Customer Reviews:
Golen Age of the Pharaohs: offical Book of the Exhibition .......2007-09-09
Fantastic book; saved money by purchasing it through Amazon. Shows all the exibits. Very pleased with the book. A fine edition to anyones collection.
Very good book.......2007-09-09
I bought the book before seeing the tour in Philly. The book is very well done, and very good representation of the tour. Beautiful photographs, plus good rich text around the history of the 18th dynasty.
Other reviews talk about the tour, which isn't really what the book is about. The tour was rather crowded, and I was somewhat disappointed that all the objects were small, and no Tut sarcophagus. Very little explanation of the layout, so my son was complaining about the lack of Tut objects; they included many from the 18th dynasty.
I recommend the official DVD, its great; bought it at the show.
yasangel.......2007-08-31
Beautiful book, great pictures. Great to have with you if you get to see exhibit.
Gollden Age of the Pharaohs.......2007-07-16
Purchased in anticipation of the opening of the exhibition in London in November, the book is a mine of information. Not only does Zahi Hawass describe the objects on display, but he places them in context and gives a vivid picture of life in Egypt at the time of Tutankhamun and before his accession to the throne. Not only a great read, a reference for future use and up to Dr Hawass usual enthusiastic and vivid style. A must-have book for anyone interested in Egypt.
absolutly stunning....a once in a life time chance...........2007-07-04
First and formost DO NOT miss the King Tut tour.....the artifatcs are absoutely astounding and incredibly beautiful beyond words..It it truly extremely hard to wrap your mind around that every peice is wll over 3000 yers old. As for the book itself it is nithing short of amazing...caputring the exibit almost in its entirety....but NOTHING compares to seeing the absoultly stunnig tour live...a truly once in a life time experience...after the US tour concludes it it will never leave Cairo again...The book is worth its weight in gold...the awsome photography and articles by renowned archiloghits and her HRH the Queen of Egypt her self...THis tour the book by National Geographic and the Official DVD are some of the greatest gifts ever bestowed opon the world. A gift from the heart of Egypt to the world that will never be go on tour again...A humbling experience live and most interesting reading a msater work indeed...Bravo!!!
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887...This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as "The Golden Ratio," was discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the shape of the galaxy. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali's The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even been found to be connected to the behavior of the stock market!
The Golden Ratio is a captivating journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including the followers of Pythagoras who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as the greatest treasure of geometry; such Renaissance thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters of the modern world as Goethe, Cezanne, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose. Wherever his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
"The Goden Ratio" by Mario Livio.......2007-10-09
Highly readable and fascinating book by the well-respected Mario Livio. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Livio The book does not require a math background to understand or appreciate. Traces the origins and applications of the golden ratio through time, nature and art. Explores (and generally refutes) myths and misconceptions about the golden ratio. Highly recommended. Fascinating reading. Dan Brown (author of "the DaVinci Code") reportedly loved the book.
Not the only imperfect book around.......2007-07-13
I like Livio's cautionary tone throughout the book, ie he's not a starry-eyed Golden Numberist, who believes that the Ratio is the only measure of beauty and proportionality in the universe. That's probably his strongest point.
For one, I'm not so interested in the application of the Golden Ratio or Fibonacci sequence (also somewhat discussed in the book) to art in general. What's so great about Salvador Dali using the Ratio in "Sacrament of the Last Supper", or its apparent extensive use by Bela Bartok in his compositions? In fact, I found a tad irritating Livio's habit of filling page after page discussing the supposed use of the Ratio by some painter or musician, just to conclude that probably it was all just coincidental. Also annoying, at the beginning of the book, is his characterization as "famous" applied to almost every person cited. As if I didn't know that Einstein, Buffon, Pythagoras and Lord Kelvin are all famous!
On the other hand, I enjoyed the book rather terse treatment of the Ratio and the Sequence in pure plane geometry and Platonic solids, and even more interesting is the brief discussion of their serendipitous presence in nature --chambered nautilus and tree's leaf arrangements (phyllotaxis). Brief, sadly.
I also confess to having gotten a little bored and glassy-eyed, and pretty often had to lie down, half-asleep, on my bed while reading this book. Livio often goes off on a tangent, as I said before, following false leads, dead-ends, and even the occasional windmill. After all, I guess that's the price the reader has to pay when the author's trying to meet the publisher's magical, and very much de rigueur, rational proportion of about 250 pages per book.
In conclusion, and on a positive note, this book at the least (re)sparked my interest in the history of number theory, and other special numbers and figures (like 1, zero, pi, e, and i). So, I can't say I wasted my money when I bought it.
A strange, beautiful, and rare bird!.......2007-06-04
I had thought the Golden Ratio was simply the ideal aesthetic ratio between the length and the height of a painting or that of objects within a painting. According to Author Mario Livio, however, it has very little to do with the arts but a great deal to do with nature and the laws of physics, as well as some amazing abstract mathematical characteristics (discovered over the last several centuries). I believe the sub-title of the book is correct: it IS the world's most astonishing number. In other words, though it does not in the author's view have much to do with the Mona Lisa, the Parthenon, or the Pyramids, it does have some fascinating connections to nature, as well as numbers in the abstract, and their characteristics.
Well, what is the Golden Ratio anyway? Basically, phi or the Golden Ratio is such that if you break a line AB into 2 parts by adding point C to make AC and CB, such that AC is greater than CB and AC/AB = AB/AC. I t sounds pretty boring, but it gets a lot better, since it is also the convergence of something called the Fibonacci Sequence, a set of numbers beginning with 0 such that any 2 consecutive numbers added together equals the next number in the sequence (0,1,1,2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.). The Fibonacci Sequence can also be proved to be the same as the continued fraction of all 1's and also the convergence of the continuous nested square roots of 1's. (You can look on the net to see what these expressions look like, both somehow very satisfying aesthetically). I was amazed that these connections could have been made at all with phi, and that the Fibonacci Sequence is the most irrational of all possible numbers; that is, it converges the most slowly to its final irrational value. Call me weird, but that just blew me away!
I was most amazed that minds could think of these abstract things, and that the math connections to phi worked out so beautifully. Phi's abstract qualities are, in my opinion, every bit as impressive as its connections to nature itself (galaxies, sunflowers, hurricanes, and more). How did they think this stuff up, and why does it fit together so well? Some of the more bizarre are as follows:
The inverse of phi has the same numbers to the right of the decimal point as phi itself.
The square root of phi also has the same numbers to the decimal point as phi.
The sum of 10 consecutive Fibonacci numbers is = to the 7th number times 11.
The unit digit of a given Fibonacci number occurs exactly every 60 numbers.
All Fibonacci primes have prime subscripts (with the exception of 3).
The product of the first and third Fibonacci numbers in a set of 3 consecutive Fibonacci numbers is within 1 of the 2nd number squared.
Who would even think of looking into such things, and why does it work out so well?
There were also a couple of tangential points that were really neat to me. How about the First Digit Phenomenon (Benford's Law), that says if you have a random set of numbers, the probability of the first digit being a 1 is greater that it being a 2 is greater that it being a 3, and so on. How is that even possible in the real world? I'll have to think about that one a little more. And how about proof for the irrationality of the square root of 2? This elegant little proof was worth the price of the book, at least for me. It is a derivation of something called reductio ad absurdum: you prove something is true by starting with the opposite assumption and taking it to its logical conclusion to prove it can't be true.
Finally, I was struck by a broader question raised by the Mario Livio: how is it that math can so concisely define the laws of nature (gravity, motion, etc.)? I don't think that thought once crossed my mind throughout my high school and college careers in engineering! The book says that Kepler's Third Law, for example, states that the square of a planet's period divided by the cube of its semi-major axis is constant for all planets. How does that work out so well in such a brief, elegant formula, and how in the world did Kepler think of it? Are we talking Coincidence or Creator?
I was a little let down by this book as far as art is concerned; Livio simply doesn't believe it is a factor (except for a little 20th century art in the cubist genre perhaps). But I was surprisingly excited by some of the abstract characteristics of the Golden Ratio, and the minds that somehow put it all together. It was as exciting to me as seeing rare, beautiful, exotic creatures on a TV nature show.
The Golden Ratio is a strange, beautiful, and rare bird indeed!
Some very interesting, many dead ends.......2007-04-06
A lot of the early section about the history of mathematics, natural occurences, and the appearance of the phi is amazingly interesting.
Unfortunately, Livio then proceeds on a wild goose chase to mention many of the instances in which people have presumed (generally incorrectly) that various artists, writers, and other such public figures used phi in their work.
This book is certainly worth reading for the explanation of the origin of phi but I would recommend skimming the sections about artists, poetry, and musicians.
The most sublime of numbers-well characterized.......2007-03-18
Well titled, this book is an adventure. It is clear, concise, interesting and thought provoking.
I used it as inspiration for a course on the philosophy of architecture.
Book Description
From the late 1920s to late 1950s, the Broadway theatre was America's cultural epicenter. Television didn't exist and movies were novelties. Entertainment took the form of literature, music, and theatre. During this golden age of Broadway, actors and actresses became legends and starred in now classic plays. Laurence Olivier, Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontaine were names to remember, etching plays into memory as they brought the words of Tennessee Williams or Eugene O’Neill to life. Joseph Cotton romanced Katherine Hepburn in Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story while Laurette Taylor became The Glass Menagerie’s Amanda Wingfield. Frederic March, Florence Eldridge, Jason Robards Jr. and Bradford Dillman showed us life among the ruins in Long Day's Journey Into Night. In All That Glittered, Ethan Mordden, long one of Broadway's best chroniclers, recreates the fascinating lost world of its golden age.
Customer Reviews:
Mordden Does It Again.......2007-09-30
Ethan Mordden has written many books on the topic of Broadway, although generally they have been about the musical stage. This time he writes about plays, (mostly) without music, and rather arbitrarily defines, perhaps for purposes of symmetry, its golden age as the period between 1919 and 1959 (although he can't help himself and goes on into the 1960s a bit). As usual one is amazed at his encyclopedic knowledge of Broadway history; one can imagine him spending weeks and months, perhaps even years, in dusty libraries reading all those old copies of Variety, Playbill and the New York newspapers. His all-but-copyrighted bitchiness is much in evidence and gave me more than a few chuckles. His penchant for pointing who was gay among the actors, authors and directors, and for finding gay themes where they aren't obvious, is prominent.
He chronicles the Broadway spoken play by decade and finds something characteristic about each period. I found his writing, always sparkling, becomes more so when he gets to the 1940s and beyond, perhaps because those plays and the people who made them are within living memory for many people. Clearly Mordden (who is right at sixty, although his glamorous never-changing dustjacket picture hasn't changed in at least two decades) has had personal contact with many of the people mentioned in those latter years and he has some tales to tell.
Included are some pretty obscure plays and we are all the more informed for that. He writes much about the important actors, writers, producers and directors and we pick up a lot of theater lore as a result. His writing style is dense with fact and sometimes hermetic but it always dances along. I had difficulty putting the book down.
Another valuable book by Mordden, possibly primarily for specialists but assimilable by the casual reader with even a modicum of interest in the subject.
Scott Morrison
A fascinating retrospective on the role of Broadway in American culture.......2007-06-25
I love theatre history, but Mordden is such a fine writer that I will read his "History of Plumbing" should he write one.
Unlike his essential seven-volume chronicle of the musical, this is not a show-by-show description. Instead, Mordden takes a thematic approach, insightfully linking the development of the Broadway play to broader cultural developments. The shift from rural to urban humor, the relationship between Broadway and Hollywood, and the role of theatre as educator to the unsophisticated are among his compelling through-lines. Despite my unfamiliarity with most of the titles referenced, this is a great read.
Play Time.......2007-04-06
Ethan Mordden is probably best known for three things: the impossibility of remembering how to spell his last name; the width and depth of his subject matter; and his encyclopedic knowledge of musical theater. To all this, we can now add a fourth; an almost equally deep knowledge of "straight" (in the theatrical sense) drama. While it is arguable as to whether the golden age began in 1919 and ended in 1959, Mordden's treatment of this span is as exciting and insightful as any of his other critical studies and that, as his readers know, is saying a lot! (Aside to Mr. Mordden: The title "Beggar on Horseback" may be more closely related to the saying, "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride."... just a thought). Oh, and the only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is to have somewhere to go for the next time.
Book Description
In a world troubled by religious strife and division, Chris Lowney's vividly written new book offers a hopeful historical reminder: Muslims, Christians, and Jews once lived together in Spain, creating a centuries-long flowering of commerce, culture, art, and architecture. Written with a narrative drive reminiscent of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, this new work takes us back to a medieval Iberia that prefigured the Renaissance.
In 711, a ragtag army of Muslim North Africans conquered Christian Spain and launched Western Europe's first (and to date only) Islamic state. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella vanquished Spain's last Muslim kingdom, forced Jews to convert or emigrate, and dispatched Christopher Columbus to the New World. In the years between, Spain's Muslims, Christians, and Jews forged a golden age for each faith and distanced Spain from a Europe mired in the Dark Ages.
Medieval Spain's pioneering innovations touched every dimension of Western life: Spaniards introduced Europeans to paper manufacture and to the Hindu-Arabic numerals that supplanted the Roman numeral system. Spanish scholars translated what stood for centuries as Europe's standard medical handbook. Spain's farmers adopted irrigation technology from the Near East to nurture Europe's first crops of citrus and cotton. Spanish artisans graced luxurious homes with the fountains, gardens, and decorative tile that remain hallmarks of southern Spain's distinctive decor. Spain's religious scholars authored works that still profoundly influence their respective faiths, from the masterpiece of the Jewish kabbalah to the meditations of Sufism's "greatest master" to the eloquent arguments of Maimonides that humans can successfully marry religious faith and reasoned philosophical inquiry. No less astonishing than medieval Spain's wide-ranging accomplishments was the simple fact its Muslims, Christians, and Jews often managed to live and work side by side, bestowing tolerance and freedom of worship on the religious minorities in their midst.
A Vanished World chronicles this impossibly panoramic sweep of human history and achievement, encompassing both the agony of jihad, Crusades, and Inquisition, and the glory of a multireligious, multicultural civilization that forever changed the West. One gnarled root of today's religious animosities stretches back to medieval Spain, but so does a more nourishing root of much modern religious wisdom. In a world torn by religious antagonism, Chris Lowney offers enduring lessons learned from medieval Spanish villages where Muslims, Christians, and Jews rubbed shoulders on a daily basis.
Customer Reviews:
'No single tradition has monopolised every human expression of truth..'.......2007-05-11
This book is a great starting point in terms of understanding medieval Spain and appreciating the Iberian contribution to broader European enlightenment. Aptly subtitled 'Medieval Spain's Golden Age of Enlightenment', Chris Lowney draws us into the accomplishments of Muslims, Christians and Jews over seven centuries.
Whether you choose to read this book as an historical statement of past accomplishments, or as a sign of hope for a more co-operative future, it provides a wonderful view of the golden age of the Iberian peninsula.
The book has a wealth of notes and suggested readings for those who would like to obtain more information about specific events or achievements.
Highly recommended to those interested in learning more about medieval Spain as well as those looking for instances of shared learning.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Somewhat interesting, but it delivers less than what it promises.......2007-03-16
The history of Spain between 711 (the date of the Muslim invasion of the Iberian peninsula) and 1492 (when the moors were finally vanquished and the spanish crown got back total control of what is today Spain; coincidentally this was the same year Columbus reached the Americas and Jews were expelled from Spain) is fascinating in itself. This book is kind of interesting, but it delivers less than what it promises. If you know some of the history before reading this book, you will not learn a lot from it. Moreover, it is sometimes overly credulous with its sources. One of the problems appears when you see that all the bibliography is in English; Lowney clearly doesn't speak either Spanish or Arabic, so the book is essentially second hand retelling of previous books. There is no original material here. Lowney is identified in the book as a former Jesuit priest, but he seems prejudiced against Christians, always comparing their supposed backwardness with the Muslims' supposed tolerance and brilliance. Look, if Christians were able to reconquer Spain after almost eight centuries, they must have done something right. Still, the book is not totally without interest, especially as an introduction to the subject.
Religious Tolerance: 21st Century Pipedream? .......2006-10-21
Chris Lowney resurrects with much brio the fascinating history of Medieval Spain, which became the only Islamic state that ever prospered in mainland Europe for more than seven centuries. After a "blitzkrieg" military campaign, Muslim conquerors hailing from North Africa rolled back Christian rule on most of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 C.E. Christian rulers, who were understandably resentful of this occupation, launched their Reconquista from the north of the peninsula after infighting started weakening al-Andalus (the Arabic name for the Muslim-ruled part of Spain) in the eleventh century C.E. Al-Andalus disintegrated itself into more than two dozen rivaling small kingdoms by the 1030s C.E that over time became easy picks for united Christian conquerors. This rivalry among these kingdoms was also a blessing in disguise.
To his credit, Lowney acknowledges and emphasizes the significant contributions of al-Andalus to transition the rest of Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. Without Islam, much western wisdom from the Antiquity would have been lost forever following the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West. Furthermore, Medieval Spain became the conduit for bringing the best that the Islamic world had to offer to mostly backward Europeans. Cosmopolis such as Seville, Cordoba, Toledo, and Granada were the cities on the hill economically, culturally, scientifically, and religiously. The architecture of the older parts of these urban centers still reflects this past greatness.
Despite their differences, Medieval Spaniards showed for a time a tolerance for each other's religious and cultural background that remains a marvel to a world plagued by intolerance and obscurantism. Outstanding twelfth-century theologians such as the Jewish Moses Maimonides and the Muslim Ibn Rushd Averroes went as far as to subject their respective religions to rationality. Shias and Sunnis in Modern Iraq, especially in Baghdad, have much to learn from this peaceful religious coexistence. Obscurantism and intolerance were the perfect ingredients for the disastrous recipe that Medieval Spain itself ended up swallowing after the completion of the Reconquista.
With the fall of the Kingdom of Granada in 1491 C.E., the sole remaining Muslim territory in the peninsula, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella completed the Reconquista of Medieval Spain. They did not waste much time to impose Christianity on all their subjects. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella gave their Jewish and Muslim subjects little time to either convert to Christianity or leave most of their possessions behind them and leave Spain forever. The discovery of the New World and its riches bought Spain some time. After Catholic Spain passed by its zenith, it could no longer count on the genius of its former Jewish and Muslim subjects who along Christians had contributed to the greatness of Medieval Spain. Unsurprisingly, Catholic Spain became an increasingly troubled and weak state that only rebounded from its backwardness in the second half of the 20th century C.E.
The richness that was Medieval Spain.......2006-06-28
A first class read for any history buff. Right up there with 'The Ornament of the World' by Maria Rosa Menocal.
Time to move on?.......2006-03-11
This is the third book I've read recently about the Iberian peninsula from the 700s to 1500s during the coexistence of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I first read Reston's "Dogs of God" (see my review) mostly about the 1400s' Christian reconquest of Spain, and their abuse and expulsion of Jews and Muslims. I then read Menocal's "Ornament of the World" mostly about the flowering of al-Andalus beginning in the 700s under generally tolerant and progressive Muslims.
Lowney's "A Vanished World: Medieval Spain's Golden Age of Enlightenment" is also about the same period as Menocal's book but initially more from the Christians' perspective. And initially I found his writing style somewhat tedious but farther along either it improved or I accommodated to it. Yet Lowney reveals aspects not covered by either Reston or Menocal so it's well worth the read if you want a balanced perspective of the period. And he provides extensive endnotes and annotated further readings.
Lowney concludes by lamenting the squandered opportunities resulting from religious bigotry and greed, and suggests lessons that could be learned by today's Christians, Jews and Muslims. But even here in the US, with our constitutional guaranteed religious freedoms, we still see contending for domination by some religious factions. Perhaps it's time we move beyond obsolescent religious teachings toward a New Enlightenment, as explored in my book "Concepts: A ProtoTheist Quest for Science-Minded Skeptics."
Book Description
st comprehensive study yet published of the plain lives of a â€~golden age’.f plague from the first outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 to the mid-fifteenth century. Through an innovative study of this evidence, Professor Carmichael develops two related strands of analysis. First, she discusses the extent to which true plague epidemics may have occurred, by considering what other infectious diseases contributed significantly to outbreaks of â€~pestilence’. She finds that there were many differences between the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century epidemics. She then sh
Amazon.com
Charles M. Schulz has been cartooning for an astonishing 50 years (the "Peanuts" strip itself debuted October 2, 1950, but he drew an earlier incarnation called "Li'l Folks" before that). Peanuts: A Golden Celebration is a remarkable collection of strips spanning that time period. Readers get to see the first appearance of Linus, Marcy, Pigpen, and Woodstock, and even the momentous first time Lucy holds a football for Charlie Brown to kick. Schulz comments on the cartoons and his inspirations via notes in the margin, ranging from boyhood stories about his father (a barber, just like Charlie Brown's) to an account of the time the narcolepsy experts at Stanford University expressed concerns over Peppermint Patty's constant sleeping in class. One of the most interesting inclusions is that of several letters of complaint, ranging from readers whose religious sensibilities have been offended to a 1969 missive from Schulz's own syndicate asking him not to depict Franklin in the same school as the white students anymore. Naturally, the much-loved "Peanuts" holiday specials are covered, as is the musical adaptation You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, but it's the strips that really make the book. Readers can follow the evolution of Schulz's drawing style--deliberately less realistic as the years went on--and even check out a few panels drawn by Schulz's own cartooning heroes. This is a terrific compilation that serves well both as a chronicle of popular culture and as just a really funny collection of comic strips. Don't wait for the Great Pumpkin to bring you one. --Ali Davis
Book Description
Will Charlie Brown ever get to kick the footballs? Will Schroeder finally return Lucy's love? Will Linus give up his security blanket? Will Peppermint Party ever pass a test? And, most importantly will Snoopy--that canine literary ace--ever be published?
"To take a blank piece of paper and draw characters that people love and worry about is extremely satisfying. It really does not matter what you are called or where your work is placed as long as it brings some kind of joy to some person some place." -- Charles Schulz
Peanuts: A Golden Celebration honors the momentous 50th anniversary of Charlie Brown and the gang with over 1,000 carefully selected strips that tell the story of Peanutslike no other book before. In Schulz's own words we learn how he came to create the world's most popular comic strip characters from nostalgic and sometimes painful memories of growing up--such as the agony of classroom Valentine exchange and the longing for a little red-haired girl.
From the debut of Peanuts on October 2, 1950, to the golden jubilee, here are fifty years of the favorite episodes and the..."firsts," such as the first time Lucy pulled the football away from Charlie Brown. Included are scenes from the beloved Charlie Brown television. specials and the latest revival of the Broadway musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
These are the strips and events that have made Peanuts an awesome phenomenon, appearing in 2,600 newspapers worldwide everyday. Not bad for a round-headed kid called Charlie Brown.
Let the celebration begin!
Customer Reviews:
This has "cherished treasure" written all over it..........2007-03-27
There are far more comprehensive collections out there. But, if you want a large, beautifully presented coffee-table sized book with many, many strips from different Peanuts eras, then this is it. It is true that the cartoons are a bit gray (one reviewer's criticism), but this simply sets them off from the large, white pages of the book itself. It actually enhances the atmosphere for me.
I love the text in the margins where Mr. Shulz explains a little something about the characters. Very charming. I also love seeing the very first strip in which various characters appeared.
Many of the multi-strip storylines have been truncated. This is inevitable given the book's purpose. As I said, there are more complete collections out there. What you get is an overview that takes you beyond any one time-frame. And yes, the strips are funny, even if I know there is more to a particular story.
The front matter is also great: a photo of THE barbershop-apartment where Mr. Shulz lived, just for example. Lots of other great stuff.
I paid double the Amazon price because I bought it here in Tokyo...and it is worth every penny (or yen!).
Together with "Peanuts, The Art of Charles M. Shulz", this is my favorite Peanuts book.
Buy it now. :-)
classic time.......2006-09-23
charles schulz is truly a classic and is missed everyday..........from 1950---2000....peanuts was the best comic strip ever..........
Great Book.......2006-08-17
This book is a true delight for the Peanut enthusiast! Not only do you get the lovable comic strips but also unknown history about Charles Shultz and the Peanuts thru tellings and actual letters from both fans and non-fans! Great to add to any collection!
One of the best Peanuts collections ever!.......2006-07-21
This is probably one of the best Peanuts collections ever! I love them so much! Most of the comic strips are in black and white, while the others (especially the Sunday strips) are in vivid color. This book is so funny! Whenever I was feeling low and depressed, I would pull this huge book out, flip to any random page, and it would instantly make me feel better!
Buy this book, or else your love for Peanuts will be incomplete!
Good Grief: A Golden Celebration for a Gem of An Artist!!.......2004-08-04
When Peanuts made it's debut as a new comic strip in 1950, the world of the funny pages was changed forever. Charles Schultz was argueably the greatest and most certainly the most influential strip artist of all time, and Peanuts totally changed the perception of the medium, appealing to the entire family rather than mostly to adults, and broadening and deepening the intellectual plane on which the art takes form. Schultz, who writes most of the copy in this book himself and includes a short bio and some wonderful running commentary throughout, inadvertantly proves how revolutionary Peanuts was by including some of the strips which influenced him while growing up. These comics, from Krazy Kat to Wash Tubbs, are mildly amusing at best, woefully inferior at worst, and in virtually all cases have failed to stand the test of time. Peanuts, however, has never dated, and most of the strips still are very readable half a century after original publication. An excellent collection, to be sure, and one which belongs on any comic fan's shelf. So why only four stars? Because this collection celebrates Schultz's entire career (at the time), from 1950 to 1999, when in fact, his very best and most innovative work was produced during a comparatively narrow time frame, from about 1954 or so to 1966. Luckily, some of the most famous series of strips are represented here, from Snoopy's famous impressions of other characters (including a particularly hilarious Beethoven) to Charlie Brown's longing for the Little Red Haired Girl (any person who has ever been in love can relate to that one.) In 1966, however, Charles Schultz produced his most famous series of cartoons dealing with Snoopy and The Red Baron, a Walter Mitty-esque idea so brilliant, that neither he nor any other cartoonist has been able to top it since. From that point, Peanuts began declining in quality from sheer brilliance down to mere excellence; Snoopy in particular was never the same wonderful dog we had all grown to know and love. (Remember the endless series of strips from about fifteen years ago that centered on Snoopy's love of cookies? It seemed as if he could think of nothing else for two years or more!) The only character who seemed to grow and mature in these later years was Charlie Brown himself; it was nice to see him have successful encounters with girls, become a summer-camp hero (albeit with a paper bag over his head!) and actually WIN A BALL GAME!!! Luckily for us, Schultz still continued to draw the strip so well that it is still one of the most popular comics in the country several years after his death. In short, a very good collection, one that will hopefully lead the reader to search out and find individual collections of the glory years of Peanuts when Schultz was truly at his best. Good Grief, indeed!!!
Book Description
Journey through the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) with one of the foremost pirate-artifact collectors and authorities. Inside this deluxe interactive adventure you'll find engaging authoritative text on all facets of pirate life and history, complemented by fantastic full-color art and over 30 fun and fascinating three-dimensional features. This one-of-a-kind book-plus includes a working period compass, a replica authentic jolly roger, a fold-out treasure map, pieces of eight, period playing cards, a flask of "gunpowder," a cat-o'-nine-tails, Henry Every's 1696 Wanted poster, and much more!
100 full-color illustrations and photographs
30 interactive 3-D features
Includes Authentic full-size removable Jolly Roger!
Customer Reviews:
Arrrrghhh!.......2007-10-13
This book is great! If you love pirates and the history of them, this is for you. There is a lot of real history and facts in this book. Plus the interactive items in it are worth it. It's not a pop-up, but it has several items you can pull out and read/play with. Definitely recommend this for pirate lovers of any age.
Pirate Popup Book.......2007-07-16
Great book for kids-preteens to learn about Pirates. Lots of "swag" to open up and look through, from official looking orders and rosters to currency and even your very own pirate flag.
Something neat to browse through and get some neat details and tidbits but certainly not an adult book
Great, fun book for young & old.......2007-02-20
Cool book, unique, worth every penny. Would love to see musuem.
Good Reference.......2007-02-03
I have seen in many reviews that people purchased this book for their children. This is probably due to the fact that there are removable items within the pages of this book. These are actually replicas of authentic 17th and 18th century documents, a really bad hand of period playing cards, and a replica of an authentic pirate flag. in regards to these documents they are somewhat difficult to read (due to the fact the printing in these times was not exactly "good"). Also the fact that this book covers pirate torture techniques and some of there deaths in gruesome detail makes me wonder if young children should be reading that. Anyway, if you want a fun book for the kids pick up "pirates" by john Matthews, if you want a good introductory to the "golden age of piracy" pick this book
Cool.......2007-01-24
What a neat book and it's by Croche...a philly guy. I just thought it was well put together, fun to look at, and there was a lot of cool info in there that made me want to go visit his museum in Key West so I could learn more.
Book Description
Schama explores the mysterious contradictions of the Dutch nation that invented itself from the ground up, attained an unprecedented level of affluence, and lived in constant dread of being corrupted by happiness. Drawing on a vast array of period documents and sumptuously reproduced art, Schama re-creates in precise detail a nation's mental state. He tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-speculators. He tells us how the Dutch celebrated themselves and how they were slandered by their enemies.
"History on the grand scale...An ambitious portrait of one of the most remarkable episodes in modern history."--New York Times
"Wonderfully inclusive; with wit and intense curiosity he teases out meaning from every aspect of Dutch seventeenth-century life."--Robert Hughes
Customer Reviews:
A tough nut to crack.......2007-08-22
I read a good portion of the book, but must admit that I had a lot of difficulty getting into it. As an undergraduate history major 10+ years ago, I had done some coursework on Dutch history (specifically the rise of the Dutch Republic), but really did not have a strong background for this book. Schama assumes that his readers have a reservoir of prior knowledge about the subject matter of his books. I will attempt this book again after I brush up on my understanding of the Dutch Republic.
Une analyse élaborée.......2007-01-10
Simon Schama présente une étude poussée du nationalisme néerlandais des rébellions de 1560-1609 jusqu'à la fin de l'âge d'or des Provinces-Unies au début du XVIIIè siècle. La matrice qui anime le sens identitaire, les symboles qui en découlent et la représentation que les Néerlandais avaient d'eux même sont tous décortiqués par l'auteur. Utilisant une panoplie d'évènements historiques et leurs résonance auprès de l'élite intellectuelle ainsi que des illustrations artistiques (peintures, sculptures, etc.) qui traduisent souvent la perception générale desdits évènements dans le mantra populaire, l'historien a pondu une brique de plus de 900 pages qui ne déçoit pas. C'est une oeuvre remarquable pour quiconque veut plonger dans l'esprit de l'époque moderne.
Appreciate your Gouda !.......2007-01-04
Schama has done it again and brought this often forgotten power out of the dark. I have always been keen on the Netherlands and knew quite a bit about their colourful history but seen through Schama's eyes the colour is accentuated and comes to life. Not only has this book connected little bits of knowledge & filled in some darker areas; but, has opened doors to the Dutch culture and people at it's very best. Schama brings it all to life from the first sentence and you're there ! Your senses all come alive and you'll easily swallow chapter after chapter. Once you close this book you're left wondering how it all can now be so quickly forgotten. European History tends to be concentrated on the exploits of Britain, France & Germany ... a shame, the Dutch have so much to offer !!!
Read this book and a whole world will come to life with every bite of Gouda; and your Edam will never taste the same !
I'm Tempted To Say: For Serious Scholars Only.......2006-11-22
During the three generations in which Holland was a global superpower---and one of the world's first economic superpowers at that---the Dutch people lived amid luxury and plentitude never before seen in northern Europe. Simon Schama's comprehensive study of this nation and period explores and details anything that could possibly be asked about the seventeenth-century Netherlands. This is a tough book to break into, to continue forward into once the task of reading it has begun, and its density will put many people off. It lacks the approachability of say a David McCullough or Stephen Ambrose book, but if someone wants serious information about its subject matter, there is no other more complete source that I know of than The Embarrassment of Riches. To read this book is to come away with an intimate knowledge of the Dutch Golden Age, and that's a high compliment.
Tough sledding and not for amateurs.......2005-07-12
I cannot say if this book is good or not. I have waded through one hundred pages and know that reading ten books a week for twenty-five or thirty years has left me insufficiently prepared for the verbal density. It is up there on the shelf next to William Gass, and I plan to pull it down the next time I feel strong enough.
Book Description
The Fall is a major work that overturns mainstream current thinking on the nature of civilization and human nature. It draws on the increasing evidence accumulated over recent decades that prehistoric humanity was peaceful and egalitarian, rather than war-like and crude. It is not natural for human beings to kill each other, for men to oppress women, for individuals to accumulate massive wealth and power, or to abuse nature. The worldwide myths of a Golden Age or an original paradise have a factual, archaeological basis.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing Ideas.......2007-09-04
The Fall contains many intriguing ideas about why humnanity is in the situation in which we find ourselves. Taylor reminds us, thankfully, that all the misery encountered by so many people in the course of their lives is just plan wrong. It does not have to be.
I would suspect that many of his ideas would be challenged by other scholars and a discussion of his theories would be most interesting.
The Fall is quite repetitive in places. I would have liked to have read how Taylor thinks we can have a more compassionate peaceful society on a global scale with more than 6 billion people alive today.
A wonderful book.......2006-05-27
I bought this book after reading Eckhart Tolle's endorsement: "A fascinating and important book on the origin, development and the imminent demise of the ego...Highly readable and enlightening, as the author's acute mind is imbued with the higher faculty of spiritual awareness." Eckhart Tolle's books have changed my life so I was sure this book would be important for me too, and haven't been wrong. I've read it through over the last three days and feel also though my whole outlook on the world has been altered. This book is a complete revisioning of human history from a spiritual point of view, seeing human history in terms of the development of the ego, looking at how the ego has given rise to thousands of years of violence and oppression. Taylor looks in turn at warfare, male domination, social inequality, alienation from the body, abuse of the natural world and so on, showing how the over-developed sense of ego produces these problems.
The book makes the important point - using a massive range of research - that earlier human beings and many of the world's native peoples - did not have our strong sense of self or ego and so were free from all of this disorder. The book's depiction of how the insanity of so much human behaviour is produced by the ego is riveting and extremely impressive. After reading this there is no way you can look at "normal" human behaviour in the same way. Taylor makes it absolutely clear that what we consider as normal is, in many ways, insane. And just as impressively, Taylor puts together an extremely good case for the idea that we are beginning to transcend the insanity of the ego and moving into a new era. This is one of those books which makes you look at the world in a new light, and gives you inspiration and hope for the future. Somehow it gives me the inspiration to try to fight for a better world, to contribute to the collective change which is taking place, and rekindle the state of harmony which the human race has lost.
An excellent book to make you think.......2006-05-22
I loved Steve Taylor's lucid account of why he thinks the world is in such a bad way, how we got to be in this sorry state and how we can get out of it. It skillfully blends history, psychology, sociology and spirituality to produce a book that is not only thought provoking and enlightening but also enjoyable to read. Despite the potentially depressing nature of the issues covered, Steve Taylor manages to remain positive and provide solutions for a way forward to a better world. This is an uplifting book and recommended to anyone searching for answers to difficult questions.
thought-provoking.......2006-05-03
Steve Taylor manages to come up with a seemingly obvious but until now neglected theory about human nature and the development of civilisation. He analyses not only where we went wrong historically but also where we are still going wrong today. Our intensified sense of ego distorts the way we behave, as does the establishment of a culture that rewards selfishness, aggressiveness and the whole me-me-me I-want-it-now childishness that embodies the modern world. He says what a lot of people (including me) have been thinking for a while. If there is war, oppression and hunger in the world - how did it get here? And can we ever change? Steve Taylor suggests some fascinating answers to these questions. I was impressed enough to give up my job and house and go and live in a field growing my own vegetables... well, maybe not yet.
inspiring .......2006-05-03
This is an inspiring and thought-provoking book. The author offers a completely new way of looking at the human race's past, and a new way of explaining all of the madness in human nature. It covers thousands of years of history and even looks into the human race's future, but is always extremely readable and even entertaning. It tries to explain almost too much - the origins of war, religion, male domination and so on - but it all makes sense it terms of theories he puts forward. All of these "pathologies" are seen as the consquence of our over-developed sense of ego. Underyling the whole book there is a sense of the spiritual, a vision of a possible state of harmony and meaning beyond our present traumas.
Books:
- Walk a Mile in My Shoes: A Book About Biological Parents for Foster Parents and Social Workers
- Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History)
- Wave-Swept Shore: The Rigors of Life on a Rocky Coast
- What Clients Love: A Field Guide to Growing Your Business
- Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?: Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change
- Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (Glass Mountain Pamphlets)
- Zulu Victory: The Epic of Isandlwana and the Cover-up
- 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- 1776
- A Deeper Blue: Passion Marks II
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