Prometheus – serie

A collection of striking essays by great dissenters. The contributors include Hugo Black, Harry A. Blackmun, Clarence Darrow, Charles Darwin, Felix Frankfurter, E. Haldeman-Julius, T. H. Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, James Madison, Thomas Paine, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain, Voltaire, and many others.

The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle had been told and retold in books, magazine articles, and on television and radio talk shows for several years when, in 1972, Larry Kusche, then a reference librarian, decided to collect all the information he could find on each incident. He made contact with the Coast Guard, the Air Force, Lloyd's of London, and many other agencies. He obtained microfilm copies of newspapers from cities where various incidents had been reported.This exhaustive research had an unexpected result - it solved the mystery. It also resulted in the publication of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved, which is now back in print.Larry Kusche's book is more than an investigation of a mystery; it is a fascinating case history of a "manufactured mystery" in the making. It shows how over the years the raw materials of official accident reports, newspaper accounts, articles in the mainstream press, and word of mouth have been assimilated into a "false mystery."

Throughout history, people have reported seeing "ghosts." But a Victorian ghost is in many respects a very different phenomenon from a ghost in Classical Greece, or in medieval Europe. Finucane surveys reports of ghosts from ancient Greece, the early Christian era, the Reformation, the Victorian age, and through the twentieth century. He asks such questions as: How have the physical aspects claimed for ghosts varied from age to age? What differences are there in the functions and intentions ascribed to ghosts? How have the changes in more general beliefsin religion and science, in particularinfluenced the perception of ghosts? Drawing on primary sources from all periods and cultures, Finucane addresses this topic in its full breadth.

Humanism is a philosophy that emphasizes the value of human life in all its creative potential within a secular context. Humanism is skeptical of religious beliefs and relies on science as the basis for understanding the universe. Although humanism has become most fully developed in the West, its origins lie throughout the world, and this perspective is shared by people from many different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds.In this succinct, informative, and enlightening introduction to humanism, Jim Herrick, a leading humanist advocate in Great Britain, provides a very readable account of the guiding principles, history, and practice of humanism in today's world. Herrick surveys the tradition of humanism as it developed over many centuries, its skepticism toward belief in God and an afterlife, humanist values and arguments for morality outside of a religious framework, its attitude of tolerance toward different lifestyles and belief systems, its endorsement of democratic political principles, its strong ties to science, its evaluation of the arts as an exploration of human potential, and its concern for environmental preservation and the long-term sustainability of the earth.In conclusion, Herrick briefly describes the various humanist organizations throughout the world; particular causes championed by humanists (women's rights, racial and sexual equality, freedom of speech and information, and education, among others); and the future of humanism.

As the baby-boomer generation ages, nursing home care is likely to become a major social problem. New residents will put huge strains on already short staffing at a time when funding to government-assisted homes (75 percent of all nursing homes) is lower than ever. Based on her ten years of experience working as a Licensed Practical Nurse in many care facilities, attorney Donna M. Reed shares her insider knowledge to help ensure that nursing home residents receive the best care possible. Reed focuses on the following key points:· The legal requirements of nursing homes regarding delivery of care· The ways in which many nursing homes regularly break these laws· Detailed descriptions of how the typical nursing home operates· The responsibilities of each nursing home employee· Nursing home inspections· Residents' rights· How to avoid substandard care· What actions to take to improve nursing home lifeReed's firsthand knowledge of nursing home care and her in-depth understanding of the legal requirements that protect residents offer invaluable information to readers concerned about nursing home care for a loved one.

This comprehensive examination of the complex, politicized world of international criminal justice reviews the serious shortcomings of a system that rarely accomplishes its goal of bringing mass murderers to justice. The author,an international lawyer who has worked at The Hague and in the Balkans and is the son of a Holocaust refugee, focuses on several hot spots, including:· The former Yugoslavia, where a one-billion-dollar investment has spectacularly backfired.· Sierra Leone, where the same wartime factions that the international community tried to dismantle remain, and in some quarters are stronger than ever.· Rwanda, where the post-conflict tribunal was met with dismay by all sectors of society and receives begrudging cooperation from the Rwandan government.· Sudan and Uganda, where the nascent International Criminal Court has inexplicably replicated many of the same problems that plague the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda.Are other options available to provide the good of justice without the potentially devastating side effects? Smith illustrates the viability of a counterintuitive "solution" to dealing with genocide and other mass crimes: to entrust the challenging, potentially destabilizing work of war-crimes justice to the very states affected by the crimes. This well-researched and forcefully argued book is indispensable reading for voters, policymakers, and citizens as well as lawyers, academics, and human rights activists who hope that "never again" can be more than a platitude.

Concrete: We use it for our buildings, bridges, dams, and roads. We walk on it, drive on it, and many of us live and work within its walls. But very few of us know what it is. We take for granted this ubiquitous substance, which both literally and figuratively comprises much of modern civilization's constructed environment; yet the story of its creation and development features a cast of fascinating characters and remarkable historical episodes. This book delves into this history, opening readers' eyes at every turn.In a lively narrative peppered with intriguing details, author Robert Corland describes how some of the most famous personalities of history became involved in the development and use of concrete-including King Herod the Great of Judea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison (who once owned the largest concrete cement plant in the world), and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Courland points to recent archaeological evidence suggesting that the discovery of concrete directly led to the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of the earliest civilizations. Much later, the Romans reached extraordinarily high standards for concrete production, showcasing their achievement in iconic buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Amazingly, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the secrets of concrete manufacturing were lost for over a millennium. The author explains that when concrete was rediscovered in the late eighteenth century it was initially viewed as an interesting novelty or, at best, a specialized building material suitable only for a narrow range of applications. It was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that the use of concrete exploded. During this rapid expansion, industry lobbyists tried to disguise the fact that modern concrete had certain defects and critical shortcomings. It is now recognized that modern concrete, unlike its Roman predecessor, gradually disintegrates with age. Compounding this problem is another distressing fact: the manufacture of concrete cement is a major contributor to global warming. Concrete Planet is filled with incredible stories, fascinating characters, surprising facts, and an array of intriguing insights into the building material that forms the basis of the infrastructure on which we depend.

A revolutionary new understanding of the precarious modern human-nature relationship and a pathto a healthier, more sustainable world.Amidst all the wondrous luxuries of the modern world-smartphones, fast intercontinental travel, Internet movies, fully stocked refrigerators-lies an unnerving fact that may be even more disturbing than all the environmental and social costs of our lifestyles.The fragmentations of our modern lives, our disconnections from nature and from the consequences of our actions, make it difficult to follow our own values and ethics, sowecan no longer be truly ethical beings. When we buy a computer or a hamburger, our impacts ripple across the globe, and, dissociated from them, we can't quite respond. Our personal and professional choices result in damages ranging from radioactive landscapes to disappearing rainforests, but we can't quite see how. Environmental scholar Kenneth Worthytraces the broken pathways between consumers and clean-room worker illnesses, superfund sites in Silicon Valley, and massively contaminated landscapes in rural Asian villages. Hisgroundbreaking, psychologically based explanation confirms that our disconnections make us more destructive and that we must bear witness to nature and our consequences.Invisible Natureshows the way forward: how we can create more involvement in our own food production, more education about how goods are produced and waste is disposed, more direct and deliberative democracy, and greater contact with the nature that sustains us.

William John Bankes (1786-1855) was a pioneer in the nascent study of the language, history, and civilization of ancient Egypt. At the Abydos Temple he discovered the King List - a wall of cartouches listing Egyptian kings in chronological order - which was vital to the decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. At Philae he uncovered a fallen obelisk, which he arranged to be transported back to England. And in modern-day Jordan he was the first European to make sketches and site plans of the "lost" city of Petra.Bankes's life was rich and full, and his discoveries have proven to be quite valuable and influential. But, living in an era when homosexuality was a capital offense, he was persecuted for being gay and threatened with imprisonment and execution. His decision to travel and pursue his love of art and architecture went against his father's wishes that he follow in his footsteps and become a politician. Despite such obstacles, Bankes's pioneering work on ancient temples and artifacts now enriches the knowledge of modern Egyptologists, and his art collection and decorative talents can be enjoyed by those who visit his home, a National Trust estate - with the obelisk from Philae still raised on the south lawn.Enhanced by many of Bankes's drawings and paintings, this engaging story is full of vivid detail about the beginnings of Egyptology, Regency England, and a fascinating individual, and it sets the record straight about Bankes's crucial role in setting the stage for the work of later scholars.

Richard Garwin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack ObamaCalled a "true genius" by Enrico Fermi, Richard Garwin has influenced modern life in far-reaching ways, yet he is hardly known outside the physics community. This is the first biography of one of America's great minds--a top physicist, a brilliant technological innovator, and a trusted advisor of presidents for sixty years. Among his many contributions to modern technology are innovations we now take for granted: air-traffic control systems, touch screens, color monitors, laser printers, GPS satellite navigation, and many other facets of everyday contemporary life.But certainly his most important work has been on behalf of nuclear disarmament. As a key member of the Los Alamos team that developed the hydrogen bomb (he created the final design), Garwin subsequently devoted much of his career to ensuring that nuclear weapons never again be used. He has spent hundreds of hours testifying before Congress, serving on government advisory committees, and doing work that is still classified, all the while working for IBM as a researcher. A genuine polymath, his ideas extend from propulsion systems for interplanetary flight to preventing flu epidemics. Never shy about offering his opinions, even to rigid government bureaucracies unwilling to change, Garwin continues to show leaders how to do the smart thing. The world is a more interesting and safer place because of his many accomplishments.

For many centuries observers of the night sky interpreted the moving planets and the surrounding starry realms in terms of concentric crystalline spheres, in the center of which hung the Earth — the hub of creation. But with the discoveries of Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton, astronomers were suddenly struck by a momentous truth: the solar system was neither small nor intimate, but extended an unfathomable distance toward countless even more distant stars. The endless possibilities of these astounding developments fired scientists' imaginations, leading both to further discoveries and to flights of fancy. While newly discovered facts are important and interesting, the quaint curiosities and spectral "ghosts" that led scientists astray have a fascination of their own. This is the subject of astronomer Richard Baum in this elegant narrative about the mysteries and wonders of celestial exploration. The fabled "mountains of Venus," a "city in the moon," ghostly rings around Uranus and Neptune, bright inexplicable objects seen near the sun, and the truth behind Coleridge's "Star dogged Moon" in his famous poem about the Ancient Mariner — these are just some of the intriguing twists and turns that astronomers took while investigating our starry neighbors. Baum vividly conveys the romance of astronomy at a time when the vistas of outer space were a new frontier and astronomers, guided only by imagination and analogy, set forth on uncharted seas and were haunted for a lifetime by marvels both seen and imagined.