Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis
by Michael Ward
from Oxford University Press, USA
For over half a century, scholars have laboured to show that C. S. Lewis's famed but apparently disorganised Chronicles of Narnia have an underlying symbolic coherence, pointing to such possible unifying themes as the seven sacraments, the seven deadly sins, and the seven books of Spenser's
Faerie Queene. None of these explanations has won general acceptance and the structure of Narnia's symbolism has remained a mystery.
Michael Ward has finally solved the enigma. In Planet Narnia he demonstrates that medieval cosmology, a subject which fascinated Lewis throughout his life, provides the imaginative key to the seven novels. Drawing on the whole range of Lewis's writings (including previously unpublished drafts of the
Chronicles), Ward reveals how the Narnia stories were designed to express the characteristics of the seven medieval planets - - Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn - - planets which Lewis described as "spiritual symbols of permanent value" and "especially worthwhile in our own
generation". Using these seven symbols, Lewis secretly constructed the Chronicles so that in each book the plot-line, the ornamental details, and, most important, the portrayal of the Christ-figure of Aslan, all serve to communicate the governing planetary personality. The cosmological theme of each
Chronicle is what Lewis called 'the kappa element in romance', the atmospheric essence of a story, everywhere present but nowhere explicit. The reader inhabits this atmosphere and thus imaginatively gains connaitre knowledge of the spiritual character which the tale was created to embody.
Planet Narnia is a ground-breaking study that will provoke a major revaluation not only of the Chronicles, but of Lewis's whole literary and theological outlook. Ward uncovers a much subtler writer and thinker than has previously been recognized, whose central interests were hiddenness, immanence,
and knowledge by acquaintance.
Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts
by The Editors of Popular Mechanics
from Hearst
The first conspiracy theories about September 11 began to emerge while the wreckage was still smoldering. Today, nearly five years later, hundreds of books and thousands of Web pages are devoted to the idea that the U.S. government encouraged, permitted, or actually carried out the attacks. These theories claim to be based on hard evidence. But an in-depth investigation by POPULAR MECHANICS—first published in the magazine’s March 2005 issue, and now greatly expanded into book form—definitively proves that the evidence most often cited by conspiracy theorists is inaccurate, misinterpreted, or false.
The original article in POPULAR MECHANICS caused a huge groundswell of interest, setting off online debates that continue to this day. Debunking 9/11 Myths expands that investigation to include the 20 most prominent and persistent claims underlying the conspiracy theories, focusing on concrete, physical facts rather than political hypothesizing. Among the issues examined: claims that air traffic control violated standard operating procedures by not immediately intercepting the stricken jets; that the fire caused by the crashes wasn’t actually hot enough to melt steel and cause structural damage in the World Trade Center; that the holes in the Pentagon were too small to have been made by a Boeing 757; and that Flight 93 was actually shot down by an Air Force plane.
The fascinating and in-depth findings come from leading experts in all the relevant fields, including aviation, air defense, air traffic control, civil engineering, firefighting, metallurgy, and geology.
The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World
by Margaret C. Sullivan
from Quirk Books
Jane Austen published her first novel in 1811, but today she's more popular than ever. Film adaptations of her books are nominated for Academy Awards. Chick lit bestsellers are based on her plots. And a new biopic of Austen herself Becoming Jane arrives in theaters this spring.
For all those readers who dream about living in Regency England, The Jane Austen Handbook offers step-by-step instructions for proper comportment in the early nineteenth century. You'll discover:
How to Become an Accomplished Lady
How to Run a Great House
How to Indicate Interest in a Gentleman Without Seeming Forward
How to Throw a Dinner Party
How to Choose and Buy Clothing
Full of practical directions for navigating the travails of Regency life, this charming illustrated book also serves as a companion for present-day readers, explaining the English class system, currency, dress, and the nuances of graceful living.
The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (Theory and History of Literature, Volume 10)
by Jean-Francois Lyotard
from University of Minnesota Press
MythBusters: Don't Try This at Home (MythBusters)
by Discovery Channel
from Jossey-Bass
It's a tough job separating truth from urban legend, but the MythBusters are here to serve. For example, is it true that if you step in quicksand , you'll be sucked down to your death? Only two men would be inventive - and adventurous - enough to try to find out: Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, the MythBusters. Each week, hosts Savage and Hyneman, both special effects experts, use modern science to put another three urban legends to the test on their popular TV show. In this book, you'll learn how they either "busted" or confirmed fifteen myths on their show, often with spectacular results. Here are just some of the urban legends in this book:
- Did a Ming Dynasty astronaut launch himself into space with a rocket?
- Can a swallowed octopus egg grow to full size inside a person's stomach?
- Is the daddy longlegs the world's most venomous spider?
- Will a sinking ship suck you down?
- How many balloons are needed to lift a small child off the ground?
- Does a duck's quack echo?
Mythbusters: Don't Try This at Home! gets to the bottom of these urban legends and more, and it lets you do your own mythbusting with fun experiments you can do safely at home.
Harbors and High Seas, 3rd Edition: An Atlas and Georgraphical Guide to the Complete Aubrey-Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian, Third Edition
by Dean King
from Holt Paperbacks
Where did Sophie battle the Cacafuego? Where is Aubrey's beloved Ashgrove cottage? What route did Maturin take with his bear? What's so desolate about Kerguelen Island? What's the best route from Botany Bay to Moahu? Find the answers to these and hundreds of other questions in this indispensable guide to the terrain and cartography of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels.
The creators of A Sea of Words now follow up with Harbors and High Seas, an invaluable tool for navigating the often uncharted terrain of the Aubrey-Maturin novels.
Secret Source: The Law of Attraction Is One of Seven Ancient Hermetic Laws: Here Are the Other Six
from Process
The Secret Source reveals the actual occult doctrines that gave birth to "The Law of Attraction" and inspired the media phenomenon known as The Secret.
Why did The Secret divulge only one of the seven Hermetic Laws? What are the others, what do they say, and how could they enrich your life?
The Secret Source provides the actual texts and fascinating stories behind the "Emerald Tablet," the Kabbalistic treatise known as "The Kybalion," and Manly P. Hall's essay on the occult movement that produced it.
Maja D'Aoust lectures at the Philosophical Research Society; Adam Parfrey, editor of Apocalypse Culture, is writing a history of secret societies in America; and Jodi Wille is editing a book on the mystical commune known as "The Source." Manly P. Hall is the author of The Secret Teachings of All Ages.
A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed
by Jon Atack
from Lyle Stuart
Atack exposes Hubbard's bizarre imagination and behavior, tracing the creation of Scientology in the years following World War II to perhaps its final schism following Hubbard's death in 1986. A shocking book that reveals all: the abuses, falsehoods, paranoia, and greed of Hubbard and his pseudo-military Scientologist henchmen.
Shadowplay: The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare
by Clare Asquith
from PublicAffairs
He did. But it was hidden. Revealing Shakespeare's sophisticated version of a forgotten code developed by 16th-century dissidents, Clare Asquith shows how he was both a genius for all time and utterly a creature of his own era: a writer who was supported by dissident Catholic aristocrats, who agonized about the fate of England's spiritual and political life and who used the stage to attack and expose a regime which he believed had seized illegal control of the country he loved.
Shakespeare's plays offer an acute insight into the politics and personalities of his era. And Clare Asquith's decoding of them offers answers to several mysteries surrounding Shakespeare's own life, including most notably why he stopped writing while still at the height of his powers. An utterly compelling combination of literary detection and political revelation, Shadowplay is the definitive expose of how Shakespeare lived through and understood the agonies of his time, and what he had to say about them.
Tea with Jane Austen
by Kim Wilson
from Jones Books
Who would not want to sit down with Jane Austen and join her in a cup of tea? Here for the first time is a book that shares the secrets of one of her favorite rituals. Tea figures prominently in Jane Austen's life and work. In fact, the beloved novelist was the keeper and maker of tea in her family. Tea with Jane Austen begins with tea drinking in the morning and ends with tea in the evening, at balls and other gatherings.
Each chapter includes a description of how tea was taken at a particular place or time of day, along with history, recipes, excerpts from Austen's novels and letters and illustrations from the time. The book also reveals how to make a perfect cup of tea!
