Download or read book Homo Deus written by Yuval Noah Harari and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods. Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda. What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

Download or read book Ultimate Encyclopedia of Spells written by Michael Johnstone and published by . This book was released on 2004-08-30 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delves into the rich & fascinating tradition of using spells & white magic to enhance your life, realize your desires & make your dreams come true. Provides a comprehensive examination of the long history of spells & gives clear explanations as to their true nature, as well as tips on the proper way they should be used. A number of spells, from healing spells to love spells, are covered in more depth, making this an easy to use practical workbook. Chapters: Witchcraft Past & Present; The Basics of Tools & Rituals; Magic in Many Guises; The Spell's the Thing; The Book of Shadows; Spells to Find Love; Spells for When Love Is Dead; Spells to Settle Arguments; Spells for Health; Spells to Attract Money; Spells for Job Seekers; & a Miscellany of Spells. Illus.

Download or read book Gurps Banestorm written by Phil Masters and published by Steve Jackson Games. This book was released on 2018-02-05 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to the land of Yrth, a magical realm of incredibly varied races and monsters - including people snatched from our Earth and other worlds by the cataclysmic Banestorm! Whole villages were transported - from such diverse locales as medieval England, France, Germany, and the Far East. Now humans struggle with dwarves, elves, and each other. The Crusades aren't ancient history here - they're current events! Characters can journey from the windswept plains of the Nomad Lands - where fierce Nordic warriors seek a valiant death to earn a seat in Valhalla - to Megalos, the ancient empire where magic and political intrigue go hand in hand. Or trek south to the Muslim lands of al-Wazif and al-Haz to explore the forbidden city of Geb'al-Din. This book updates the original Yrth of GURPS Third Edition Fantasy and Fantasy Adventures. It provides GMs with a complete world background - history, religion, culture, politics, races, and a detailed map - everything needed to start a GURPS campaign. Phil Masters (Discworld and Hellboy RPGs) and Jonathan Woodward (Hellboy and GURPS Ogre) have added new peoples, places, and plots, as well as lots more on magic and mysticism, all of which conforms to GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Magic. So prepare to make your own mark on Yrth. Plunder elven ruins while evading the desert natives. Play a peasant-born hero . . . an orcish pirate . . . a Muslim double agent commanded to infiltrate the Hospitallers. Yrth awaits the legend of you!

Download or read book The Dictator s Seduction written by Lauren H. Derby and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-17 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, was one of the longest and bloodiest in Latin American history. The Dictator’s Seduction is a cultural history of the Trujillo regime as it was experienced in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Focusing on everyday forms of state domination, Lauren Derby describes how the regime infiltrated civil society by fashioning a “vernacular politics” based on popular idioms of masculinity and fantasies of race and class mobility. Derby argues that the most pernicious aspect of the dictatorship was how it appropriated quotidian practices such as gossip and gift exchange, leaving almost no place for Dominicans to hide or resist. Drawing on previously untapped documents in the Trujillo National Archives and interviews with Dominicans who recall life under the dictator, Derby emphasizes the role that public ritual played in Trujillo’s exercise of power. His regime included the people in affairs of state on a massive scale as never before. Derby pays particular attention to how events and projects were received by the public as she analyzes parades and rallies, the rebuilding of Santo Domingo following a major hurricane, and the staging of a year-long celebration marking the twenty-fifth year of Trujillo’s regime. She looks at representations of Trujillo, exploring how claims that he embodied the popular barrio antihero the tíguere (tiger) stoked a fantasy of upward mobility and how a rumor that he had a personal guardian angel suggested he was uniquely protected from his enemies. The Dictator’s Seduction sheds new light on the cultural contrivances of autocratic power.

Download or read book Grimoire For The Apprentice Wizard written by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 2004-02-04 with total page 1062 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the book Merlin could have given a young Arthur . . . if only it had existed. Out of the millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide, there are tens of thousands who want to really do the magical things J.K. Rowling writes about. But would-be wizards must rely on information passed down from wizard elders. Is there a Hogwarts anywhere in the real world? A real Albus Dumbledore? Where is the book these aspiring wizards need? Luckily for all those fans, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, today’s foremost genuine wizard, has written the essential handbook. What’s more, he has gathered some of the greatest names in Wicca—including Ellen Evert Hopman, Raymond Buckland, Raven Grimassi, Patricia Telesco, Jesse Wolf Hardin, Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, and many more into a modern-day “Grey Council” to publish for the first time everything an aspiring wizard needs to know. Lurking within the pages of Grimoire for the Apperntice Wizard are: Biographies of famous wizards of history and legend Detailed descriptions of magickal tools and regalia (with full instructions for making them) Rites and rituals for special occasions A bestiary of mythical creatures The Laws of Magick Myths and stories of gods and heroes Lore and legends of the stars and constellations Instruction for performing amazing illusions, special effects, and many other wonders of the magical multiverse Praise forGrimoire for the Apprentice Wizard “I can’t think of a better, more qualified person to write a Handbook for Apprentice Wizards. Oberon is a Wizard.” —Raymond Bucklland, author of Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft “Oberon is not only extremely learned in the magickal arts but he communicates that knowledge with wit and charm.” —Fiona Horne, author of Witch: A Magickal Journey and star of Mad, Mad, Mad House

Download or read book Encompassing Others written by Edward LiPuma and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An investigation of how the advance of capitalism, colonialism, and Christianity has engaged a Melanasian society

Download or read book Dream Magic written by Joshua Khan and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Book 2 of a three book series, things are dire for the inhabitants of Castle Gloom and the surrounding villages. The undead are leaving their graves in droves, a troll army is on the march from the north, and people are mysteriously disappearing from their homes. The people of Gehenna are blaming their misfortunes on Lilith Shadow, their young queen. They believe she has cursed them by using magic, a practice forbidden to women. With her trusty executioner among the missing and her blackguard soldiers busy battling trolls, it is up to Lily and her friend Thorn to root out the real cause of all the trouble. Their search will uncover ugly truths and eventually lead to a nightmarish confrontation with nothing less than the rulership of the realm at stake. Zombies, ghosts, trolls, dream weavers, a black-hearted villain, and a giant hero bat are only some of the imaginative delights that await readers who relish a soaring adventure combined with a hair-raising mystery.

Download or read book Magic and Magicians in the Greco Roman World written by Matthew W Dickie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is the first to assemble the evidence for the existence of sorcerors in the ancient world; it also addresses the question of their identity and social origins. The resulting investigation takes us to the underside of Greek and Roman society, into a world of wandering holy men and women, conjurors and wonder-workers, and into the lives of prostitutes, procuresses, charioteers and theatrical performers. This fascinating reconstruction of the careers of witches and sorcerors allows us to see into previously inaccessible areas of Greco-Roman life. Compelling for both its detail and clarity, and with an extraordinarily revealing breadth of evidence employed, it will be an essential resource for anyone studying ancient magic.

Download or read book Winterlight written by Kristen Britain and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 853 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After her capture at the hands of Grandmother and the Second Empire, Karigan G'ladheon is making halting progress towards recovery. Karigan takes on increasingly dangerous missions, haunted by the specter of her torturer, Nyssa, and sinking ever further into the mire of her recollections of the past and the losses she's sustained. Meanwhile, the forces of the Second Empire are moving on Sacoridia and their primary target is a vulnerable garrison that guards a crucial mountain pass. Faced with new fatherhood and a country on the verge of war, King Zachary sends a contingent of soldiers and Green Riders to the pass--but his own recovery from the events of the north is not yet complete either. Reunited with her fellow Riders at the pass, Karigan takes on a leadership role, but quickly finds that the Riders are not as she last left them. As tension mounts and war draws ever closer to the heart of Sacoridia, Karigan must discover what it truly means to be a Rider and a hero of the realm--and what sacrifices must be made to truly heal from her past.

Download or read book Cloud Atlas 20th Anniversary Edition written by David Mitchell and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A timeless, structure-bending classic that explores how actions of individual lives impact the past, present and future—from a postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in fiction Featuring a new afterword by David Mitchell and a new introduction by Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. The novel careens, with dazzling virtuosity, to Belgium in 1931, to the West Coast in the 1970s, to an inglorious present-day England, to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok, and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history. But the story doesn’t end even there. The novel boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, David Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky. As wild as a video game, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.

Download or read book Breaking the Magic Spell written by Jack Zipes and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text explores, in both historical and critical contexts, the evolution of folk tales and fairy tales, their influence on popular beliefs, the politics behind them and their incorporation in mass media culture today. It focuses particularly on socio-historical forces which have changed the function of fairy tales since the 1700s.

Download or read book Symbaroum written by Martin Bergstrom and published by Symbaroum. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Come join the adventure in Symbaroum, the acclaimed Swedish roleplaying game! Explore the vast Forest of Davokar in the hunt for treasure, lost wisdom and eternal fame. Visit the barbarian clans to trade or to plunder their treasuries. Establish a base of power among princes, guilds or rebellious refugees in the capital city of Yndaros. Or survive encounters with Arch Trolls, dark-minded Blight Beasts and undead warlords. But whatever you do, never ignore the warnings spoken by the wardens of the forest: tread carefully and do not disturb the ruins of old, for the dark deep of Davokar is about to awaken. Made in Sweden

Download or read book ACKS Core First Printing written by Macris and published by Autarch LLC. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your Journey from Adventurer to King Begins Now! Enter a world where empires totter on the brink of war, and terrible monsters tear at the fragile borderlands of men; where decaying cities teem with chaos and corruption, nubile maidens are sacrificed to chthonic cults and nobles live in decadent pleasure on the toil of slaves; where heroes, wizards, and rogues risk everything in pursuit of glory, fortune, and power. This is a world where adventurers can become conquerors - and conquerors can become kings. Will you survive the perils of war and dark magic to claim a throne? Or will you meet your fate in a forgotten ruin beyond the ken of men? The Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS) is a new fantasy role-playing game that provides the framework for epic fantasy campaigns with a sweeping scope. With the Adventurer Conqueror King System you can: Play 12 different classes, including the fighter, mage, thief, cleric, assassin, bard, bladedancer, explorer, dwarven craftpriest, dwarven vaultguard, elven nightblade, and elven spellsword. Easily customize your character using a unique, optional proficiency system. Make your fighter a berserker or your mage a necromancer! Buy, sell, and trade common merchandise, precious silks and spices, and even monster parts and magic items in a balanced and integrated game economy. Construct strongholds, establish kingdoms, and carve out a realm for your character. Run a thieves' guild and send your minions to carouse, smuggle, steal, and commit other hijinks. Establish a wizard's sanctum and explore the forbidden arts. Crossbreed horrific monsters in an underground laboratory, enact powerful magical rituals, build golems, craft magic items, or even transform yourself and your followers into undead monsters. Build and run a living world for adventure on a grand scale. With game mechanics built to support emergent play, ACKS is the ultimate RPG for sandbox campaigns. Whether you want to crawl through dungeons, trade with merchant caravans, run a merchant emporium, conquer an empire, or even raise an undead legion, ACKS supports your playstyle with simple, fast-playing game mechanics."

Download or read book Spellmonger written by Terry Lee Mancour and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-01-06 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Minalan gave up a promising career as a professional warmage to live the quiet life of a village spellmonger in the remote mountain valley of Boval. It was a peaceful, beautiful little fief, far from the dangerous feudal petty squabbles of the Five Duchies, on the world of Callidore. There were cows. Lots of cows. And cheese. For six months things went well: he found a quaint little shop, befriended the local lord, the village folk loved him, he found a sharp young apprentice to help out, and best yet, he met a comely young widow with the prettiest eyes . . . Then one night Minalan is forced to pick up his mageblade again to defend his adopted home from the vanguard of an army of goblins - gurvani, they call themselves - bent on a genocidal crusade against all mankind. And that was the good news. The bad news was that their shamans were armed with more magical power than has been seen since the days of the ancient Imperial Magocracy - and their leader, a mysterious, vengeful force of hate and dark magic, is headed directly to Boval Vale, along with a massive invading army of gurvani. The good people of Boval and their spellmonger have only one choice: to hole up in the over-sized Boval Castle and hope they can endure a siege against hundreds of thousands of goblins. When the people look to him for hope, Minalan does his best, but the odds are depressing: there are multitudes of goblins, and they want Boval Vale as a staging ground for a vengeful invasion of the whole Five Duchies. Add to his troubles a jealous rival mage, a motley band of mercenaries, a delusional liege lord who insists victory is at hand despite the hordes at his door, a dour castellan, a moody, pregnant girlfriend and a catty ex-girlfriend who specializes in sex magic - all trapped in a stinking, besieged castle with no hope of rescue, and you'll understand why Minalan is willing to take his chances with the goblins. All that stands between the gurvani horde and the people of the Five Duchies is one tired, overwhelmed baker's son who wanted nothing more than to be a simple village spellmonger!

Download or read book A Magical Medieval Society written by Suzi Yee and published by . This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: D20 role-playing game supplement. Allows role-playing in a pseudo-medieval environment.

Download or read book Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits written by Emma Wilby and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the hundreds of confessions relating to witchcraft and sorcery trials from early modern Britain we frequently find detailed descriptions of intimate working relationships between popular magical practitioners and familiar spirits of either human or animal form. Until recently historians often dismissed these descriptions as elaborate fictions created by judicial interrogators eager to find evidence of stereotypical pacts with the Devil. Although this paradigm is now routinely questioned, and most historians acknowledge that there was a folkloric component to familiar lore in the period, these beliefs and the experiences reportedly associated with them, remain substantially unexamined. Cunning-Folk and Familiar Spirits examines the folkloric roots of familiar lore from historical, anthropological and comparative religious perspectives. It argues that beliefs about witches' familiars were rooted in beliefs surrounding the use of fairy familiars by beneficent magical practitioners or 'cunning folk', and corroborates this through a comparative analysis of familiar beliefs found in traditional native American and Siberian shamanism. The author explores the experiential dimension of familiar lore by drawing parallels between early modern familiar encounters and visionary mysticism as it appears in both tribal shamanism and medieval European contemplative traditions. These perspectives challenge the reductionist view of popular magic in early modern British often presented by historians.

Download or read book Occulture written by Carl Abrahamsson and published by Park Street Press. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the role of magic and the occult in art and culture from ancient times to today • Examines key figures behind esoteric cultural developments, such as Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner • Explores the history of magic as a source of genuine counter culture and compares it with our contemporary soulless, digital monoculture • Reveals how the magic of art can be restored if art is employed as a means rather than an end and offers strategies to rekindle intuitive creativity Art, magic, and the occult have been intimately linked since our prehistoric ancestors created the first cave paintings some 50,000 years ago. As civilizations developed, these esoteric forces continued to drive culture forward, both visibly and behind the scenes, from the Hermetic ideas of the Renaissance, to the ethereal worlds of 19th century Symbolism, to the occult interests of the Surrealists. In this deep exploration of “occulture”--the liminal space where art and magic meet--Carl Abrahamsson reveals the integral role played by magic and occultism in the development of culture throughout history as well as their relevance to the continuing survival of art and creativity. Blending magical history and esoteric philosophy with his more than 30 years’ experience in occult movements, Abrahamsson looks at the phenomena and people who have been seminal in modern esoteric developments, including Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner. Showing how art and magic were initially one and the same, the author explores the history of magic as a source of genuine counter culture and compares it with our contemporary soulless, digital monoculture. He reveals how the magic of art can be restored if art is employed as a means rather than an end--if it is intense, emotional, violent, and expressive--and offers strategies for creating freely, magically, even spontaneously, with intent unfettered by the whims of trends, a creative practice akin to chaos magick that assists both creators and spectators to live with meaning. He also looks at intuition and creativity as the cornerstones of genuine individuation, explaining how insights and illuminations seldom come in collective forms. Exploring magical philosophy, occult history, the arts, psychology, and the colorful grey areas in between, Abrahamsson reveals the culturally and magically transformative role of art and the ways the occult continues to transform culture to this day.