Book Description
For centuries orchids have been among the most popular of plant families, with thousands of species and hybrids cultivated worldwide for the diversity, beauty, and intricacy of their flowers. The Genera Orchidacearum series represents a robust and natural classification of the orchids, something that has eluded plant scientists and orchid enthusiasts for years. The editors, who are all distinguished orchid specialists, incorporate a wealth of new DNA data into a truly phylogenetic classification, identifying the areas and taxa that merit additional work. To this end, they have invited several international specialists to contribute in their particular areas of expertise. Each volume provides comprehensive coverage of one or two orchid subfamilies and the series as a whole will be an indispensable reference tool for scientists, orchid breeders and growers. Orchidaceae is the largest monocotyledon family and perhaps the largest plant family in terms of number of species, approximately 25,000. However, for a variety of reasons it remains one of the least understood. The fossil record is poor, and active research has been relatively scarce until recent years, in part because of the sheer size and cosmopolitan distribution of the family. This fourth volume treats the first 210 genera of the largest subfamily, Epidendroideae, including some of the showiest orchids often used in hybridizing. Comprehensive treatments are provided for each genus, which include complete nomenclature, description, distribution (with map), anatomy, palynology, cytogenetics, phytochemistry, phylogenetics, pollination, ecology, and economic uses. Cultivation notes are included for those genera known to be in hobbyist collections. Genera are beautifully illustrated with line drawings and colour photographs.
Book Description
The megalithic monuments of the world, including Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid, can be understood as maps of the Earth. While researching the metrology of the megalithic monuments of Britain and Egypt, the author made this important and previously unnoticed observation: these monuments are, in fact, maps! Many of these maps include within their structure the latitudes of specific topographical features on the surface of the vEarth. Some specific discoveries: • The Avebury Henge is a map of the Earth • Stonehenge is a map of Earth's orbit • The Great Pyramid is a map of the continents • The Imperial Measurement System is based on the Great Pyramid: the mile measures 1760 yards and the pyramid, 1760 cubits
Customer Reviews:
A New Light.......2007-06-30
A great read for those who are interested in ancient Egyptian history. Ellis is to be applauded for his research that sheds a new light on Thoth. Although I would not consider Thoth an 'architect of the universe,' his place in ancient history is important and his contributions to humanity are enormous.
This is a great book for research purposes. Bettye Johnson, author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.
Evil Spirits Started Attacking.......2006-07-05
I had been looking forward to reading this book due to my interest in the Egyptian God Thoth who some think was a form of the Christ spirit.
However when I got to around page 100 he starts talking about these "legends" that Christ had a kid with Mary Magdalene.
He presents this as fact but a lot of discussion has gone on about these stories recently due to the Da Vinci Code. There is no basis in reality in those legends.
As soon as I read this I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I suspected the evil spirits would start attacking me.
Sure enough around 4:00 AM I could hear them chanting.
I figured I would wait until the morning to throw the book away but they kept making these weird sounds so I had to throw it away immediately.
So I never got past around page 100.
Anyway this guy talks about these legends like they are facts. So I have to assume he does this with other information of questionable value.
For example how likely is it that someone saved the spear that was used to stab Christ on the cross and still has it ?
About as likely as a snowball in hell.
Jeff Marzano
A THOTH TO THINK ABOUT.......2005-08-09
I have read many authors on the subjects of Egyptology, Creation vs. Evolution, and of course the mighty Bible. Ralph Ellis's books are the one's worth the taking time to read. I do not say this lightly. Ellis has done the research and even though his writing style sometimes bogs down, he is the authority of our times. I have read others as I say. Osman's books were a good beginner into these subjects, but they are not the place to stop at and consider that the subject has been fulfilled in explanation. Budge is a favorite, but of course his information is out of date. Nedless to say, if you want current information, and the stuff that sticks to the ribs, then Ralph Ellis is your author. Start with "Jesus: Last of the Pharoahs" or "Thoth: Architect of the Universe", and don't just stop there!!! Read his whole series. You'll be glad that you did. Still even so, there are critics of Ellis, as usually comes from the more ignorant crowd or the religious bigot. Take a deep breath and let the pests fly off and just read these books for what they are worth and with an open mind, without the critical nature that has been pablum fed into us since childhood. Indeed, for those who keep their priorities straight, and an open mind, these books are worth their weight in gold.
Yori
Egypt in mind's eye.......2005-05-30
This book is not an entertainment subject, unless you are engineeringly inclined. The author takes his time to fill the pages, but the information contained within may change your understanding of religion, history and culture as we know it. Don't get me wrong, the book is not about new age or occult. He casts light upon the reason these world wonders were built, what type of messages they carry, some speculations about their functions and ultimately, some decrypting theories in mathematics which connect the historic achievements like Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid to a profound goal. Not discarding the indifferent judgement of Occam's Razor, the author is very frank about his speculations. If you think anything unknown must be subject to objective consideration, this book might provide you with serious thoughts to consider. In contrast to pegging these monuments as "built with religious thoughts", which by the way, is the official explanation evading the Razor; he is not afraid to test his ideas under the Razor. If you think our technology would be considered as magic earlier, you might apply the same state of mind to the discoveries and assertations contained in this book. Very satisfying!
Just plain awful.......2003-03-10
I'm a serious student of alternative history and was looking in earnest to read Ellis' book, because it has been footnoted by some big names in the field.
What a disappointment! This book might be of some interest to engineers and people who love to play with numbers, but it makes zero sense historically. Not only is Ellis' final concluclusion absurd, but the length of time it takes to get there is far too long. The writing is clumsy and the thoughts convolulted.
This is one time I'm sorry I spent the money.
Book Description
This magnificent book is a fascinating account of the prehistoric stone circles at Avebury, which not only date from an earlier era but are also larger than the more famous sarsen stone circle of Stonehenge. Written by a leading archaeologist, the book considers every aspect of Avebury's history and construction and discusses the probable purpose of these massive structures, in the process creating a vivid and moving picture of their creators-a primitive people whose lives were brief, savage, and fearful.
Customer Reviews:
They were real people.......2003-03-29
A priceless treasure of information about the Neolithic world, this work will long endure. The physical evidence described here is enhanced with carefully derived suppositions about why stone circles, avenues, burial sites, ditches and banks were built. Burl has a keen analytical mind. He weaves inferences about Neolithic lifestyles with the information garnered from the available evidence. While the information he presents is almost overwhelming in its complexity, Burl's writing style keeps the account lively. You aren't submerged in arcane mysteries nor scholarly pedantry. His adroit presentation keeps your attention captured as he leads you through the likely history of Avebury, Stonehenge and other Neolithic communities.
"Communities" is a word you will have in mind throughout this narrative. Burl reminds us that Avebury's structures were built by normal people. They lived in the region, farmed, dug ditches, herded cattle and pigs, erected stones, traded with neighbours, and died. Life, he asserts frequently, was tenuous and brief. From this he derives their culture put much time and energy in dealing with the dead. Ancestor worship? Probably. Fertility rituals? Almost certainly. All this activity, however, was chiefly pragmatic. Neolithic society tried to propitiate spirits it could comprehend.
Burl scorns the modern mystical interpretations of Avebury and other sites. He lightly dismisses the astronomical alignments as overblown. The henges and stone circles may have marked some solar and lunar moon-rises and -sets, but only in a general way. These people had practical needs, he says. Precision alignments of stones or posts would be excessive effort. Much work went into just building these structures. Enough information to launch certain seasonal festivals or a reminder of births or deaths was sufficient. Burl has gleaned enough information to outline the growth and decline of prehistoric societies, with the Stonehenge ultimately supplanting Avebury in dominance of the area.
The text is enhanced with a finely balanced mixture of diagrams, old and new illustrations of people and places involved, topped off by a collection of excellent coloured photographs. One of the few shortcomings in this book is the selectivity of his Bibliography. Many works cited in the Notes are not listed there. Whether to keep the list short or to emphasise favoured works is obscure. A minor point, but a nuisance when delving further into the topic. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Customer Reviews:
This book supersedes Habermas in defining democratic praxis........1999-04-16
Dr. Schindler has explored the very limits of the Unhappy Consciousness of our times. He is a combination of Hegel and Habermas in terms of developing a historical materialism for the third millennium. He does not mince words. He believes there is Truth, and emprically analyzes the factors that have led to the colonization of the last democratic public spaces in the Atlantic democracies. Professor Schindler conceives that through self-understanding, by changing our own selves, we can collectively arrive at a new consensus on what is an effective democracy where all interest groups and the res publica in general are empowered to exercise the sovereignty inherent in a global community. In particular, he is concerned with the emergence of the United States as the dominant imperial elect, drawn from our corporate world. However, his concepts are not static; he has redesigned historical materialism to incorporate elements of psychoanalysis, phenomenology, cultural anthropology, political philosophy, sociology, linguistics, and general social science precepts that delineate a political praxis with an emancipatory thrust. After reading this classic work created in the context of its own time, the reader will find it incumbent upon himself/herself not simply to philosophize about the world but to change it. Professor Schindler means that we are all responsible for each other through discursive will formation. Revolutionary violence however is an ultima ratio. Our own nation's founding fathers proved willing to die for their democratic convictions.
Schindler advocates a fundamental change in the capitalist order so as to free all peoples hitherto dominated by the powers that be in order to birth an international order with founding fathers and mothers who understand and can explain scientifically the contradictions within capitalism that disallow the emergence of social democracy. He is appalled by the inequitable distribution of economic resources that could permit all denizens of our planet not only a historical right to be free but to live and enjoy a life that is ethical, that is one worth having been lived. Too, he develops principles of right in which they can be applied to whole groups of individuals who have been deemed marginal to the societies in which the rule of law polices them. Hence, there is a levels of analysis shift in which he looks toward a world socialist republic and one where these heretofore outgroups, the wretched of the earth, seize through critico-practical activity their species liberated potential to be fully human. Dr. Schindler cuts through the cant of present-day democratic propaganda to allow the human condition to see for itself what it truly is. He exposes the pathologies at hand through a linguistic critique of the disturbed patterns of communication that emerge from the huge disparities of economic power that frustrate democratic impulses so necessary to invigorate the general population to appropriate what has been stolen from them by the social forces of modernity, that is particularly illustrated by the absolutist princes of plutorcracy who make the Robber Barons of yesteryear look like philanthropists. His arguments are nuanced and subtle in espousing a dialectic of conflict within the Atlantic republics. With the revolution in communications and information made readily available through computers that any person can afford to buy and put in his bedroom, an enlightened populace can educate each other continually as to what are the basic problems of our Zeitgeist.
In particular, Professor Schindler anathematizes nationalism as the toxic poison that has made the twentieth century the most lethal in history. It is not just that wars are more deadly in a technical and scientific sense. Man has experienced an unprecedented repression of his instinctual life. At the collective level, the stressors externally in the environment and internally in the psyche has led man to desublimate his socialization process in order to release pent-up aggressions at the collective level in ceaseless wars. This spells genocide for the human project and the extinction of Homo sapiens. There is the principle of hope in Schindler. He has faith that the Enlightenment ideals can be reignited with a combination of political activism, reeducation, and a radical reorganization of the world order where the nation state alienates its sovereignty to a supranational entity. Hence, the new world order and its practioners would systemically be engaged in a participatory democracy at the local level but sanctioned by a global government in a confederation of special public interest groups, women's organizations, unions, and ethnic minorities. The reference point ultimately would be an international society in which all peoples belong, work at meaningful jobs, enjoy general respect and recognition as a birth right, and practice politics in an intelligent manner so that structurally and functionally there would be an integration of social purposes internationally through the redesign of current corporate and special interest groups, and their representatives, that would be socialized so as to be all inclusive of every species interest to enhance not only the survivability of the human project but to make it a worthy one.
Dr. Schindler indicates the public policy remedies that would have to be entailed to make that a reality and not just wishful thinking. He applies an especial focus on the university subsystem that has sold out its production of knowledge, that should be the patrimony of mankind, to Fortune Five hundred corporations and the government to the detriment of achieving social justice for groups historically excluded from the American mainstream. Hence, he believes that given that historical failure of nerve to incorporate marginal groups there has to be new thinking on a universal plane to effect an outcome in which every individual experiences himself/herself to be at home in the universe. I suspect we will be hearing further from Dr. Schindler in the near future as to how we can programmatically institutionalize such a vision, while minimalizing the risks of a general war that is now threatening the collective security of the world with the local conflict in the Balkans that has reached a critical threshold of engulfing the world in a general conflagration. In the name of humanity, the United States to this date has only aggravated the situation with its ideological arrogance by rendering foreign policy an extension of military violence. As the only superpower in the world, its leaders have calculated that to protect their economic empire their armies must police the world. That policy, as of this moment, has proven to be an abysmal failure, only putting the Kosovars in deeper danger of being "ethnically cleansed." In the new world order, such militaristic misadventures and parapraxes will be governed by prudence. That is man's best hope is to learn collective self-restraint and respect for other culture's attending to their poltical problems in a manner suited to their customs and democratic practices. We should not expect nations to be molded in our image. That is idolatry of the meanest sort. The way out is to sublimate aggressions by collective undertakings that materially allow all to enjoy not just the goods and services of a productive world order but to partake of a style of life that can be described as that of living the good life. Such a definition will realize its form as people partake of the poltical process in an all inclusive manner.
Average customer rating:
- Factual, thorough and a good read as well!
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Avebury (Duckworth Archaeological Histories)
Mark Gillings , and
Joshua Pollard
Manufacturer: Duckworth Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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| Ancient
| History
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ASIN: 071563240X |
Book Description
Avebury remains one of the most spectacular and enigmatic prehistoric monuments in Europe. Constructed in several stages during the course of the third millennium BC, the massive earthwork enclosure and stone settings have had a complex history; one which has included later episodes of avoidance, neglect and deliberate destruction, through to more recent antiquarian and archaeological â€~re-discovery’, investigation and preservation. Incorporating evidence from recent research, and guided by current themes within interpretative archaeology, this book provides an authoritative and comprehensive account of the site.
Since its late Neolithic beginnings, Avebury has been the subject of a host of interpretations and understandings, each as valid for the community making it as any â€~original’ imperative, and each of which has a crucial place in the developing life-history of the site--in effect making Avebury what it is today. This book explores these changing understandings and interpretations, charting the life of this unique monument from a small clearing in the forest to a designated World Heritage Site.
Customer Reviews:
Factual, thorough and a good read as well!.......2006-01-14
The book contains an overview of the history of Avebury as seen through the eyes of the archaeologist. Covering the period from the time before the megalithic site of Avebury was even created to its contemporary status and struggles, Pollard and Giddings provide a fascinating account of the ancient and not-so-ancient history of this site.
Their story is always entertaining and a quite nice read, yet at the same time scientifically thorough and without unnecessary speculations. A vast bibliography accompanies the book for further reading or more in depth study.
The influential Alexander Keiller and William Stukeley, who both put Avebury on the map for posterity, are portrayed in quite an amusing but respectful way. More importantly, these portraits also shed a new and interesting light on their motives and personalities and the way these are echoed in the Avebury we perceive today.
Pollard and Gillings emphasize the inherent complexity of a monument such as Avebury, which is increased by the fragmentary and sometimes rudimentary knowledge we possess about its history, its role and even its make-up. Their view is that of a monument in which the process of creating it as an expression of communal activity was perhaps more important to its makers than its ultimate shape and design.
"Avebury" provides a contemporary and rather unbiased and factual look on the megalithic site of Avebury and its associated monuments. I personally would have liked to see a little bit more illustrations and photographs, but with this book it is clearly the content that counts. The various theories and interpretations about its role and purpose in Neolithic society are presented in a matter-of-fact way and largely left uncommented. The book is therefore highly recommended to those who are interested in the facts about Avebury, but prefer to make up their own mind about its significance.
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Jock Stein: The Celtic Years (Avebury Series in Philosophy)
Tom Campbell , and
David Potter
Manufacturer: Mainstream Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Soccer
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ASIN: 1840182415 |
Book Description
During his long reign at Celtic, Jock Stein was a legendary figure in the world of soccer. He led a youthful Celtic side to a memorable European Cup triumph in Lisbon in 1967, and was in charge of the home-grown Celtic teams which won 9 Scottish league championships in a row as well as numerous domestic trophies. Tom Campbell and David Potter have produced an affectionate and in-depth portrait of Stein, but are not afraid to delve below the surface of the legend to examine the manager's mistakes and failings as well as his triumphs and strengths. Calling upon such expert witnesses as Bobby Murdoch, Ronnie Simpson and Charlie Gallagher, and on a host of other important figures in the game, this book presents a detailed and fully-rounded picture of a man who, at the height of his powers at Celtic Park, revolutionized the game of football in Scotland.
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The Avebury Cycle
Michael Dames
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
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Binding: Paperback
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Silbury Treasure: The Great Goddess Rediscovery
ASIN: 0500278865 |
Customer Reviews:
A haven for Hags?.......2003-04-27
Let's be fair - a New Age book is a fun read. Bold assertions, sweeping pronouncements, assumptions offered grounded on faith grip the reader's attention. Such confidence must have some underlying justification, right? New Age books have one great virtue. They challenge "established" thinking with intriguing questions demanding valid answers. Dames' book fits well into the genre. It's an entertaining venture, filled with interesting ideas, vivid illustrations and based on the idea that remnants of the Neolithic world remain a part of modern life.
The photograph of John Barleycorn celebrants on page 17 sets both the theme and the tone of this book. Why, asks Dames, is this bunch of rummies wearing those outlandish costumes, sloshed beyond reason, tunelessly singing some arcane melody? Dames uses this image as a launching site to examine ancient rituals and explain their origins. His focus is evidence derived from various burial sites and henge monuments. For him, all these are indications of the dominance of the Hag Goddess supposedly prevalent in many Neolithic cultures. Stone shape and placement, relative positions, accumulated debris and other evidence all points to a society dominated by rituals honouring the Earth Mother.
Dames doesn't just propose the Earth Goddess as the basis for Neolithic structures of widely varying design, he simply assumes it at the outset. From that start he's able to dovetail an overwhelming number of graves, skeletal postures, barrow shape, location and orientation into his thesis. Even the watercourses of the local streams have ritual significance. He puts each artefact or other element before you with such confidence and enthusiasm, it's hard to resist. If you take his presentation at face value, it's easy to become enmeshed in the image he builds of fertility rites, sacrifices and homage to deities. No-one dies of old age or disease in Dames world. Nor, it would seem, is there any place for males, either in the society or the heavens [This was tested using the photograph on page 35 where one observer saw a phallic symbol and the other a subdued Hag Goddess.].
Although Dames asserts in one place that the Avebury Cycle is a cooking ritual, he later deems it the annual fertility rite. Perhaps he was swept up in his own rhetoric while building toward the culmination of his inspiration. For Dames isn't content with the spread of similar rites and behaviours over a scattered collection of communities. There's a bigger surprise in store, which he graphically produces at the end of the book. It turns out that not only is the Earth Goddess commonly worshipped throughout the Neolithic world, she has her own image for airborne viewers to perceive. A nine by twenty kilometre area of the Wessex Chalk Downs has been configured around streams, henges, stone monuments and various grave sites to outline the Goddess to all who can achieve the altitude - or develop the imagination. It's a breathtaking proposal - one that would give the ghosts of the Inca carvers of the Nazca Plain a tinge of envy. Except the Inca, at least, made their images unmistakable.
Dames' book is a frolic for those not in the archaeologist's guild. If you accept his opening assumption, the rest of the book is easy to swallow. Evidence as limited as the Neolithic age has left us is easy to interpret. Shade from proper lighting, pointing out what's there - when it is - strong assertions all lead the unwary to follow Dames sweeping assumptions. But a closer look even at the evidence he provides leaves one in doubt. Two low hills bracing a gully immediately become "breasts". Try it with any two low hills in your area. Dames selection would be laughed at by any Playmate. It doesn't bear thinking what a Neolithic wife might say. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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Exploring Nozick: Beyond Anarchy, State and Utopia (Avebury Series in Philosophy)
Simon A. Hailwood
Manufacturer: Avebury
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 185972485X |
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