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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Controversial knowledge

Technology of the Gods - The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients (Paperback): David Hatcher Childress Technology of the Gods - The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients (Paperback)
David Hatcher Childress 1
R489 R408 Discovery Miles 4 080 Save R81 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Popular Lost Cities author David Childress opens the door to the amazing world of ancient technology, from the computers of ancient world to the "flying machines of the gods." Technology of the Gods explores the technology that was allegedly used in Atlantis and the theory the Great Pyramid of Egypt was originally a gigantic power station. Childress also uncovers many other mysteries, including:
-- the technology of ancient flight
-- how the ancients used electricity
-- megalithic building techniques
-- the use of crystal lenses and the fire from the gods
-- ancient evidence of high-tech weapons, including atomic weapons
-- the role of modern inventors, such as Nikola Tesla, in bringing ancient technology into modern use
-- impossible artifacts, and more, much more.

Childress has done it again! From beginning to end, Technology of the Gods is filled with facts, keen observations and tales that challenge modern assumptions in a humorous, intelligent and compelling way that is quintessential Childress.

American Shame - Stigma and the Body Politic (Hardcover): Myra Mendible American Shame - Stigma and the Body Politic (Hardcover)
Myra Mendible; Contributions by Karen Weingarten, Daniel Mcneil, Leah Perry, Frances Negron-Muntaner, …
R2,143 R1,982 Discovery Miles 19 820 Save R161 (8%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

On any given day in America's news cycle, stories and images of disgraced politicians and celebrities solicit our moral indignation, their misdeeds fueling a lucrative economy of shame and scandal. Shame is one of the most coercive, painful, and intriguing of human emotions. Only in recent years has interest in shame extended beyond a focus on the subjective experience of this emotion and its psychological effects. The essays collected here consider the role of shame as cultural practice and examine ways that public shaming practices enforce conformity and group coherence. Addressing abortion, mental illness, suicide, immigration, and body image among other issues, this volume calls attention to the ways shaming practices create and police social boundaries; how shaming speech is endorsed, judged, or challenged by various groups; and the distinct ways that shame is encoded and embodied in a nation that prides itself on individualism, diversity, and exceptionalism. Examining shame through a prism of race, sexuality, ethnicity, and gender, these provocative essays offer a broader understanding of how America's discourse of shame helps to define its people as citizens, spectators, consumers, and moral actors.

The Great Titanic Conspiracy (Hardcover): Robin Gardiner The Great Titanic Conspiracy (Hardcover)
Robin Gardiner 1
R616 R401 Discovery Miles 4 010 Save R215 (35%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Since the bestselling "Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank" was published in 1998, author Robin Gardiner has unearthed a wealth of new evidence for his theory that the sinking of Titanic was a vast conspiracy, and that the ship that went down on April 12 was in fact Olympic, Titanic's sister ship, and the sinking was planned as one of the world's greatest insurance frauds. To the present day the most common maritime insurance fraud involves changing identities of ships. But tragically the planned staging of the sinking of Titanic, whereby other ships from the company would be on hand to rescue all the passengers and crew, went disastrously wrong and 1500 souls perished on the supposedly unsinkable ship's maiden voyage. This book concentrates on the conspiracy, with evidence of why the White Star company intended to defraud the insurance company by swapping the identity of Titanic and the recently damaged Olympic in a collision with HMS Hawke, with new conclusive photographic and documentary evidence of the swap. The story starts with financier J P Morgan's takeover of White Star and the Royal Navy's investment in the company's new liners as potential troop carriers. Following the Agadir crisis in 1911 Morgan began to ship gold and other treasures back to the safe haven of the US. The pressure on White Star to make up the cost of the damage to Olympic, which the insurance company would not cover, through swapping the identities of Olympic and Titanic, was also the opportunity for Morgan with the collusion of the British government, to quietly ship GBP8 million of gold to the US. But unbeknown to the government, the gold was spirited away. The subsequent staged collision with the iceberg went horribly wrong as those in charge of Titanic completely underestimated the scale of the panic and the ensuing disaster as the ship quickly sank and the rescue boats failed to arrive became a disaster that would reverberate around the world. This gripping account recounts the author's theory on the whole build up to the disaster and its aftermath in which all parties were involved in collusion, conspiracy and cover-up on an unprecedented scale. Is it true or is it fiction? Only the reader can decide.

Confident Women - Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion (Paperback): Tori Telfer Confident Women - Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion (Paperback)
Tori Telfer
R309 Discovery Miles 3 090 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A thoroughly entertaining and darkly humorous roundup of history's notorious but often forgotten female con artists and their bold, outrageous scams-by the acclaimed author of Lady Killers. From Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey to Frank Abagnale and Charles Ponzi, audacious scams and charismatic scammers continue to intrigue us as a culture. As Tori Telfer reveals in Confident Women, the art of the con has a long and venerable tradition, and its female practitioners are some of the best-or worst. In the 1700s in Paris, Jeanne de Saint-Remy scammed the royal jewelers out of a necklace made from six hundred and forty-seven diamonds by pretending she was best friends with Queen Marie Antoinette. In the mid-1800s, sisters Kate and Maggie Fox began pretending they could speak to spirits and accidentally started a religious movement that was soon crawling with female con artists. A gal calling herself Loreta Janeta Velasquez claimed to be a soldier and convinced people she worked for the Confederacy-or the Union, depending on who she was talking to. Meanwhile, Cassie Chadwick was forging paperwork and getting banks to loan her upwards of $40,000 by telling people she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter. In the 1900s, a 40something woman named Margaret Lydia Burton embezzled money all over the country and stole upwards of forty prized show dogs, while a few decades later, a teenager named Roxie Ann Rice scammed the entire NFL. And since the death of the Romanovs, women claiming to be Anastasia have been selling their stories to magazines. What about today? Spoiler alert: these "artists" are still conning. Confident Women asks the provocative question: Where does chutzpah intersect with a uniquely female pathology-and how were these notorious women able to so spectacularly dupe and swindle their victims?

TWA 800 - The Crash, the Cover-Up, and the Conspiracy (Hardcover): Jack Cashill TWA 800 - The Crash, the Cover-Up, and the Conspiracy (Hardcover)
Jack Cashill
R790 R656 Discovery Miles 6 560 Save R134 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic shortly after takeoff from JFK airport on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 passengers on board. Although initial reports suggested a terrorist attack, FBI and NTSB investigators blamed a fuel tank explosion. But skeptics have long questioned the official story, and new evidence has surfaced that suggests a widespread conspiracy... In TWA 800, historian Jack Cashill introduces new documents and testimonies that reveal the shocking true chain of events: from the disastrous crash to the high-level decision to create a cover story and the attempts to silence anyone who dared speak the truth.

9/11 and the Visual Culture of Disaster (Hardcover): Thomas Stubblefield 9/11 and the Visual Culture of Disaster (Hardcover)
Thomas Stubblefield
R1,655 Discovery Miles 16 550 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The day the towers fell, indelible images of plummeting rubble, fire, and falling bodies were imprinted in the memories of people around the world. Images that were caught in the media loop after the disaster and coverage of the attack, its aftermath, and the wars that followed reflected a pervasive tendency to treat these tragic events as spectacle. Though the collapse of the World Trade Center was "the most photographed disaster in history," it failed to yield a single noteworthy image of carnage. Thomas Stubblefield argues that the absence within these spectacular images is the paradox of 9/11 visual culture, which foregrounds the visual experience as it obscures the event in absence, erasure, and invisibility. From the spectral presence of the Tribute in Light to Art Spiegelman's nearly blank New Yorker cover, and from the elimination of the Twin Towers from television shows and films to the monumental cavities of Michael Arad's 9/11 memorial, the void became the visual shorthand for the incident. By examining configurations of invisibility and erasure across the media of photography, film, monuments, graphic novels, and digital representation, Stubblefield interprets the post-9/11 presence of absence as the reaffirmation of national identity that implicitly laid the groundwork for the impending invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth - And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine (Paperback): Thomas Morris The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth - And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine (Paperback)
Thomas Morris
R522 R432 Discovery Miles 4 320 Save R90 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days
Science and the Akashic Field - An Integral Theory of Everything  Revised 2nd Edition (Paperback, 2nd Edition, Updated Second... Science and the Akashic Field - An Integral Theory of Everything Revised 2nd Edition (Paperback, 2nd Edition, Updated Second Edition)
Ervin Laszlo
R416 R352 Discovery Miles 3 520 Save R64 (15%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

"This important work unifies the realms of science and consciousness in a truly integral 'theory of everything.'" --Ralph Abraham, Ph.D., professor of mathematics, University of California, and coauthor of Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness "A seminal book from one of the best thinkers of our time. Ervin Laszlo charts the -frontiers to which science is inexorably headed. In years to come people will look back at the amazing foresight of this work." --Peter Russell, fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and the Findhorn Foundation and author of From Science to God "With extraordinary intellectual clarity, Laszlo provides a vision that links the best of modern science to the wisdom of the great spiritual traditions." --Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D., president and founder of the International Transpersonal Association and author of The Holotropic Mind Mystics and sages have long maintained that there exists an interconnecting cosmic field at the roots of reality that conserves and conveys information, a field known as the Akashic record. Recent discoveries in vacuum physics show that this Akashic Field is real and has its equivalent in science's zero-point field that underlies space itself. This field consists of a subtle sea of fluctuating energies from which all things arise: atoms and galaxies, stars and planets, living beings, and even consciousness. This zero-point Akashic Field is the constant and enduring memory of the universe. It holds the record of all that has happened on Earth and in the cosmos and relates it to all that is yet to happen. In Science and the Akashic Field, philosopher and scientist Ervin Laszlo conveys the essential element of this information fieldin language that is accessible and clear. From the world of science he confirms our deepest intuitions of the oneness of creation in the Integral Theory of Everything. We discover that, as philosopher William James stated, "We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep." ERVIN LASZLO, holder of the highest degree of the Sorbonne (the State Doctorate), is recipient of four Honorary Ph.D.s and numerous awards and distinctions, including the 2001 Goi Award (the Japan Peace Prize) and nominations for the 2004 and 2005 Nobel Peace Prizes. He is a former professor of philosophy, systems theory, and futures studies in the U.S., Europe, and the Far East and founder and president of the international think-tank the Club of Budapest as well as of the General Evolution Research Group. The author of 75 books, translated into 20 languages, he lives in Italy.

Hidden History of Dayton, Ohio (Hardcover): Tony Kroeger Hidden History of Dayton, Ohio (Hardcover)
Tony Kroeger
R1,019 R815 Discovery Miles 8 150 Save R204 (20%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days
Taking Mr. Exxon - The Kidnapping of an Oil Giant's President (Paperback): Philip Jett Taking Mr. Exxon - The Kidnapping of an Oil Giant's President (Paperback)
Philip Jett
R537 Discovery Miles 5 370 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

On the morning of April 29, 1992, Exxon International president, Sidney J. Reso, left his home for the office. He stepped out to pick up the newspaper at the end of his drive as he did every morning. A van screeched to a stop and a large man wearing a ski mask and wielding a .45-caliber pistol leaped from the vehicle and grabbed Reso, shoving him into the back of the van. The female driver sped away. No one saw or heard anything, sparking the largest kidnapping investigation in US history since Patty Hearst's abduction.

Underwater and Underground Bases - Surprising Facts the Government Does Not Want You to Know (Paperback): Richard Sauder Underwater and Underground Bases - Surprising Facts the Government Does Not Want You to Know (Paperback)
Richard Sauder
R468 R395 Discovery Miles 3 950 Save R73 (16%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Dr. Richard Sauder's second book Underwater and Underground Bases is an explosive, eye-opening sequel to his best-selling, Underground Bases and Tunnels: What is the Government Trying to Hide? Dr. Sauder lays out the amazing evidence and government paper trail for the construction of huge, manned bases offshore, in mid-ocean, and deep beneath the sea floor Bases big enough to secretly dock submarines Official United States Navy documents, and other hard evidence, raise many questions about what really lies 20,000 leagues beneath the sea. Many UFOs have been seen coming and going from the world's oceans, seas and lakes, implying the existence of secret underwater bases. Hold on to your hats: Jules Verne may not have been so far from the truth, after all Dr. Sauder also adds to his incredible database of underground bases onshore. New, breakthrough material reveals the existence of additional clandestine underground facilities as well as the surprising location of one of the CIA's own underground bases. Plus, new information on tunneling and cutting-edge, high speed rail magnetic-levitation (MagLev) technology. There are many rumors of secret, underground tunnels with MagLev trains hurtling through them. Is there truth behind the rumors? Underwater and Underground Bases carefully examines the evidence and comes to a thought provoking conclusion

Morphic Resonance - The Nature of Formative Causation (Paperback, 4th Revised, Expanded ed.): Rupert Sheldrake Morphic Resonance - The Nature of Formative Causation (Paperback, 4th Revised, Expanded ed.)
Rupert Sheldrake
R577 R481 Discovery Miles 4 810 Save R96 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

New updated and expanded edition of the groundbreaking book that ignited a firestorm in the scientific world with its radical approach to evolution
- Explains how past forms and behaviors of organisms determine those of similar organisms in the present through morphic resonance
- Reveals the nonmaterial connections that allow direct communication across time and space
When "A New Science of Life" was first published the British journal "Nature" called it "the best candidate for burning there has been for many years." The book called into question the prevailing mechanistic theory of life when its author, Rupert Sheldrake, a former research fellow of the Royal Society, proposed that morphogenetic fields are responsible for the characteristic form and organization of systems in biology, chemistry, and physics--and that they have measurable physical effects. Using his theory of morphic resonance, Sheldrake was able to reinterpret the regularities of nature as being more like habits than immutable laws, offering a new understanding of life and consciousness.
In the years since its first publication, Sheldrake has continued his research to demonstrate that the past forms and behavior of organisms influence present organisms through direct immaterial connections across time and space. This can explain why new chemicals become easier to crystallize all over the world the more often their crystals have already formed, and why when laboratory rats have learned how to navigate a maze in one place, rats elsewhere appear to learn it more easily. With more than two decades of new research and data, Rupert Sheldrake makes an even stronger case for the validity of the theory of formative causation that can radically transform how we see our world and our future.

The Earth Chronicles Handbook - A Comprehensive Guide to the Seven Books of the Earth Chronicles (Hardcover): Zecharia Sitchin The Earth Chronicles Handbook - A Comprehensive Guide to the Seven Books of the Earth Chronicles (Hardcover)
Zecharia Sitchin
R640 R428 Discovery Miles 4 280 Save R212 (33%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

An encyclopedic compendium of the myths and actual events from humanity's ancient civilizations that reveal the influence of visitors from the 12th planet--the Anunnaki
- Offers easy access to the myriad characters and subjects covered by the seven books of The Earth Chronicles series
- Provides alphabetical listings to the terminology of ancient civilizations concerning their gods, kings, cultures, and religions
- Contains detailed summations, commentaries, and instructions for locating topics within all the author's books
The Earth Chronicles series, a historical and archaeological adventure into the origins of mankind and planet Earth, began with the publication of the bestselling "The 12th Planet." The series is based on the premise that the myths from the world's earliest civilizations were in fact recollections of actual events and that the gods of ancient peoples were visitors to Earth from another planet--the Anunnaki, inhabitants of the 12th planet. The series' books include "The 12th Planet, The Stairway to Heaven, The Wars of Gods and Men, The Lost Realms, When Time Began, The Cosmic Code," and "The End of Days," all products of the author's unmatched study of the ancient records of Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, Israel, and Egypt and the civilizations of pre-Columbian America. Unearthing the hidden history of Earth and mankind, the series uses the past to unveil the meaning of the prophesied future.
Zecharia Sitchin has created an encyclopedic compendium of the key figures, sites, concepts, and beliefs to provide a unique navigational tool through this entire opus. Entries are coded to indicate at a glance their cultural origin and contain summations, commentaries, and guidance for locating the topics within all of his books, including "Genesis Revisited, Divine Encounters, The Lost Book of Enki, The Earth Chronicles Expeditions," and "Journeys to the Mythical Past."

Transylvanian Sunrise (Paperback): Peter Moon, Radu Cinamar Transylvanian Sunrise (Paperback)
Peter Moon, Radu Cinamar
R759 R622 Discovery Miles 6 220 Save R137 (18%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Written by Peter Moon and Radu Cinamar, a highly placed Romanian intelligence operative, this book heralds the most remarkable archaeological find in the annals of Mankind. Unbeknownst to most, there is an ancient sphinx located in the Bucegi Mountains of Romania. In 2003, the Pentagon discovered, through the use of satellite technology, an anomaly beneath this ancient sphinx. Through the highest levels of Freemasonry, the Pentagon was able to secure an alliance with the most secret department of the Romanian Intelligence Service which is known as Department Zero. Together, the Romanians and the Americans utilised the Pentagon's secret technology to penetrate a hidden chamber beneath the sphinx which was otherwise inaccessible to humans. What was discovered eventually was a holographic Hall of Records left by an advanced civilisation near three mysterious tunnels leading into the Inner Earth. The book chronicles the discovery of these modern day artefacts which represent the dawn of a new era for Mankind. Peter Moon is brought into the fold through his friend, Dr David Anderson, the mysterious scientist who founded the Time Travel Research Center on Long Island and also maintains a similar facility in Romania. Recognising that such satellite technology would had to have utilised Dr Anderson's proprietary space-time technology for maintaining satellites in orbit, Peter Moon pursues these matters further and accepts Dr Anderson's invitation to Romania where he visits the Romanian Sphinx and learns of a mysterious association between the mysterious time travel scientist and Radu Cinamar.

Factfulness Illustrated - Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - Why Things are Better than You Think (Hardcover): Hans... Factfulness Illustrated - Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - Why Things are Better than You Think (Hardcover)
Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Ronnlund 1
R928 R609 Discovery Miles 6 090 Save R319 (34%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The international best-selling phenomenon loved by BARACK OBAMA and BILL GATES in a new and updated illustrated edition 'A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.' BARACK OBAMA 'One of the most important books I've ever read - an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.' BILL GATES *#1 Sunday Times bestseller * instant New York Times bestseller * Observer 'best brainy book of the decade' * #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller * Irish Times bestseller * Audio bestseller * Guardian bestseller * FACTFULNESS: the stress-reducing habit of only having opinions for which there are strong supporting facts. Things aren't as bad as we think. Fact. When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty - we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. In Factfulness, legendary statisticians Hans, Anna and Ola Rosling offer a radical new explanation of why this happens, and reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. But when we let the bad news take on outsize proportions instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most. Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world.

Orion's Door - Symbols of Consciousness & Blueprints of Control - The Story of Orion's Influence Over Humanity... Orion's Door - Symbols of Consciousness & Blueprints of Control - The Story of Orion's Influence Over Humanity (Paperback)
Neil Hague
R885 Discovery Miles 8 850 Ships in 10 - 15 working days
Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them (Paperback): Joseph E. Uscinski Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them (Paperback)
Joseph E. Uscinski
R1,088 Discovery Miles 10 880 Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Conspiracy theories are inevitable in complex human societies. And while they have always been with us, their multiplication and proliferation is unprecedented due to increasing knowledge, a sense of powerlessness, and a distrust of elites, that have merged to generate conspiracy theories on a vast scale in our era. In recent years, scholars have begun to study this genuinely important phenomenon in a concerted way. In Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, Joseph E. Uscinski has gathered forty top researchers on the topic to provide the foundational tools and evidence to better understand conspiracy theories not just in the United States, but around the world. Each chapter is informed by three core questions: Why do so many people believe in conspiracy theories? What are their effects? What can or should be done about them? Using systematic analysis, rich discussion, and cutting-edge research, this volume will help us better understand an extremely important, yet relatively neglected, phenomenon.

Evolution is Wrong - A Radical Approach to the Origin and Transformation of Life (Paperback): Erich Von Daniken Evolution is Wrong - A Radical Approach to the Origin and Transformation of Life (Paperback)
Erich Von Daniken
R504 R408 Discovery Miles 4 080 Save R96 (19%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days
The Stigmatization of Conspiracy Theory since the 1950s - "A Plot to Make us Look Foolish" (Paperback): Katharina Thalmann The Stigmatization of Conspiracy Theory since the 1950s - "A Plot to Make us Look Foolish" (Paperback)
Katharina Thalmann
R1,171 Discovery Miles 11 710 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Are conspiracy theories everywhere and is everyone a conspiracy theorist? This ground-breaking study challenges some of the widely shared assessments in the scholarship about a perceived mainstreaming of conspiracy theory. It claims that conspiracy theory underwent a significant shift in status in the mid-20th century and has since then become highly visible as an object of concern in public debates. Providing an in-depth analysis of academic and media discourses, Katharina Thalmann is the first scholar to systematically trace the history and process of the delegitimization of conspiracy theory. By reading a wide range of conspiracist accounts about three central events in American history from the 1950s to 1970s - the Great Red Scare, the Kennedy assassination, and the Watergate scandal - Thalmann shows that a veritable conspiracist subculture emerged in the 1970s as conspiracy theories were pushed out of the legitimate marketplace of ideas and conspiracy theory became a commodity not unlike pornography: alluring in its illegitimacy, commonsensical, and highly profitable. This will be of interest to scholars and researchers interested in American history, culture and subcultures, as well, of course, to those fascinated by conspiracies.

Sinister Forces-The Nine - A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft (Paperback): Peter Levenda Sinister Forces-The Nine - A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft (Paperback)
Peter Levenda; Foreword by Jim Hougan
R731 R550 Discovery Miles 5 500 Save R181 (25%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The roots of coincidence and conspiracy in American politics, crime, and culture are examined in this first volume of a three-part set, exposing new connections between religion, political conspiracy, and occultism. Based on the premise that there is a satanic undercurrent to American affairs, this study examines the sinister forces at work throughout history, from ancient American civilizations and the mysterious mound-builder culture to the Salem witch trials, the birth of Mormonism during a ritual of ceremonial magic by Joseph Smith Jr., and Operations Paperclip and Bluebird. Not a work of speculative history, this expose is founded on primary source material and historical documents. Fascinating details are revealed, including the bizarre world of "wandering bishops" who appear throughout the Kennedy assassinations; a CIA mind-control program run amok in the United States and Canada; a famous American spiritual leader who had ties to Lee Harvey Oswald in the weeks and months leading up to the assassination of President Kennedy; and the "Manson secret."

Knowledge Is Beautiful (Hardcover): David McCandless Knowledge Is Beautiful (Hardcover)
David McCandless
R859 R618 Discovery Miles 6 180 Save R241 (28%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days
Implausible Beliefs - In the Bible, Astrology, and UFOs (Paperback): Allan Mazur Implausible Beliefs - In the Bible, Astrology, and UFOs (Paperback)
Allan Mazur
R1,357 Discovery Miles 13 570 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Why do people accept ideas that are contradicted by science or logic? In Implausible Beliefs, Allan Mazur offers a comparative look at the nature of irrational belief systems, their social roots, and their cultural and political impact. He begins by providing standards for judging beliefs implausible and assessing the impact of such belief systems onpolitics and social policy in the US. Mazur describes and defends commonsense criteria for establishing that certain views should not be sustained in the face of present-day understanding. He presents a statistical portrait of implausible beliefs rampant in the US, and who tends to accept them.

Mazur applies criteria for implausibility to the Bible, astrology, and visitation to Earth of intelligent beings from other worlds. Pointing out that everyone "knows" the Bible but few actually read it, the author scrolls through the first five books of the text, noting points that undermine the scripture's natural history and moral guidance. Working on the assumption that implausible religious views are fundamentally no different from implausible secular views, he critiques secular beliefs in astrology and UFOs. Mazur concludes the volume with an attempt to explain why most people accept implausibility--some more than others--despite evidence and logic that refute them.

Looking to mainstream sociology and psychology, Mazur shows how children are socialized into such beliefs, and how adults are influenced by spouses and friends. Personality is also a factor, sometimes abetted by stressful or lonely life situations. Lucidly written, this is a provocative and informative contribution to social psychology, sociology, religion, political science, and American studies.

What Algorithms Want - Imagination in the Age of Computing (Paperback): Ed Finn What Algorithms Want - Imagination in the Age of Computing (Paperback)
Ed Finn
R500 R399 Discovery Miles 3 990 Save R101 (20%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The gap between theoretical ideas and messy reality, as seen in Neal Stephenson, Adam Smith, and Star Trek. We depend on-we believe in-algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations-the marriage vow, the shaman's curse-do not merely describe the world but make it. Computation casts a cultural shadow that is shaped by this long tradition of magical thinking. In this book, Ed Finn considers how the algorithm-in practical terms, "a method for solving a problem"-has its roots not only in mathematical logic but also in cybernetics, philosophy, and magical thinking. Finn argues that the algorithm deploys concepts from the idealized space of computation in a messy reality, with unpredictable and sometimes fascinating results. Drawing on sources that range from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash to Diderot's Encyclopedie, from Adam Smith to the Star Trek computer, Finn explores the gap between theoretical ideas and pragmatic instructions. He examines the development of intelligent assistants like Siri, the rise of algorithmic aesthetics at Netflix, Ian Bogost's satiric Facebook game Cow Clicker, and the revolutionary economics of Bitcoin. He describes Google's goal of anticipating our questions, Uber's cartoon maps and black box accounting, and what Facebook tells us about programmable value, among other things. If we want to understand the gap between abstraction and messy reality, Finn argues, we need to build a model of "algorithmic reading" and scholarship that attends to process, spearheading a new experimental humanities.

Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies (Paperback): C Hodapp Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies (Paperback)
C Hodapp
R462 Discovery Miles 4 620 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Entering the world of conspiracy theories and secret societies is like stepping into a distant, parallel universe where the laws of physics have completely changed: black means white, up is down, and if you want to understand what's really going on, you need a good reference book. That's where "Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies" comes in.

Whether you're a skeptic or a true believer, this fascinating guide, packed with the latest information, walks you through some of the most infamous conspiracy theories -- such as Area 51 and the assassination of JFK -- and introduces you to such mysterious organizations as the Freemasons, the Ninjas, the Mafia, and Rosicrucians. This behind-the-curtain guide helps you separate fact from fiction and helps you the global impact of these mysterious events and groups on our modern world. Discover how to: Test a conspiracy theorySpot a sinister secret societyAssess the Internet's role in fueling conspiracy theoriesExplore world domination schemesEvaluate 9/11 conspiracy theoriesFigure out who "they" areGrasp the model on which conspiracy theories are builtFigure out whether what "everybody knows" is trueDistinguish on assassination brotherhood from anotherUnderstand why there's no such thing as a "lone assassin"

Why do hot dogs come in packages of ten, while buns come in eight-packs? Everybody knows its a conspiracy, right? Find out in "Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies."

Conspiracy Theories in Turkey - Conspiracy Nation (Hardcover): Dogan Gurpinar Conspiracy Theories in Turkey - Conspiracy Nation (Hardcover)
Dogan Gurpinar
R1,516 Discovery Miles 15 160 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Conspiracy theories are no longer just a curiosity for afficionados but a politically salient theme in the age of Trump, Brexit and "fake news". One of the countries that has been entrapped in conspiratorial visions is Turkey, and this book is the first comprehensive survey in English of the Turkish conspiratorial mind-set. It provides a nuanced overview of the discourses of Turkish conspiracy theorists and examines how these theorists argue for and legitimize their worldview. The author discusses a broad range of conspiracy theories, including some influenced by Kemalist and Islamist perspectives as well as those of the ruling Justice and Development Party. The most influential authors, books, references and images within the conspiracist milieu are all examined in detail. This book will be an important source for scholars interested in extremism in Turkey and the societal and political impact of conspiracy theories.

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