An engaging account of the life and work of the legendary polymath Alexander von HumboldtIn this lucid biography, Andreas Daum offers a succinct and novel interpretation of the life and oeuvre of Alexander von Humboldt (1769―1859). A Prussian nobleman born into the age of European Enlightenment, Humboldt was a contemporary of Napoleon, Simón Bolívar, and Charles Darwin. As a naturalist and scholar, he traveled the world, from the Americas to Central Asia, and recor...

A major new biography of the iconic Austrian empress that challenges the many myths about her life and ruleMaria Theresa (1717–1780) was once the most powerful woman in Europe. At the age of twenty-three, she ascended to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, a far-flung realm composed of diverse ethnicities and languages, beset on all sides by enemies and rivals. Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger provides the definitive biography of Maria Theresa, situating this exceptional ...

An investigation of a cosmic experimentIn 1851, the physicist Léon Foucault performed an unforgettable experiment. By suspending a large pendulum inside the dome of Paris’ Pantheon, Foucault provided the first simple, direct empirical evidence of the Earth's rotation—an undeniable demonstration of heliocentrism. This experiment, conducted long after the Copernican Revolution and using a laboratory apparatus rather than astronomical observation, visually confirmed w...

Despite widespread technological innovation, scientific and medical breakthroughs, and strides toward gender and racial equity, few believe that humanity is on the road of progress. Indeed, many are increasingly skeptical of the very notion of progress, seeing it as the stuff of hollow political speeches.Nevertheless, this impassioned book argues that we are lost without a shared idea of progress. In the tradition of critical theory, Rahel Jaeggi defends a vision of progress that a...

Since its discovery in 1968, the painting of a diver on a tomb in Paestum, originally the Greek colony of Poseidonia in southern Italy, has left viewers spellbound. It depicts a beautiful and enigmatic scene: a young man dives headfirst into the water from a cliff or tower. The image is joined by others from the same tomb depicting a banquet of young people drinking wine, playing games and enjoying music. Understanding this painting is often seen as a key to unlocking some of the mysteries...

How Enlightenment Europe rediscovered its identity by measuring itself against the great civilizations of AsiaDuring the long eighteenth century, Europe's travelers, scholars, and intellectuals looked to Asia in a spirit of puzzlement, irony, and openness. In this panoramic and colorful book, Jürgen Osterhammel tells the story of the European Enlightenment's nuanced encounter with the great civilizations of the East, from the Ottoman Empire and India to China and J...

The Readability of the World represents Hans Blumenberg's first extended demonstration of the metaphorological method he pioneered in Paradigms for a Metaphorology. For Blumenberg, metaphors are symptomatic of patterns of thought and feeling that escape conceptual formulation but are nonetheless indispensable, because they allow humans to orient themselves in an otherwise overwhelming world. The Readability of the World applies this metho...

Nothing has so radically transformed the world as the distinction between true and false religion. In this nuanced consideration of his own controversial Moses the Egyptian, renowned Egyptologist Jan Assmann answers his critics, extending and building upon ideas from his previous book. Maintaining that it was indeed the Moses of the Hebrew Bible who introduced the true-false distinction in a permanent and revolutionary form, Assmann reiterates that the price of this monotheistic r...

Stop Being A Victim Of Mind Control And Master The Art Of Persuasion - Here's How!What if you could read a person's innermost thoughts by simply observing them for a few minutes?What if you could subtly persuade people to do whatever you want?What if you could see through every dirty mind control trick known to humankind?Maybe you would start a business and persuade everyone to buy from you.Maybe you would seduce that pers...

A sweeping history of ancient exploration, the first full-scale account in over a century Odysseus. Jason and the Argonauts. Heracles. Greek mythology is full of tales of heroes setting out for the unknown. Such tales reflected and instilled a sense of confidence in the Greeks as they explored the limits of their world. Their voyages of discovery (and conquest), most dramatically under Alexander the Great, are but the most famous examples of ancient exploration. These expe...

What role do metaphors play in philosophical language? Are they impediments to clear thinking and clear expression, rhetorical flourishes that may well help to make philosophy more accessible to a lay audience, but that ought ideally to be eradicated in the interests of terminological exactness? Or can the images used by philosophers tell us more about the hopes and cares, attitudes and indifferences that regulate an epoch than their carefully elaborated systems of thought...

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the most common & prominent term using now. It has many benefits as well as its application are covering our daily routines.Do you want to Learn about NLP?Do you have Interest in covering whole aspects of NLP terminology?Do you like do influence someone with you NLP strategies?Do you want to make vast your business with NLP?Do you need a reprogramming or refreshing situation sometimes?Do y...