Inventing the Flat Earth
Author: Jeffrey B. Russell
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 1997-01-30
Total Pages: 172
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKReveals the facts behind the deceiving myths that have been professed about Columbus and his time.
Posts
Flat Earth
Author: Christine Garwood
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2008-08-05
Total Pages: 623
ISBN-13: 1429986948
DOWNLOAD EBOOKContrary to popular belief fostered in countless school classrooms the world over, Christopher Columbus did not discover that the earth was round. The idea of a spherical world had been widely accepted in educated circles from as early as the fourth century B.C. Yet, bizarrely, it was not until the supposedly more rational nineteenth century that the notion of a flat earth really took hold. Even more bizarrely, it persists to this day, despite Apollo missions and widely publicized pictures of the decidedly spherical Earth from space. Based on a range of original sources, Garwood's history of flat-Earth beliefs---from the Babylonians to the present day---raises issues central to the history and philosophy of science, its relationship to religion and the making of human knowledge about the natural world. Flat Earth is the first definitive study of one of history's most notorious and persistent ideas, and it evokes all the intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual turmoil of the modern age. Ranging from ancient Greece, through Victorian England, to modern-day America, this is a story that encompasses religion, science, and pseudoscience, as well as a spectacular array of people and places. Where else could eccentric aristocrats, fundamentalist preachers, and conspiracy theorists appear alongside Copernicus, Newton, and NASA, except in an account of such a legendary misconception? Thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating, Flat Earth is social and intellectual history at its best.
The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus
Author: Washington Irving
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 724
ISBN-13: 9781840220698
DOWNLOAD EBOOKModern views of Columbus are overshadowed by guilt about past conquests. Credit for discovering the New World, we are told, belongs to its original inhabitants rather than any European, and Columbus gave those inhabitants nothing apart from death, disease and destruction. Yet, for the Old World of Europe the four voyages of Columbus brought revelation where before there had been only myths and guesswork.People had thought it was only the great distance that made it impossible to reach Asia sailing west from Spain. No one had predicted that a vast continent stood in the way. And indeed, for Columbus himself, the revolution of understanding was too much to comprehend. He had counted on a new route to Asia that would bring him glory, riches and titles, and the thought of an unknown and undeveloped continent held no attractions. The trials and disappointments of the great explorer are graphically detailed in this biography first published in 1828, when Washington Irving was America's most famous writer.
A History of Heaven
Author: Jeffrey Burton Russell
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1999-01-03
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780691006840
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWell known for his historical accounts of Satan and hell, Jeffrey Burton Russell explores the brighter side of eternity: heaven. He not only examines concepts found among Jews, Greeks and Romans, but asks how time 'passes' in eternity.
The Pillars of the Earth
Author: Ken Follett
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-06-29
Total Pages: 1009
ISBN-13: 1101442190
DOWNLOAD EBOOK#1 New York Times Bestseller Oprah's Book Club Selection The “extraordinary . . . monumental masterpiece” (Booklist) that changed the course of Ken Follett’s already phenomenal career—and begins where its prequel, The Evening and the Morning, ended. “Follett risks all and comes out a clear winner,” extolled Publishers Weekly on the release of The Pillars of the Earth. A departure for the bestselling thriller writer, the historical epic stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity. Today, it stands as a testament to Follett’s unassailable command of the written word and to his universal appeal. The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known . . . of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect—a man divided in his soul . . . of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame . . . and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother. A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett’s historical masterpiece.
Surface of Earth
Author: Reynolds Price
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 1995-05
Total Pages: 516
ISBN-13: 0684813394
DOWNLOAD EBOOKInfused with the hungers and aspirations of three generations of Southerners, this breathtaking story of two families bound, then embittered, by the immoderate passions of a young woman and her older lover, is the first book in Price's masterful trilogy.
Halls of Fame
Author: John D'Agata
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2013-06-18
Total Pages: 218
ISBN-13: 1555970494
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"John D'Agata is an alchemist who changes trash into purest gold." —Guy Davenport, Harper's John D'Agata journeys the endless corridors of America's myriad halls of fame and faithfully reports on what he finds there. In a voice all his own, he brilliantly maps his terrain in lists, collage, and ludic narratives. With topics ranging from Martha Graham to the Flat Earth Society, from the brightest light in Vegas to the artist Henry Darger, who died in obscurity, Halls of Fame hovers on the brink between prose and poetry, deep seriousness and high comedy, the subject and the self.
How People Learn
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Published: 2000-08-11
Total Pages: 386
ISBN-13: 0309131979
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFirst released in the Spring of 1999, How People Learn has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior. This edition includes far-reaching suggestions for research that could increase the impact that classroom teaching has on actual learning. Like the original edition, this book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non-experts? What can teachers and schools do-with curricula, classroom settings, and teaching methodsâ€"to help children learn most effectively? New evidence from many branches of science has significantly added to our understanding of what it means to know, from the neural processes that occur during learning to the influence of culture on what people see and absorb. How People Learn examines these findings and their implications for what we teach, how we teach it, and how we assess what our children learn. The book uses exemplary teaching to illustrate how approaches based on what we now know result in in-depth learning. This new knowledge calls into question concepts and practices firmly entrenched in our current education system. Topics include: How learning actually changes the physical structure of the brain. How existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn. What the thought processes of experts tell us about how to teach. The amazing learning potential of infants. The relationship of classroom learning and everyday settings of community and workplace. Learning needs and opportunities for teachers. A realistic look at the role of technology in education.
Exposing Myths About Christianity
Author: Jeffrey Burton Russell
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2012-05-15
Total Pages: 362
ISBN-13: 0830866876
DOWNLOAD EBOOKRenowned historian, Jeffrey Burton Russell, famous for his studies of medieval history, sets the record straight against the New Atheists and other cultural critics who charge Christianity with being outdated, destructive, superstitious, unenlightened, racist, colonialist, based on fabrication, and other significant false accusations.
The Knowledge
Author: Lewis Dartnell
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2015-03-10
Total Pages: 354
ISBN-13: 0143127047
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHow would you go about rebuilding a technological society from scratch? If our technological society collapsed tomorrow what would be the one book you would want to press into the hands of the postapocalyptic survivors? What crucial knowledge would they need to survive in the immediate aftermath and to rebuild civilization as quickly as possible? Human knowledge is collective, distributed across the population. It has built on itself for centuries, becoming vast and increasingly specialized. Most of us are ignorant about the fundamental principles of the civilization that supports us, happily utilizing the latest—or even the most basic—technology without having the slightest idea of why it works or how it came to be. If you had to go back to absolute basics, like some sort of postcataclysmic Robinson Crusoe, would you know how to re-create an internal combustion engine, put together a microscope, get metals out of rock, or even how to produce food for yourself? Lewis Dartnell proposes that the key to preserving civilization in an apocalyptic scenario is to provide a quickstart guide, adapted to cataclysmic circumstances. The Knowledge describes many of the modern technologies we employ, but first it explains the fundamentals upon which they are built. Every piece of technology rests on an enormous support network of other technologies, all interlinked and mutually dependent. You can’t hope to build a radio, for example, without understanding how to acquire the raw materials it requires, as well as generate the electricity needed to run it. But Dartnell doesn’t just provide specific information for starting over; he also reveals the greatest invention of them all—the phenomenal knowledge-generating machine that is the scientific method itself. The Knowledge is a brilliantly original guide to the fundamentals of science and how it built our modern world.
