Brian Rice – författare

In this book, Rice offers a comprehensive history based on the oral traditions of the Rotinonshonni "Longhouse People," also known as the Iroquois. As a participant in a nearly 700-mile walk following the story of the Peacemaker, who confederated the original five warring nations that became the Rotinonshonni, Rice traces the historic sites located in what are now known as the Mississippi River Valley, Upstate New York, southern Quebec, and Ontario.He draws upon a wide variety of sources including J. N. B. Hewitt’s translation of the creation story; the oral presentations of Cayuga Elder Jacob Thomas; oral traditions written down by William Beauchamp and William Fenton; the Code of Handsome Lake in Lewis Henry Morgan’s League of the Iroquois; and other sources where oral traditions were recorded. In doing so, Rice chronicles the Iroquois creation story, the origin of Iroquois clans, the Great Law of Peace, the European invasion, and the life of Handsome Lake. The Rotinonshonni creates from oral traditions a history that informs the reader about events that happened in the past and how those events have shaped and are still shaping Rotinonshonni society today.

For the first time, all five of John Napier’s works have been brought together in English in a single volume, making them more accessible than ever before. His four mathematical works were originally published in Latin: two in his lifetime (1550–1617), one shortly after he died, and one over 200 years later. The authors have prepared three introductory chapters, one covering Napier himself, one his mathematical works, and one his religious work. The former has been prepared by one of Napier’s descendants and contains many new findings about Napier’s life to provide the most complete biography of this enigmatic character, whose reputation has previously been overshadowed by rumour and speculation. The latter has been written by an academic who was awarded a PhD for his thesis on Napier at the University of Edinburgh, and it provides the most lucid and coherent coverage available of this abstruse and little understood work. The chapter on Napier’s mathematical texts has been authoredby an experienced and respected academic, whose recent works have specialised in the history of mathematics and whose Journey through Mathematics was selected in March of 2012 as an Outstanding Title in Mathematics by Choice magazine, a publication of the American Library Association. All three authors have revisited the primary sources extensively and deliver new insights about Napier and his works, whilst revising the many myths and assumptions that surround his life and character.