Rings of Misfortune

Rings of Misfortune
Author: Lloyd Duncan
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2004-04-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1462839878

Over 16,000,000 men served in the armed forces in WWII. Perhaps as many as 3%, or 480,000, had a homosexual orientation. Admittedly, several thousand were screened out before being inducted, and some later received Undesirable Discharges. 120,000 of these men saw combat action, and undoubtedly hundreds were killed, and thousands were wounded. Jack Scott, by far the most outstanding seventeen-year-old in a small town in Arkansas, is forced to confront this problem both at home and in the military. This story is his, and to a degree, the stories of his family, his friends, and his comrades in combat. The problem is handled sympathetically, if realistically.

The Goldilocks Planet

The Goldilocks Planet
Author: Jan Zalasiewicz
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2012-03-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0191634026

Climate change is a major topic of concern today, scientifically, socially, and politically. It will undoubtedly continue to be so for the foreseeable future, as predicted changes in global temperatures, rainfall, and sea level take place, and as human society adapts to these changes. In this remarkable new work, Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams demonstrate how the Earth's climate has continuously altered over its 4.5 billion-year history. The story can be read from clues preserved in the Earth's strata - the evidence is abundant, though always incomplete, and also often baffling, puzzling, infuriating, tantalizing, seemingly contradictory. Geologists, though, are becoming ever more ingenious at interrogating this evidence, and the story of the Earth's climate is now being reconstructed in ever-greater detail - maybe even providing us with clues to the future of contemporary climate change. The history is dramatic and often abrupt. Changes in global and regional climate range from bitterly cold to sweltering hot, from arid to humid, and they have impacted hugely upon the planet's evolving animal and plant communities, and upon its physical landscapes of the Earth. And yet, through all of this, the Earth has remained consistently habitable for life for over three billion years - in stark contrast to its planetary neighbours. Not too hot, not too cold; not too dry, not too wet, it is aptly known as 'the Goldilocks planet'.

Publications

Publications
Author: University of California, Berkeley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 502
Release: 1920
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The Encyclopedia of Superstitions

The Encyclopedia of Superstitions
Author: Edwin Radford
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Publishing
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1996-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780760702284

Containing more that two thousand supersitions of Britain ranging over the past six hundred years, and extending down to the present day,this book demonstrates that superstitions are world-wide and inherent in all peoples of the world in exactly identical forms of fear and avoidance.

The Rings

The Rings
Author: Charles A. Wyeth
Publisher:
Total Pages: 174
Release: 1854
Genre: Children's literature
ISBN:

The Left-Hander Syndrome

The Left-Hander Syndrome
Author: Stanley Coren
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2012-12-25
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1476728461

Nine out of every ten human beings are naturally right-handed. Those who were not right-handed were feared, shunned, or forcibly retrained in many periods and cultures. Indeed, some members of fundamentalist sects still regard left-handers as in league with the devil, and prejudices against left-handers are reflected in the multiple associations of right with good and left with bad that have become enshrined in everyday language and folklore. A “left-handed compliment” is actually an insult, and the dictionary definition of left-handed includes the terms “awkward,” “clumsy,” “ill-omened,” and “Illegitimate.” In his summary of scientific research into sidedness, Stanley Coren rapidly dismisses the notion of the southpaw as somehow tainted. Increasingly we are coming to understand, however, that left-handedness does have social, educational, medical, and psychological implications. Coren uses entertaining examples to illuminate the paths of research he has followed, and answers vitally important questions such as: What are the neuropsychological and behavioral implications of differences for left-handers themselves, as well as for their parents, teachers, spouses, children, counselors, and physicians? How can we determine our own patterns of sidedness? Are they encoded in our genes? And, very importantly, how can we make the world more comfortable and safer for left-handers? Coren persuasively argues that left-handers are an invisible minority who must define themselves and organize for self-protections in the same way that more visible minorities have done. Much (though not all) of the risk to which left-handers are exposed derives from the fact that the tools they use and the machines they operate are designed for right-handers, a flaw that given heightened public awareness would be easy to correct. Coren advocates a change in the way the right-handed majority treats its left-handed minority to eliminate the risks left-handers face.

The Ring of Truth

The Ring of Truth
Author: Roger Scruton
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2017-11-21
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1468315501

“Nothing in opera is grander than The Ring, no work more suited to the deep reading the writer gives here.” —Opera News Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung is one of the greatest works of art created in modern times, and has fascinated both critics and devotees for over a century and a half. No recent study has examined the meaning of Wagner’s masterpiece with the attention to detail and intellectual power that Roger Scruton brings to it in this inspiring account. The Ring of Truth is an exploration of the drama, music, symbolism, and philosophy of The Ring from a writer whose knowledge and understanding of the Western musical tradition are the equal of his capacities as a philosopher. Scruton shows how, through musical connections and brilliant dramatic strokes, Wagner is able to express truths about the human condition which few other creative artists have been able to convey so convincingly. For Wagner, writes Scruton, the task of art is to “show us freedom in its immediate, contingent, human form, reminding us of what it means to us. Even if we live in a world from which gods and heroes have disappeared we can, by imagining them, dramatize the deep truths of our condition and renew our faith in what we are.” Love, death, sacrifice and the liberation that we win through sacrifice—these are the great themes of The Ring, as they are of this book. Scruton’s passionate and moving interpretation allows us to understand more fully than ever how Wagner conveys his ideas about who we are, and why TheRing continues to be such a hypnotically absorbing work. “Scruton’s presentation is grounded throughout in a deep understanding of the culture of Wagner’s era . . . the writing is clear and persuasive.” —Library Journal (starred review) “A fascinating and valuable study.” —Sunday Times

Nathan the Wise, Minna Von Barnhelm, and Other Plays and Writings

Nathan the Wise, Minna Von Barnhelm, and Other Plays and Writings
Author: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 378
Release: 1991-01-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780826407061

Lessing was a playwright, scholar, poet, archeologist, philosopher, and critic. His genius is evident in the works collected in this volume, which includes the comedy Minna von Barnhelm, the tragedy Emilia, Galotti, Nathan the Wise, The Jews (and related correspondence), Ernst and Falk: Conversations for the Freemasons, and selections from philosophical and theological writings>