It lasted 3,000 years, longer than any other on the planet. Its Great Pyramid of Cheops was the tallest building in the world until well into the 19th century and remains the only Ancient Wonder still standing. And it was the most technologically advanced of the ancient civilizations, with the medical knowledge that made Egyptian physicians the most famous in the world.Yet even after deciphering its hieroglyphs, and marveling at its scarabs, mummies, obelisks, and sphinxes, Egyptian civilization remains one of history's most mysterious, as "other" as it is extraordinary. This chronological survey presents the complete history of ancient Egypt's three great Kingdoms: the Old Kingdom, when the pyramids were built and Egypt became a nation under the supreme rule of the pharaoh and the rules of Egyptian art were established; the Middle Kingdom, when Egypt was a nation fighting to restore its greatness; and the New Kingdom, when all the names we know today-Hatshepsut, Tutankhamen, Ramses the Great, Cleopatra, and others-first appeared.Listening Length: 24 hours and 25 minutes

    We see the relentless propaganda, the cut-throat politics, the brutality and repression that lay behind the appearance of unchanging monarchy.

    Gnostic writings offer striking perspectives on both early Christian and non-Christian thought. For example, some gnostic texts suggest that god should be celebrated as both mother and father, and that self-knowledge is the supreme path to the divine. Only in the past fifty years has it become clear how far the gnostic influence spread in ancient and medieval religions—and what a marvelous body of scriptures it produced. The selections gathered here, in poetic, readable translation, represent Jewish, Christian, Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic, and Cathar expressions of gnostic spirituality. Their regions of origin include Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, China, and France. Also included are introductions, notes, an extensive glossary, and a wealth of suggestions for further reading.

    Readers will find excerpts from bestsellers such as Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach, Francis Crick's Life Itself, Loren Eiseley's The Immense Journey, Daniel Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us. There are classic essays ranging from J.B.S. Haldane's "On Being the Right Size" and Garrett Hardin's "The Tragedy of the Commons" to Alan Turing's "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" and Albert Einstein's famed New York Times article on "Relativity." And readers will also discover lesser-known but engaging pieces such as Lewis Thomas's "Seven Wonders of Science," J. Robert Oppenheimer on "War and Physicists," and Freeman Dyson's memoir of studying under Hans Bethe.A must-read volume for all science buffs, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing is a rich and vibrant anthology that captures the poetry and excitement of scientific thought and discovery.One of New Scientist's Editor's Picks for 2008.

    It is the basis of our understanding of atoms, radiation, and so much else, from elementary particles and basic forces to the behaviour of materials. But for a century it has also been the problem child of science, plagued by intense disagreements between its intellectual giants, from Albert Einstein to Stephen Hawking, over the strange paradoxes and implications that seem like the stuff of fantasy. Whether it's Schr�dinger's cat--a creature that is simultaneously dead and alive--or a belief that the world does not exist independently of our observations of it, quantum theory is what challenges our fundamental assumptions about our reality. In Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, globally renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin provocatively argues that the problems which have bedeviled quantum physics since its inception are unsolved for the simple reason that the theory is incomplete. There is more, waiting to be discovered. Our task--if we are to have simple answers to our simple questions about the universe we live in--must be to go beyond it to a description of the world on an atomic scale that makes sense. In this vibrant and accessible book, Smolin takes us on a journey through the basics of quantum physics, introducing the stories of the experiments and figures that have transformed the field, before wrestling with the puzzles and conundrums that they present. Along the way, he illuminates the existing theories about the quantum world that might solve these problems, guiding us toward his own vision that embraces common sense realism. If we are to have any hope of completing the revolution that Einstein began nearly a century ago, we must go beyond quantum mechanics as we know it to find a theory that will give us a complete description of nature. In Einstein's Unfinished Revolution, Lee Smolin brings us a step closer to resolving one of the greatest scientific controversies of our age.

    Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the Cambrian explosion, many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin's Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life-a mystery that has only intensified. Meyer argues that the mysterious features of the Cambrian event are best explained by intelligent design.

    Working backward from the Freemasons to one of their original orders, the 14th-century Knights Templar, the account considers sorcery, heresy, and intrigues; explores the legend that the Knights possessed a powerful secret dangerous to the Church of Rome; and finds an essential clue to the order's practices in their connection to the biblical Solomon, king of Israel in the 10th century BC.

    Compiled by an international team of experts, each entry is given its complete range of interpretations - sexual and spiritual, official and subversive, cultural and religious - to bring meaning and insight to the symbol.

    Its first followers guarded them as priceless treasures. After an increasingly rigid hierarchy began to bury these truths in the early centuries A.D., they were known only to a few initiates, who communicated them privately, often in obscure language. In Esoteric Christianity, Besant's aim is to restore the secret truths underlying Christian doctrine. As public interest grows in the Gnostic Gospels and the mystical side of Christianity, Besant's remarkable book, first published in 1901, is attracting new attention.

    With all four books of the Latin Picatrix complete in one volume, translated & annotated by the noted scholars, magicians and astrologers John Michael Greer & Christopher Warnock, Picatrix takes its rightful place as an essential occult text. Picatrix is an encyclopedic work with over 300 pages of Hermetic magical philosophy, ritual, talismanic and natural magic. Greer & Warnock’s complete translation is lucid and well annotated. Renaissance Astrology & Adocentyn Press have released the complete Picatrix in a variety of different editions, including the Liber Atratus and Liber Rubeus editions. All editions contain the same basic text, but add additional variant passages, either from the Arabic Picatrix or authors cited, but not found in the Latin Picatrix. The Liber Atratus edition adds a passage on poisons from Ibn Washiyya’s Book of Poisons.

    With a foreword by Series Creator, Kevin Burns.Millions of people around the world believe we have been visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings. What if it were true? And if so, what if there were clues left behind? Each week, hundreds of thousands of viewers tune in to the wildly popular Ancient Aliens® television series to seek insight into those very questions—and to become part of a thrilling, probing exploration of the mysteries at the heart of world civilizations.The first official companion book to the hit show, Ancient Aliens® takes readers even deeper into the mysteries that have made the show a pop culture phenomenon. Filled with exciting insights and behind-the scenes stories from the show’s creators and leading experts in ancient alien theory, the book explores the key questions at the heart of the series:Who were they?Why did they come?What did they leave behind?Where did they go?Will they return?Transporting readers around the globe, Ancient Aliens® explores the fascinating enigmas and mysterious artifacts our ancestors left behind, from incredible objects to amazingly accurate ancient maps; from the Great Pyramid of Giza and stone megaliths at Gobekli Tepe to the Nazca Plains and mysterious structures of Puma Punku.Accompanied by lavish 4-color photography throughout, the book allows armchair archaeologists to examine the evidence up close for the first time. Both the ultimate-fan book and the perfect gift for readers new to the show, Ancient Aliens® is a compelling journey through the mysteries of our ancient civilizations and the possibility of alien influence on our cultures.

    She explains how kundalini energy--the “liquid light of sex” that lies at the base of the spine--is activated during these planetary transits, rising through the chakras and triggering the process of spiritual emergency, and in many cases, a cascade of health, emotional, and relationship problems as well as extreme anxiety. She shows that by understanding these astrological transits, you can be prepared for turbulent periods and successfully navigate them by creatively channeling the spiritual fire of kundalini. Clow provides astrological charts--now updated through 2050 for those born between 1930 and 2000--detailing the cycles of Saturn, Uranus, and Chiron, so you do not need your birth chart to use this book. She explains how to use the charts to predict the onset and completion of each kundalini activation and corresponding crisis. She shares tools for individuals and therapists to cope with the intensity of spiritual emergency and too much fire energy, unblock the chakras, and integrate the power of kundalini for physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. Reflecting on 20 years of success stories since the book’s initial publication, Clow presents a road map for using celestial cycles to navigate positively and productively in times of great life change.

    This unrivaled introduction to megalithic science, earth mysteries, and sacred geometry was expanded and updated in The New View Over Atlantis in 1983. Now available in a fresh new package this classic, seminal work offers an impressive body of evidence and arguments to support the theory that at one time, many thousands of years ago, there was a worldwide, highly sophisticated civilization that Plato referred to as Atlantis. Michell, one of the premier esoteric writers of the 20th century, reveals that ancient stone monuments and earthworks found around the globe are not randomly strewn, but are a well-executed system of psychic centers connected worldwide and used by the people of Atlantis. Michell also demonstrates the significant modern discovery of "leys," a mysterious network of straight lines that link the ancient places around the world. He carefully and thoroughly documents the research that points to these ancient sites as places of high magic.

    This book contains the first published results of Schwaller's 12 years of research at the temple of Luxor and its implications for interpreting the symbolic and mathematical processes of the Egyptians through their sacred architecture.?

    How can it be possible that the world we see is not objective reality? And how can our senses be useful if they are not communicating the truth? Hoffman grapples with these questions and more over the course of this eye-opening work.Ever since Homo sapiens has walked the earth, natural selection has favored perception that hides the truth and guides us toward useful action, shaping our senses to keep us alive and reproducing. We observe a speeding car and do not walk in front of it; we see mold growing on bread and do not eat it. These impressions, though, are not objective reality. Just like a file icon on a desktop screen is a useful symbol rather than a genuine representation of what a computer file looks like, the objects we see every day are merely icons, allowing us to navigate the world safely and with ease.The real-world implications for this discovery are huge. From examining why fashion designers create clothes that give the illusion of a more “attractive” body shape to studying how companies use color to elicit specific emotions in consumers, and even dismantling the very notion that spacetime is objective reality, The Case Against Reality dares us to question everything we thought we knew about the world we see.