seem so real, this guide examines the psychological aspects of a magician’s work. Exploring the ways in which human psychology plays into the methods of conjuring rather than focusing on the individual tricks alone, this explanation of the general principles of magic includes chapters on the use of misdirection, sleight of hand, and reconstruction, provides a better understanding of this ancient art, and offers a section on psychics that warns of their deceptive magic skills.
Download or read book The Great Indian Rope Trick written by Roderick Matthews and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2015-02-05 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘In the mythical Indian rope trick, the rope stands straight up. Onlookers know, however, that the rope is staying up because the fakir wills it to stay up. India’s democracy is much the same. Some observers have found it hard to see how it could support itself, and many have expected it to fall. But it will stand if Indians want it to, and use their collective will to give it strength.’ When India shook off the chains of colonial rule in 1947, predictions abounded on how long it would take for the world’s largest democracy to fall apart. The new nation appeared to be too large and too diverse to be held together by a powerful centre, and some argued that it was an artificial creation that would soon break apart at the seams. Yet, more than 60 years and 16 general elections later, and through conflict, poverty, wars, famines, natural disasters, communal riots and separatist movements, nothing has stopped the Indian juggernaut from rolling on. Amid the chaos of 800 million voters and more than 8,000 candidates, the 2014 mandate marked yet another turn in India’s continuing tryst with democracy. What has kept the Indian system of governance ticking even as its neighbours have either become autocratic states or descended into dysfunctionality? How has India proved to the world that democracy may find its best home in the seemingly infinite mass that is the Indian population? In this testament to the resilience and indomitability of the Indian state, Roderick Matthews, bestselling author of Jinnah vs Gandhi, peels back layers to unveil a story that goes to the heart of this success. In exploring what it has taken for the country to overcome challenges, both external and internal, and drawing comparisons with the recent histories of India’s neighbours, Matthews argues that India’s constitutional foundations have allowed the nation to become the bedrock of democracy in the modern world.'
Download or read book The Ministry for the Future written by Kim Stanley Robinson and published by Orbit. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR “The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem "If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future." —Ezra Klein (Vox) The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis. "One hopes that this book is read widely—that Robinson’s audience, already large, grows by an order of magnitude. Because the point of his books is to fire the imagination."―New York Review of Books "If there’s any book that hit me hard this year, it was Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future, a sweeping epic about climate change and humanity’s efforts to try and turn the tide before it’s too late." ―Polygon (Best of the Year) "Masterly." —New Yorker "[The Ministry for the Future] struck like a mallet hitting a gong, reverberating through the year ... it’s terrifying, unrelenting, but ultimately hopeful. Robinson is the SF writer of my lifetime, and this stands as some of his best work. It’s my book of the year." —Locus "Science-fiction visionary Kim Stanley Robinson makes the case for quantitative easing our way out of planetary doom." ―Bloomberg Green
Download or read book The Limits of Ancient Biography written by Brian McGing and published by Classical Press of Wales. This book was released on 2007-12-31 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The genre of biography in the ancient world is interestingly diverse and permeable and deserves intensive study, bearing as it does on ideas of characterization and the individual. This volume considers both the form and the content of biography across the ancient world, and is particularly interested in the frontiers with other related genres, such as history. The papers range from the Old Testament to the Arab world, from the New Testament to the Lives of Saints, from the classic Greek and Roman biographers to less well known practitioners of the art.
Download or read book A Fine Balance written by Rohinton Mistry and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2010-10-29 with total page 834 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry’s stunning internationally acclaimed bestseller, is set in mid-1970s India. It tells the story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil soon after the government declares a “State of Internal Emergency.” Through days of bleakness and hope, their circumstances – and their fates – become inextricably linked in ways no one could have foreseen. Mistry’s prose is alive with enduring images and a cast of unforgettable characters. Written with compassion, humour, and insight, A Fine Balance is a vivid, richly textured, and powerful novel written by one of the most gifted writers of our time.
Download or read book The End of Poverty written by Jeffrey D. Sachs and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-02-28 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Book and man are brilliant, passionate, optimistic and impatient . . . Outstanding." —The Economist The landmark exploration of economic prosperity and how the world can escape from extreme poverty for the world's poorest citizens, from one of the world's most renowned economists Hailed by Time as one of the world's hundred most influential people, Jeffrey D. Sachs is renowned for his work around the globe advising economies in crisis. Now a classic of its genre, The End of Poverty distills more than thirty years of experience to offer a uniquely informed vision of the steps that can transform impoverished countries into prosperous ones. Marrying vivid storytelling with rigorous analysis, Sachs lays out a clear conceptual map of the world economy. Explaining his own work in Bolivia, Russia, India, China, and Africa, he offers an integrated set of solutions to the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that challenge the world's poorest countries. Ten years after its initial publication, The End of Poverty remains an indispensible and influential work. In this 10th anniversary edition, Sachs presents an extensive new foreword assessing the progress of the past decade, the work that remains to be done, and how each of us can help. He also looks ahead across the next fifteen years to 2030, the United Nations' target date for ending extreme poverty, offering new insights and recommendations.
Download or read book Mind and Cosmos written by Thomas Nagel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-22 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.
Download or read book The Royal Road to Card Magic written by Jean Hugard and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-06-28 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVSimple-to-use book gives versatile repertoire of first rate card tricks. The authors, both expert magicians, present clear explanations of basic techniques and over 100 complete tricks. 121 figures. /div
Download or read book Slave Life in Georgia written by Brown and published by . This book was released on 1855 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
