The Descent of the Child

The Descent of the Child

Author: Elaine Morgan

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 9780140247855

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A new look at evolution from the perspective of the child, from the development of the foetus and the experience of birth, to child rearing, growth and development, and the role of parents. Originally published in 1994 and now available in paperback.


The Descent of the Child

The Descent of the Child

Author: Elaine Morgan

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13:

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The Descent of the Child tells the story of the development of a human child from the moment of insemination to puberty. In the process, Morgan develops a stunning theory of the origins of human intelligence, arguing that our capacity for intelligence is a by-product of evolving babyhood. Uniquely among primates, Homo sapiens are born with considerable struggle, emerge wholly helpless, and continue to be dependent for a long time afterwards - only their eyes, faces, and vocal cords work. They don't know that they're not always going to be like that, Morgan posits, but, bent on survival, they try to manipulate their parents or other caregivers to do things that the babies' can't do for themselves. These early struggles, according to Morgan, provide our formative intellectual activity. It is in infancy that we really learn to think and to question. It explores not only the biological perspectives but the social ones: the change in women's role, over-population, birth control, fertility problems and the break-up of the nuclear family. The Descent of the Child should be read by parents (both new and soon-to-be) as well as anyone interested in child development or human evolution.


The Descent

The Descent

Author: Jeff Long

Publisher: Crown

Published: 1999-11-12

Total Pages: 639

ISBN-13: 0609607022

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We are not alone. Some call them devils or demons. But they are real. They are down there. And they are waiting for us to find them. In a cave in the Himalayas, a guide discovers a self-mutilated body with a warning: Satan exists. In the Kalahari Desert, a nun unearths evidence of a proto-human species and a deity called Older-than-Old. In Bosnia, something has been feeding upon the dead in a mass grave. So begins mankind’s most shocking realization: the underworld is a vast geological labyrinth populated by another race of beings. With all of Hell's precious resources and territories to be won, a global race ensues. Nations, armies, religions, and industries rush to colonize and exploit the subterranean frontier. A scientific expedition is launched westward to explore beneath the Pacific Ocean floor, both to catalog the riches there and to learn how life could develop in the sunless abyss. But in the dark underground, as humanity falls away from them, the scientists and mercenaries find themselves prey not only to the savage creatures, but also to their own treachery, mutiny, and greed. One thing is certain: Miles inside the earth, evil is very much alive.


Descent

Descent

Author: Tim Johnston

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Published: 2015-01-06

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1616203048

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A Breakout NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller A USA Today Bestseller An Indie National Bestseller “Outstanding . . . The days when you had to choose between a great story and a great piece of writing? Gone.” —Esquire “The story unfolds brilliantly, always surprisingly . . . The magic of his prose equals the horror of Johnston’s story; each somehow enhances the other . . . Read this astonishing novel.” —The Washington Post “Tim Johnston’s high-wire literary thriller . . . will leave you gasping.” —Vanity Fair “A riveting literary thriller of the can’t-stop-turning-the-page, stay-up-all-night variety.” —Alice LaPlante, author of A Circle of Wives The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner’s heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic, as suddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they’ve only read about in headlines or seen on TV. As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren’t they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin’s disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life? Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent is a perfectly crafted thriller that races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion, and heralds the arrival of a master storyteller.


January First

January First

Author: Michael Schofield

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2012-08-07

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0307719103

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Michael Schofield’s daughter January is at the mercy of her imaginary friends, except they aren’t the imaginary friends that most young children have; they are hallucinations. And January is caught in the conflict between our world and their world, a place she calls Calalini. Some of these hallucinations, like “24 Hours,” are friendly and some, like “400 the Cat” and “Wednesday the Rat,” bite and scratch her until she does what they want. They often tell her to scream at strangers, jump out of buildings, and attack her baby brother. At six years old, January Schofield, “Janni,” to her family, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, one of the worst mental illnesses known to man. What’s more, schizophrenia is 20 to 30 times more severe in children than in adults and in January’s case, doctors say, she is hallucinating 95 percent of the time that she is awake. Potent psychiatric drugs that would level most adults barely faze her. A New York Times bestseller, January First captures Michael and his family's remarkable story in a narrative that forges new territory within books about mental illness. In the beginning, readers see Janni’s incredible early potential: her brilliance, and savant-like ability to learn extremely abstract concepts. Next, they witnesses early warning signs that something is not right, Michael’s attempts to rationalize what’s happening, and his descent alongside his daughter into the abyss of schizophrenia. Their battle has included a two-year search for answers, countless medications and hospitalizations, allegations of abuse, despair that almost broke their family apart and, finally, victories against the illness and a new faith that they can create a life for Janni filled with moments of happiness. A compelling, unsparing and passionate account, January First vividly details Schofield’s commitment to bring his daughter back from the edge of insanity. It is a father’s soul-baring memoir of the daily struggles and challenges he and his wife face as they do everything they can to help Janni while trying to keep their family together.


The Descent of Man

The Descent of Man

Author: Grayson Perry

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2017-05-30

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1524705306

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What does it mean to be male in the 21st Century? Award-winning artist Grayson Perry explores what masculinity is: from sex to power, from fashion to career prospects, and what it could become—with illustrations throughout. In this witty and necessary new book, artist Grayson Perry trains his keen eye on the world of men to ask, what sort of man would make the world a better place? What would happen if we rethought the macho, outdated version of manhood, and embraced a different ideal? In the current atmosphere of bullying, intolerance and misogyny, demonstrated in the recent Trump versus Clinton presidential campaign, The Descent of Man is a timely and essential addition to current conversations around gender. Apart from gaining vast new wardrobe options, the real benefit might be that a newly fitted masculinity will allow men to have better relationships—and that’s happiness, right? Grayson Perry admits he’s not immune from the stereotypes himself—yet his thoughts on everything from power to physical appearance, from emotions to a brand new Manifesto for Men, are shot through with honesty, tenderness, and the belief that, for everyone to benefit, updating masculinity has to be something men decide to do themselves. They have nothing to lose but their hang-ups.


Children of the Night

Children of the Night

Author: Dan Simmons

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Published: 2012-12-11

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1250017947

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"Simmons writes like a hot-rodding angel." –Stephen King An evil legacy comes to life in this classic and ultimately human novel about believable vampires, featuring a brand-new introduction by Dan Simmons. Children of the Night will take you to a place that no one knows—yet all of us fear. In a desolate orphanage in post-Communist Romania, a desperately ill infant is given the wrong blood transfusion—and flourishes rather than dies. For immunologist Kate Neuman, the infant's immune system may hold the key to cure cancer and AIDS. Kate adopts the baby and takes him home to the States. But baby Joshua holds a link to an ancient clan and their legendary leader—Vlad Tsepes, the original Dracula – whose agents kidnap the child. Against impossible odds and vicious enemies– both human and vampire – Kate and her ally, Father Mike O'Rourke, steal into Romania to get her baby back. "A mesmerizing tour through the ghostly, gray tatters of Romania." –Publishers Weekly


The Mystery of the Two Jesus Children

The Mystery of the Two Jesus Children

Author: Bernard Nesfield-Cookson

Publisher: Temple Lodge Publishing

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 9781902636658

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The Christian Gospels give two widely differing genealogies for Jesus, which have baffled theologians throughout the centuries. Not only are these genealogies irreconcilable, but the stories of the two accounts of the birth of Jesus, as given by Matthew and Luke, are also radically different. How can we account for this? An ancient tradition tells that there were two children named Jesus, a year apart in age and both born to parents named Mary and Joseph. These two children, brought up in close proximity, eventually "united" in a mysterious way, resulting in a single "Jesus" destined to grow up and fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. In grappling with this mystery, Nesfield-Cookson uses all available sources--biblical accounts, Christian apocryphal writings, Aramaic and Hebrew documents discovered in the Qumran caves in the twentieth century (the "Dead Sea Scrolls"), writings by Syrian theologians of the thirteenth century, and, in particular, statements by Rudolf Steiner, the first modern thinker--to speak of the existence of two Jesus children. The author also refers to the many works of art--largely by Italian artists of the Renaissance period--which appear to depict two Jesus children. Fifteen of these paintings are reproduced as beautiful, full-color plates. The author also develops a parallel theme regarding the mystery of Christ and Jesus--the gradual descent of Christ (the Spirit of the Sun) from the spiritual world into the physical body of Jesus.


The Descent of the Drowned

The Descent of the Drowned

Author: Ana Lal Din

Publisher:

Published: 2021-03-15

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9781838046507

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She is bound to serve. He is meant to kill. Survival is their prison. Choice is their weapon. As the sacred slave of a goddess, Roma is of a lower caste that serves patrons to sustain the balance between gods and men. What she wants is her freedom, but deserters are hunted and hanged, and Roma only knows how to survive in her village where women are vessels without a voice. When her younger brother is condemned to the same wretched fate as hers, Roma must choose between silence and rebellion. Leviathan is the bastard son of an immortal tyrant. Raised in a military city where everyone knows of his blood relation to the persecuted clans, Leviathan is considered casteless. Lowest of the low. Graduating as one of the deadliest soldiers, he executes in his father's name, displaying his worth. When he faces judgement from his mother's people-the clans-Leviathan must confront his demons and forge his own path, if he ever hopes to reclaim his soul. But in the struggle to protect the people they love and rebuild their identities, Roma's and Leviathan's destinies interlock as the tyrant hunts an ancient treasure that will doom humankind should it come into his possession-a living treasure to which Roma and Leviathan are the ultimate key. Set in a colonised Indo-Persian world and inspired by Pre-Islamic Arabian mythology, The Descent of the Drowned is a tale about power, identity, and redemption, and what it takes to hold on to one's humanity in the face of devastation. TW: Physical and emotional abuse, mention of rape and sodomisation, sexual assault, suicide, bigotry, drug abuse, and human trafficking.