Download or read book The Writing of the Gods written by Edward Dolnick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The surprising and compelling story of two rival geniuses in an all-out race to decode one of the world's most famous documents--the Rosetta Stone--and their twenty-year-long battle to solve the mystery of ancient Egypt's hieroglyphs. The Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous objects in the world, attracting millions of visitors to the British museum ever year, and yet most people don't really know what it is. Discovered in a pile of rubble in 1799, this slab of stone proved to be the key to unlocking a lost language that baffled scholars for centuries. Carved in ancient Egypt, the Rosetta Stone carried the same message in different languages--in Greek using Greek letters, and in Egyptian using picture-writing called hieroglyphs. Until its discovery, no one in the world knew how to read the hieroglyphs that covered every temple and text and statue in Egypt. Dominating the world for thirty centuries, ancient Egypt was the mightiest empire the world had ever known, yet everything about it--the pyramids, mummies, the Sphinx--was shrouded in mystery. Whoever was able to decipher the Rosetta Stone, and learn how to read hieroglyphs, would solve that mystery and fling open a door that had been locked for two thousand years. Two brilliant rivals set out to win that prize. One was English, the other French, at a time when England and France were enemies and the world's two great superpowers. The Writing of the Gods chronicles this high-stakes intellectual race in which the winner would win glory for both himself and his nation. A riveting portrait of empires both ancient and modern, this is an unparalleled look at the culture and history of ancient Egypt and a fascinating, fast-paced story of human folly and discovery unlike any other.

Download or read book Mesopotamia written by Jean Bottéro and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1995-06-15 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our ancestors, the Mesopotamians, invented writing and with it a new way of looking at the world. In this collection of essays, the French scholar Jean Bottero attempts to go back to the moment which marks the very beginning of history. To give the reader some sense of how Mesopotamian civilization has been mediated and interpreted in its transmission through time, Bottero begins with an account of Assyriology, the discipline devoted to the ancient culture. This transmission, compounded with countless discoveries, would not have been possible without the surprising decipherment of the cuneiform writing system. Bottero also focuses on divination in the ancient world, contending that certain modes of worship in Mesopotamia, in their application of causality and proof, prefigure the "scientific mind."

Download or read book The Realms of the Gods written by Tamora Pierce and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-12-08 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During a dire battle against the fearsome Skinners, Daine and her mage teacher Numair are swept into the Divine Realms. Though happy to be alive, they are not where they want to be. They are desperately needed back home, where their old enemy, Ozorne, and his army of strange creatures are waging war against Tortall. Trapped in the mystical realms Daine discovers her mysterious parentage. And as these secrets of her past are revealed so is the treacherous way back to Tortall. So they embark on an extraordinary journey home, where the fate of all Tortall rests with Daine and her wild magic.

Download or read book The Book of the Gods written by Chas Saunders and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you tired of the same old boring god you've worshipped for years? Looking for something new and exciting? The Book of the Gods has the answer! Explore hundreds of deities of all shapes, sizes, genders, colours with myriad powers.This is the official book of the leading mythological website Godchecker and is packed full of extraordinary facts and mythological trivia. Who is the god of shoes? The god of football? The god of fluff?From the gods of Greece and Rome to the bizarre and often downright scary gods of Oceania and the Aztecs you will find there is a deity for every occasion. Alongside the A-Z listings are 20 introductory essays that give an entertaining and accessible overview of each pantheon.

Download or read book Savage Gods written by Paul Kingsnorth and published by Two Dollar Radio. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * Chicago Tribune "Fall literary preview: books you need to read now" * Vulture "The Best and Biggest Books to Read This Fall" * The Guardian "A best book of 2019" After moving with his wife and two children to a smallholding in Ireland, Paul Kingsnorth expects to find contentment. It is the goal he has sought — to nest, to find home — after years of rootlessness as an environmental activist and author. Instead he finds that his tools as a writer are failing him, calling into question his foundational beliefs about language and setting him at odds with culture itself. Informed by his experiences with indigenous peoples, the writings of D.H. Lawrence and Annie Dillard, and the day-to-day travails of farming his own land, Savage Gods asks: what does it mean to belong? What sacrifices must be made in order to truly inhabit a life? And can words ever paint the truth of the world — or are they part of the great lie which is killing it?

Download or read book Valley of the Gods written by Alexandra Wolfe and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A Wall Street Journal columnist for "Weekend Confidential" explores the hubris and ambition of Silicon Valley innovators who are changing the world, tracing the stories of three upstarts who left promising college educations in favor of developing billion-dollar ideas"--NoveList.

Download or read book Daughter of the Gods written by Stephanie Thornton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Egypt, 1400s BC. The pharaoh’s pampered second daughter, lively, intelligent Hatshepsut, delights in racing her chariot through the marketplace and testing her archery skills in the Nile’s marshlands. But the death of her elder sister, Neferubity, in a gruesome accident arising from Hatshepsut’s games forces her to confront her guilt...and sets her on a profoundly changed course. Hatshepsut enters a loveless marriage with her half brother, Thut, to secure his claim to the Isis Throne and produce a male heir. But it is another of Thut’s wives, the commoner Aset, who bears him a son, while Hatshepsut develops a searing attraction for his brilliant adviser Senenmut. And when Thut suddenly dies, Hatshepsut becomes de facto ruler, as regent to her two-year-old nephew. Once, Hatshepsut anticipated being free to live and love as she chose. Now she must put Egypt first. Ever daring, she will lead a vast army and build great temples, but always she will be torn between the demands of leadership and the desires of her heart. And even as she makes her boldest move of all, her enemies will plot her downfall.... Once again, Stephanie Thornton brings to life a remarkable woman from the distant past whose willingness to defy tradition changed the course of history.

Download or read book Voice of the Gods Age Of Five written by Trudi Canavan and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2010-09-01 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: the final book of this fabulous trilogy from the bestselling author of the Magicians' Guild.As protector of the Siyee, Auraya goes to investigate when a landwalker stranger is seen in Siyee lands and meets a mysterious woman claiming to be a friend of Mirar's, the founder of the Dreamwalkers. Auraya's growing respect for this woman puts her on a path of direct conflict with the gods. the Pentadrians, frustrated by their defeat at the hands of the Circlians, plot and scheme to bring down their enemies by means other than direct conflict. the White send the Siyee into Southern Ithania to assist in fighting the Pentadrians and the gods allow Auraya to accompany them ... under certain conditions.In the south, Mirar enjoys acceptance and respect as he reclaims his place among his people. But that freedom will come at a cost.

Download or read book The Seeds of Life written by Edward Dolnick and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why cracking the code of human conception took centuries of wild theories, misogynist blunders, and ludicrous mistakes Throughout most of human history, babies were surprises. People knew the basics: men and women had sex, and sometimes babies followed. But beyond that the origins of life were a colossal mystery. The Seeds of Life is the remarkable and rollicking story of how a series of blundering geniuses and brilliant amateurs struggled for two centuries to discover where, exactly, babies come from. Taking a page from investigative thrillers, acclaimed science writer Edward Dolnick looks to these early scientists as if they were detectives hot on the trail of a bedeviling and urgent mystery. These strange searchers included an Italian surgeon using shark teeth to prove that female reproductive organs were not 'failed' male genitalia, and a Catholic priest who designed ingenious miniature pants to prove that frogs required semen to fertilize their eggs. A witty and rousing history of science, The Seeds of Life presents our greatest scientists struggling-against their perceptions, their religious beliefs, and their deep-seated prejudices-to uncover how and where we come from.

Download or read book Game of the Gods written by Jay Schiffman and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2018-07-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A Tom Doherty Associates Book" -- Title page.

Download or read book Sword of the Gods written by Bruce R. Cordell and published by Wizards of the Coast. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With no memory of his past, a lone hero must fight two battles—one to understand his identity and one to defeat the demon that now plagues Faerûn Demascus wakes up on the cold stone slab of an ancient altar. He doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t know where he’s from. He doesn’t even know his own name until a stranger tells it to him. But someone—or something—wants to kill him. This he knows with the certainty of the grave. At the same time, a demon from a dead universe—a gift from the Chained God—is freed from its fossilized prison. Its essence takes root in the nightmare reality of the living, sparking a transformation once thought halted by forgotten heroes. Dodging knives, uncovering clues left by his past life, and dueling demons, Demascus must figure out who he is, who his enemies are, and what battles he is fighting. Along the way, he will discover that he is the last of the forgotten heroes—the only thing that stands between the light of the world and the phantasmagorical torments of the Abyss.

Download or read book Magicians of the Gods written by Graham Hancock and published by Coronet. This book was released on 2015-09-10 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Graham Hancock's multi-million bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods remains an astonishing, deeply controversial, wide-ranging investigation of the mysteries of our past and the evidence for Earth's lost civilization. Twenty years on, Hancock returns with a book filled with completely new, scientific and archaeological evidence, which has only recently come to light... The evidence revealed in this book shows beyond reasonable doubt that an advanced civilization that flourished during the Ice Age was destroyed in the global cataclysms between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago. Near the end of the last Ice Age 12,800 years ago, a giant comet that had entered the solar system from deep space thousands of years earlier, broke into multiple fragments. Some of these struck the Earth causing a global cataclysm on a scale unseen since the extinction of the dinosaurs. At least eight of the fragments hit the North American ice cap, while further fragments hit the northern European ice cap. The impacts, from comet fragments a mile wide approaching at more than 60,000 miles an hour, generated huge amounts of heat which instantly liquidized millions of square kilometres of ice, destabilizing the Earth's crust and causing the global Deluge that is remembered in myths all around the world. A second series of impacts, equally devastating, causing further cataclysmic flooding, occurred 11,600 years ago, the exact date that Plato gives for the destruction and submergence of Atlantis. But there were survivors - known to later cultures by names such as 'the Sages', 'the Magicians', 'the Shining Ones', and 'the Mystery Teachers of Heaven'. They travelled the world in their great ships doing all in their power to keep the spark of civilization burning. They settled at key locations - Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, Baalbek in the Lebanon, Giza in Egypt, ancient Sumer, Mexico, Peru and across the Pacific where a huge pyramid has recently been discovered in Indonesia. Everywhere they went these 'Magicians of the Gods' brought with them the memory of a time when mankind had fallen out of harmony with the universe and paid a heavy price. A memory and a warning to the future... For the comet that wrought such destruction between 12,800 and 11,600 years may not be done with us yet. Astronomers believe that a 20-mile wide 'dark' fragment of the original giant comet remains hidden within its debris stream and threatens the Earth. An astronomical message encoded at Gobekli Tepe, and in the Sphinx and the pyramids of Egypt,warns that the 'Great Return' will occur in our time...

Download or read book American Gods written by Neil Gaiman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2002-04-30 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble. Until he learns that she's been killed in a terrible accident. Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself. The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible. He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever he the same...

Download or read book The Gods are Not to Blame written by Ola Rotimi and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Stealing Fire from the Gods written by James Bonnet and published by Michael Wiese Productions. This book was released on 2006 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revised and expanded sequel to Stealing Fire from the Gods, this 2nd edition includes important new revelations concerning the ultimate source of unity, the structures of the whole story passage, the anti-hero's journey, the high-concept great idea, the secrets of charismatic characters, and the analyses of many important new stories and successful films.

Download or read book The Gate of Gods written by Martha Wells and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tremaine Valiarde and a small, brave band of heroes ventured into a wondrous new realm on their desperate mission to save Ile-Rien from the conquering Gardier. Now, as a relentless enemy creates chaos and destruction -- with the fate of the magical city of Lodun hanging in the balance -- the last hope of a land besieged may rest on the far side of a secret portal. But the doorway leads to a mysterious ruin hidden behind the awesome Gate of Gods -- and to perils that dwarf anything Tremaine and her allies could have possibly imagined. . . .

Download or read book The Half God of Rainfall written by Inua Ellams and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the award-winning poet and playwright behind Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall is an epic story and a lyrical exploration of pride, power and female revenge.