Nor is it a collection of bizarre facts, though the Angel of the Bizarre might well find himself at home in it. It is not a scientific contribution, a vehicle for an exotic teaching, a testament, a document, a fable. It is simply an account - at times figurative, at times factual - of a first excursion into some as yet scarcely explored realms of consciousness. The Morning of the Magicians is a classic of radical literature, a book that has challenged assumptions and conventional knowledge for decades. It has shaken the foundations of beliefs all over the world and may be the most influential book published in the twentieth century. Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier spent years searching "through all the regions of consciousness, to the frontiers of science and tradition" and opened their minds to any fact or theory that went beyond the frontier of current theories. The result is this remarkable work, and the stream of possibilities that it contains: Do mutants exist, are they a future form of man? Does extrasensory perception reveal that human consciousness has advanced beyond its currently accepted limits? What connects the ancient art of alchemy and modern atomic physics?

    Inspired by the promise of riches, countless seafarers poured out of the Iberian Peninsula and wider Europe in search of spices, treasure, and land. Many returned with strange tales of the New World.Curiosity began to percolate through Europe as the New World’s people, animals, and plants ruptured prior assumptions about the biblical description of creation. The Church, long fearful of challenges to its authority, could no longer suppress the mantra “Dare to know!”Noblemen began collecting cabinets of curiosities; soon others went from collecting to examining natural objects with fresh eyes. Observation led to experiments; competing conclusions triggered debates. The foundations for the natural sciences were laid as questions became more multifaceted and answers became more complex. Carl Linneaus developed a classification system and sent students around the globe looking for specimens. Museums, botanical gardens, and philosophical societies turned their attention to nature. National governments undertook explorations of the Pacific.Eminent historian Joyce Appleby vividly recounts the explorers’ triumphs and mishaps, including Magellan’s violent death in the Philippines; the miserable trek of the “new Argonauts” across the Andes on their mission to determine the true shape of the earth; and how two brilliant scientists, Alexander Humboldt and Charles Darwin, traveled to the Americas for evidence to confirm their hypotheses about the earth and its inhabitants. Drawing on detailed eyewitness accounts, Appleby also tells of the turmoil created in the all societies touched by the explorations.This sweeping, global story imbues the Age of Discovery with fresh meaning, elegantly charting its stimulation of the natural sciences, which ultimately propelled Western Europe toward modernity.

    Oceans cover two-thirds of the earth's surface with an average depth of more than two miles--yet humans had never ventured more than a few hundred feet below the waves. One of the great scientific and archaeological feats of our time has been finally to cast light on the eternal darkness of the deep sea. This is the story of that achievement, told by the man who has done more than any other to make it possible: Robert Ballard.Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic. He led the teams that discovered hydrothermal vents and black smokers--cracks in the ocean floor where springs of superheated water support some of the strangest life-forms on the planet. He was a diver on the team that explored the mid-Atlantic ridge for the first time, confirming the theory of plate tectonics. Today, using a nuclear submarine from the U.S. Navy, he's exploring the ancient trade routes of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea for the remains of historic vessels and their cargo. In this book, he combines science, history, spectacular illustrations, and first-hand stories from his own expeditions in a uniquely personal account of how twentieth-century explorers have pushed back the frontiers of technology to take us into the midst of a world we could once only guess at.Ballard begins in 1930 with William Beebe and Otis Barton, pioneers of the ocean depths who made the world's first deep-sea dives in a cramped steel sphere. He introduces us to Auguste and Jacques Piccard, whose Bathyscaphdescended in 1960 to the lowest point on the ocean floor. He reviews the celebrated advances made by Jacques Cousteau. He describes his own major discoveries--from sea-floor spreading to black smokers--as well as his technical breakthroughs, including the development of remote-operated underwater vehicles and the revolutionary search techniques that led to the discovery and exploration of the Titanic, the Nazi battleship Bismarck, ancient trading vessels, and other great ships.Readers will come away with a richer understanding of history, earth science, biology, and marine technology--and a new appreciation for the remarkable men and women who have explored some of the most remote and fascinating places on the planet.

    Everything known about magic in ancient Egypt: the role of magic in controlling the gods, powerful amulets that warded off evil spirits, scarabs of immortality, use of wax images, formulas & spells, the secret name, etc.PrefaceAntiquity of magical practices in Egypt Magical stones or amulets Magical figures Magical pictures & formulæ, spells etc.Magical names Magical ceremonies Demoniacal possession, dreams, ghosts, lucky & unlucky days, horoscopes, prognostications, transformations & the worship of animals

    He knows where priceless antiquities are buried, who is digging them up, and who is fencing and buying them. In this fascinating book, Atwood takes readers on a journey through Iraq, Peru, Hong Kong, and across America, showing how the worldwide antiquities trade is destroying what's left of the ancient sites before archaeologists can reach them, and thus erasing their historical significance. And it is getting worse. The discovery of the legendary Royal Tombs of Sipan in Peru started an epidemic. Grave robbers scouring the courntryside for tombs--and finding them. Atwood recounts the incredible story of the biggest piece of gold ever found in the Americas, a 2,000-year-old, three-pound masterpiece that cost one looter his life, sent two smugglers to jail, and wrecked lives from Panama to Pennsylvainia. Packed with true stories, this book not only reveals what has been found, but at what cost to both human life and history.

    Driving home from Canada on the night of 9/19/1961, Betty & Barney Hill of Portsmouth, NH, sighted a flying saucer, which left them shaken. When they arrived home Barney found inexplicable scuff marks on the tips of his shoes; Betty noticed rows of mysterious circles on the boot of their car, but what was worse, they realised they could not account for almost two hours of their time on the road. After many months of psychic distress, they sought medical assistance from Dr Benjamin Simon, a distinguished Boston psychiatrist & neurologist. Under psychotherapy, including time-regression hypnosis, the Hills gave almost identical accounts of what had happened during their two lost hours. They told of intelligent humanoid beings who took them on board an alien spacecraft, questioned them & subjected them to physical examination. The Hills were an American married couple who rose to fame after they claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials on 9/19-20/1961. The couple's story, called the Hill Abduction, occasionally the Zeta Reticuli Incident, was that they had been kidnapped for a short time by a UFO. Theirs was the 1st widely-publicized claim of alien abduction.

    The war embroiled the entire Greek world, provoking years of butchery previously unparalleled in ancient Greece. Whole cities were exterminated, their men killed, their women and children enslaved. While the war is commonly believed to have ended with the capture of the Athenian navy in 405 and the subsequent starvation of Athens, fighting in Greece would continue for several decades. Sparta's authority was challenged in the so-called Corinthian War (395-387) when Persian gold helped unite Athens with Sparta's former allies. The war did not truly end until, in 371, Thebes' crack infantry resoundingly defeated Sparta at Leuctra, forever shattering the myth of Spartan military supremacy.Jennifer Roberts' rich narrative of this famous conflict is the first general history to tell the whole story, from the war's origins down to Sparta's defeat at Leuctra. In her masterful account, this long and bloody war affected every area of life in Athens, exacerbated divisions between rich and poor in Sparta, and sparked civil strife throughout the Greek world. Yet despite the biting sorrows the fighting occasioned, it remains a gripping saga of plots and counter-plots, murders and lies, thrilling sea chases and desperate overland marches, missed opportunities and last-minute reprieves, and, as the war's first historian Thucydides had hoped, lessons for a less bellicose future. In addition, Roberts considers the impact of the war on Greece's cultural life, including the great masterworks of tragedy and comedy performed at this time and, most infamously, the trial and execution of Socrates. A fast-paced narrative of one of antiquity's most famous clashes, The Plague of War is a must-read for history enthusiasts of all ages.

    Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry. In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in more than a dozen other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. Lee, an award-winning investigative journalist, draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape. By mining the plant’s rich pharmacopoeia, medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures.Colorful, illuminating, and at times irreverent, this is a fascinating read for recreational users and patients, students and doctors, musicians and accountants, Baby Boomers and their kids, and anyone who has ever wondered about the secret life of this ubiquitous herb. Smoke Signals is the winner of the American Botanical Council's James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award for 2012

    This is called "initiation" or "vision quest" in many traditional societies and ... a dangerous variety of self-psychotherapy in modern terminology. I do not recommend it for everybody... the main thing I learned is that "reality is always plural and mutable." — From the Preface

    Harlen Bretz walked the dry scabland channels of eastern Washington in the 1920s, it dawned on him that he was viewing a landscape sculpted by water. Lots of water. A flood of catastrophic proportions. Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods tells the gripping tale of a huge Ice Age lake that drained suddenly--not just once but repeatedly--and reshaped the landscape of the Northwest. The narrative follows the path of the floodwaters as they raged from western Montana across the Idaho Panhandle, then scoured through eastern Washington and down the Columbia Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. This is also the story of geologists grappling with scientific controversy--"of how personalities, pride, and prejudice sometimes superseded scientific evidence."

    The real thrill of archaeology is the way in which it has unearthed the everyday lives of our ancestors, ordinary people not unlike ourselves. Any given discovery—from a fragment of fossilized bone to a shard of pottery—has the potential to radically alter our picture of the past.This beautifully illustrated volume presents 100 of the world's greatest archaeological discoveries—from rock art to tattooed ice maidens, from mammoth bone houses to Assyrian palaces, from fossil hominids to writing systems, and from caves to shipwrecks. And with the growing battery of tools and techniques, who knows what will be revealed about our past in the years ahead?

    Demons & Deadly Encounters. A Journey into the ultimate Heart of Darkness. Excerpts; ‘It’s the middle of the night and he thinks he’s been asleep for a while but he’s wide awake now. Something is pushing down on his chest, hard. He’s fighting to breathe and he tries to move, to get it off him, but his body won’t move. He’s paralysed and filled with panic. He tries to scream but nothing comes out...’ ‘They told her they were going to kill her and she didn't have a chance; they were too many...’ ‘Stood in the hall was a dark figure. The presence was finally showing itself to me...’ ‘The children’s eyes were rolling in their heads, blood pouring from their ears and mouths, talking in strange languages, and being thrown involuntarily across rooms...’ ‘Marks appeared on the neck of our three year old son. They were purple. They looked like strangulation marks.’ ‘Her eyes, which had moments before looked lacklustre and vacant, suddenly blazed with inhuman light.' ‘As the Doctor looked down at the blood in the bowl, he saw it swirling around in a most unnatural way, before rearing up in a solid column and leaping out of the bowl on to the floor. At this point the bowl shattered into a hundred pieces. The doctor fled in terror.’ ‘There are practitioners who have attempted to summon demons, and have been found with every bone in their body broken the next day.’ “I wake to see a tall, dark, hooded figure, standing still, right by my bed; his face covered by his hood, but watching me. I know he was real; I could hear his breathing...” “Her eyes rolled in the back of her head, her face contorted and she would tell him ‘they’ were going to kill her, that she belonged to Satan. It was a deep man’s voice that came out of her. The voice said, “We can kill her at any time we want...” “I’d lie in bed and feel someone’s arms around me. It wasn’t a safe feeling but a menacing one, as if someone was showing me that I belonged to them.” ‘According to the police report, one of the women had killed herself after she’d told friends she’d been hearing a voice that kept telling her to kill herself.’ “A creature appeared in the room, its eyes were glowing red. This creature was physical; at least after it had entered into our reality. It was naked, no hair, extremely muscular. I estimate his height about six foot five but his bone structure was bigger than in a human. His mouth was huge. There was no way to describe it other than as a demon.” "It was just supposed to be fun; we were asking it questions, and then it asked if it could visit us, so I said yes, thinking it was one of the children doing it; but it wasn’t one of the kids. And that’s when the horror started...” ‘Suddenly it was like a stake pierced my chest and gradually, I felt the sensation of it pulling open my ribs. I thought I would die...’ “I saw a boy sat at a table. He called me over to him and started talking to me. He spoke as if he knew all my thoughts. He finished my sentences for me. He promised me everything I always wanted. But there was one condition; I give my soul over to Satan.” “As I lay there I would see demons appearing in different forms; the most hideous faces, covered with blood, with sharp teeth and claws." “When I opened my eyes there was a black shadowed figure. It loomed over me, then took hold of me. I tried to get out of its grip but its strength was overpowering.

    John Mack never intended to become an expert in the controversial study of alien abductees. But after investigating over 60 cases of alien abduction through hundreds of hours of interviews and treatment, Dr. Mack now presents the mesmerizing tales of alien encounters revealed by his patients-- none of whom are mentally ill-- and the profound, surprising and at times deeply spiritual impact these experiences have has on their lives. Providing details of alien encounters never before reported or depicted on the screen, the men and women whose experiences are related here in unforgettably vivid detail are not extremists recounting dreams or hallucinations. Rather, as Dr. Mack reports, they are survivors of harrowing, real-life experiences that challenge the most basic assumptions that make up our understanding of our existence and our role in the universe.

    This makes it an easy read. There is a useful Historical Timeline which allows the reader to follow the complexities of Egyptian history and locate the mythology within the development of the country. Inside you will read about... ✓ A Timeline for Ancient Egypt ✓ Historical Egypt ✓ The Myth Of Creation ✓ The Pantheon Of Gods ✓ Mythology In Day To Day Ancient Egypt ✓ The Central Role Of The Temple And Some Temple Rituals ✓ Sources Of The History Of Egyptian Mythology ✓ The Underworld And Life After Death ✓ Pyramids And Their Locations The book includes the myths of the creation in some detail and introduces the top Deities in a Pantheon of over two thousand God and Goddesses. The presence and importance of the Nile is discussed and details of daily life, including the rituals followed in the temples, essentially the backbone of the economy, are well covered.

    . . Suddenly the U.S.S. Eldridge, a fully manned destroyer escort, vanished into a green fog, within seconds appeared in Norfolk, Virginia, and then reappeared in Philadelphia!For over thirty-six years officials have denied this, have denied any experimentation to render matter invisible -- have denied the reality of THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT.If so, why --* were all the men aboard ship who survived discharged as mentally unfit?* did a scientific researcher on the project meet a mysterious death?* were identities hidden, documents lost, and amazing connections between UFO sightings and events in the Bermuda Triangle denied?THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT -- the first full-length documented report on a chilling unsolved mystery that's been discussed for years. Now, official documents and first-hand stories have been revealed. Here is the truth in a report so shattering it is difficult to believe it's NOT fiction.