Did You Know That . . . ?: "Revised and Expanded" Edition: Surprising-But-True Facts About History, Science, Inventions, Geography, Origins, Art, Music, and More is an uncommon compendium of knowledge that will astound, demystify, edify, and debunk. It is a book of ambitious design that is both eminently informative and vastly entertaining. Assiduously researched, it will be the arbiter of disagreements and will stand cherished misconceptions right on their heads. It will also expose factoids, unmask present-day orthodoxy, identify misinformation, clarify the confusing, and present new information. Did You Know That . . . ? is all you need to know . . . for knowledge is power!

Did Richard the Lionheart really die from just a crossbow wound, or was there foul play? Who are the two infant children buried in Tutankhamen’s tomb? Could a skull found in a tax collector’s attic be the long-lost head of Henri IV? In When Science Sheds Light on History, Philippe Charlier, the “Indiana Jones of the graveyards,” travels the globe with his forensics team to unravel these and other historic mysteries. To get answers, Charlier looks for clues in medical records, death masks, fingerprints, and bloodstains. He even enlists the help of perfume experts to smell and identify embalming materials. He reconstructs the face of Robespierre and analyzes charred bones attributed to Joan of Arc. He identifies toxic levels of gold in the hair of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II, and mercury poisoning in the body of Agnès Sorel, the “most beautiful woman” in fifteenth-century France.

Charlier also pieces together the stories of people whose names and lives have long been forgotten. He investigates Stone Age graves, medieval necropolises, and museum collections. Playing the role of both crime scene investigator and forensic anthropologist, Charlier diagnoses a mummy with malaria, an ancient Greek child with Down syndrome, and a stately Roman with encephalitis. He studies accounts of divine cures from antiquity. He determines the origins of preserved heads of the Jivaro and Maori people to help museums return them to their clans.

Exploring how our ancestors lived and how they died, the forty cases in this book tackle some of history’s most enduring questions and illustrate the power of science to reveal the secrets of the past.

The role of objects and images in everyday life are illuminated incisively in Material Vernaculars, which combines historical, ethnographic, and object-based methods across a diverse range of material and visual cultural forms. The contributors to this volume offer revealing insights into the significance of such practices as scrapbooking, folk art produced by the elderly, the wedding coat in Osage ceremonial exchanges, temporary huts built during the Jewish festival of Sukkot, and Kiowa women's traditional roles in raiding and warfare. While emphasizing local vernacular culture, the contributors point to the ways that culture is put to social ends within larger social networks and within the stream of history. While attending to the material world, these case studies explicate the manner in which the tangible and intangible, the material and the meaningful, are constantly entwined and co-constituted.

In 1968 University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan enthralled a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western worldview. Castaneda's now classic book remains controversial for the alternative way of seeing that it presents and the revolution in cognition it demands. Whether read as ethnographic fact or creative fiction, it is the story of a remarkable journey that has left an indelible impression on the life of more than a million readers around the world.

This is the final book in Michael Bradley's bestselling trilogy on Holy Grail adventures in North America from 1398 to 1571, completing the saga related in Holy Grail Across the Atlantic and Grail Knights of North America (the author's research skills were also put to good use in the movie The Da Vinci Code). In "Swords at Sunset", Bradley draws on evidence from The Book of Mormon, plus newly discovered artefacts from Lake Memphremagog and the Niagara region. Bradley offers a convincing argument that communities of Grail refugees -- who had fled the Inquisition in Europe -- were established in Niagara and Vermont before being defeated by Native tribes in 1571. "Swords at Sunset" also examines the origins of man and the concept of the Holy Grail, offering a new and different perspective of the Western religious history that has shaped so much of the entire world's history. The book presents a thought-provoking interpretation that will astonish and intrigue.

In contemporary pop culture, the pursuits regarded as the most frivolous are typically understood to be more feminine in nature than masculine. This collection illustrates how ideas of the popular and the feminine were assumed to be equally naturally intertwined in the eighteenth century, and the ways in which that association facilitates the ongoing trivialization of both.

Top scholars in eighteenth-century studies examine the significance of the parallel devaluations of women's culture and popular culture by looking at theatres and actresses; novels, magazines, and cookbooks; and populist politics, dress, and portraiture. They also assess how eighteenth-century women have been re-imagined in contemporary historical fiction, films, and television, from the works of award-winner Beryl Bainbridge to Darcymania and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. By reconsidering the cultural and social practices of eighteenth-century women, this fascinating volume reclaims the ostensibly trivial as a substantive cultural contribution.

In the wake of World War II and amidst a flurry of reported UFOs, the National Security Act was invoked in 1947 setting forth a policy of secrecy which has immersed the U.S. government ever since in a labyrinth of security and intrigue. No facility has remained as cloaked in this mystery as Brookhaven National Laboratory, the premier nuclear research facility in the world. Located on Long Island near the old Nazi compound at Yaphank, Brookhaven was selected for clandestine research known as the Phoenix Project which merged the investigation from the UFO crash at Roswell with that of the Philadelphia Experiment of 1943 in order to probe the unified field theory and secure practical applications of time travel. This is the real life story of Wade Gordon who as a young boy was tutored by the head of the Phoenix Project and introduced to a mysterious group known as 'Majestic-12', an above Top Secret faction of the government said to stand on the threshold of humanity's evolution.

The Lost Key - The Supranatural Secrets of the Freemasons contains revelations that only an initiate of the highest orders of esoteric Freemasonry is in a position to make. Here is the truth behind the hints in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol that Freemasonry is concerned to reawaken the hidden potentialities and powers of the human mind.The thrilling narrative of this new book follows a candidate for initiation as he rises through the different grades of initiation, taking part in ceremonies that are sometimes terrifying but always revealing of new knowledge and presenting new mysteries which will only be solved when the next stage of initiation has been achieved. Dramatic episodes include the re-enacting of an ancient murder from 3,000 years ago in full gory detail, lowering the candidate on the end of a rope into a dark vault under the floor of the temple, holding a dagger to the candidates naked breast, and making the candidate attend his own funeral.In the secret teachings revealed to some high-level initiates, there is a type of instruction which seems curiously similar to religious and mystical teachings. Astrology, angels, chakras and the powers of the mind to operate independently of the body, such as in remote viewing, are all a part of Freemasonic lore.Here Lomas, co-author of the international bestseller The Hiram Key, reveals to a wider public and also explains these secret teachings for the first time. He shows that while they are dismissed as superstitious by campaigners for atheism such as Richard Dawkins, they are very much part of the strange, paradoxical world opened up by the latest thinking in quantum physics. This is why he prefers to call them 'Supranatural'.

This anthology offers wide-ranging views by various global experts about the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, as well as related prophecies and associated physical changes of Earth's structure. The purpose of this collection is to broaden your perspective about such issues and concerns, so you can discern for yourself what your commitment to planetary life will be-and then to demonstrate your commitment into being, beginning this very instant.

This is the guide to everything strange, mysterious and uncanny that has occurred in the beautiful and rugged Lake District. Every historic site and ancient monument is explored - including stone circles, ancient cairns and crumbling stations - along with the many hidden treasures to be found in the area. Full access and site details are given, along with something more: the strange and mysterious histories of each. This volume is filled with sources both ancient and modern. From the strange histories of the Romantic poets to modern sightings of ghosts, UFOs and monsters in the lakes, it is an indispensable companion for the traveller about to travel into the mysterious realms of the Lake District.

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."

Lines laid across the plain near the Peruvian site of Nazca have been explained as ancient roads or features of a long-forgotten religious calendar. So why did Erich von Daniken interpret these markings as the contours of a huge galactic spaceport? In his assessment of the uncanny and frequently eerie world of UFO-logy, Gregory L Reece travels deep into a mindset which believes that the gods of mythology were really visitors from the stars. Venturing into the Mojave Desert to watch the night skies for flying saucers; exploring Nevada's top-secret installation 'Area 51'; and visiting Roswell, famous site of a supposed saucer crash in 1947, the author's quest for the truth brings him more than he bargained for. He has his atomic structure recharged in a machine supposedly designed by extraterrestrial technology, encounters a whole galaxy of alien life-forms, and meets those who claim themselves to have been abducted by UFOs. Along the way, he tries to make sense both of the sinister 'Men in Black' and of lethal 'Tall Whites', deadly aliens who liquidate human beings without mercy. What is it about flying saucer culture that speaks to people with an apparently religious intensity and fervour? For those looking for the answers, "UFO Religion" is the definitive guide and handbook to one of the most extraordinary and compelling cults of our times.

Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers -- and outraged the Bush Administration -- with his explosive stories in The New Yorker, including his headline-making pieces on the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Now, Hersh brings together what he has learned, along with new reporting, to answer the critical question of the last four years: How did America get from the clear morning when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?

In Chain of Command, Hersh takes an unflinching look behind the public story of the war on terror and into the lies and obsessions that led America into Iraq. Hersh draws on sources at the highest levels of the American government and intelligence community, in foreign capitals, and on the battlefield for an unparalleled view of a critical chapter in America's recent history. In a new afterword, he critiques the government's failure to adequately investigate prisoner abuse -- at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere -- and punish those responsible. With an introduction by The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, Chain of Command is a devastating portrait of an administration blinded by ideology and of a president whose decisions have made the world a more dangerous place for America.

More than a quarter century after Bob Woodward introduced his Scotch-drinking, cigarette-smoking, garage-skulking friend and source in All the President's Men , the public remains enduringly engrossed by the mystery of Deep Throat's identity. Leonard Garment became fascinated himself and began his own search for Deep Throat. This is the story of that hunt and its successful outcome, a hunt conducted in quintessential Washington fashion: at lunches, dinners, and parties, through the examination of secret, classified documents and testimony, and assisted by liberal doses of political gossip and insider tips from Woodward himself.

Who among us still thinks the year 2000 is just an arbitrary turn of a calendar page? Why does its approach bring both fear of apocalyptic destruction and the promise of millennial salvation? Lee Quinby investigates how anxiety about the arrival of the new century casts everything from El Nino to sheep cloning in apocalyptic terms, simultaneously fueling panic and fostering unfounded hope for a perfect world. Millennial rhetoric is both pervasive and persuasive, Quinby argues, because it operates with mutually reinforcing doses of fear and hope. Religious and secular anxiety erupts over charged issues such as sex education, the regulation of cyberspace, and the Christian masculinity of the Promise Keepers. Quinby exposes the dangers of millennialist solutions, which link misogyny, homophobia, and racism with absolutist claims about truth, morality, sexuality, and technology. It is the absolutism of apocalyptic thought-not an impending apocalypse-that poses the more serious threat to our society, Quinby maintains. Millennial Seduction advocates a form of skepticism that challenges absolutism and encourages democratic participation.

The author investigates how anxiety about the arrival of the new century has cast everything from El Nino to sheep cloning in apocalyptic terms, simultaneously fuelling panic and fostering unfounded hope for a perfect world. Millennial rhetoric is both pervasive and persuasive, Quinby argues, because it operates with mutually reinforcing doses of fear and hope. Religious and secular anxiety erupts over charged issues such as sex education, the regulation of cyberspace and the Christian masculinity of the Promise Keepers. Quinby exposes the dangers of millennialist solutions, which link misogyny, homophobia and racism with absolutist claims about truth, morality, sexuality and technology. It is the absolutism of apocalyptic thought - not an impending apocalypse - that poses the more serious threat to society, Quinby maintains. Her work advocates a form of scepticism that challenges absolutism and encourages democratic participation.

The idea that there may be humanoid creatures existing in some unknown locations beneath the surface of the earth is so fantastic that it seems absurd. How could that possibly be? After all, the ground is pretty much solid mass and what we know of it gives us no reason to suppose that any such thing is remotely possible. When this notion occurred to me many years ago, this was my rational reaction. The old science fiction image of an earth that would allow journeys deep into its centre is patently impossible in light of contemporary scientific understanding. I gave it no further thought. Over the intervening years, with the revolution that has taken place in the understanding of earth's structure, with the discovery of new and even more unusual forms of life, and startling new archaeological, oceanographic and geological discoveries, it seemed that stranger things have been found. Perhaps the idea seemed so fantastic because earlier scientific models of the earth's history and structure were much cruder and simpler. Perhaps the underground is far more varied and complex than once thought. Perhaps the idea was not so absurd after all.

Aliens have invaded the United States. No longer confined to science fiction and tabloids, aliens appear in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, at sweet counters (in chocolate-covered flying saucers and Martian melon-flavoured lollipops) and on Internet web sites. Aliens are at the centre of a faculty battle at Harvard. They have been used to market AT&T, cellular phones, Milky Way chocolate bars, Kodak film, Diet Coke, skateboard accessories and abduction insurance. A Gallup poll reports that 27 percent of Americans believe space aliens have visited Earth. A Time/CNN poll finds 80 percent of its respondents believe the US government is covering up knowledge of the existence of aliens.

People disappear without a trace. Captain Briggs, his crew, and his family vanished from the Canadian built Mary Celeste. Ben Bathurst walked around the horses harnessed to his coach - and was never seen again. People appear without explanation Kaspar Hauser arrived in Nuremberg as inexplicably as if he'd materialised from some unknown dimension. Researchers of the paranormal have investigated cases where thought-forms seem to have acquired quasi-physical properties. Madame Blavatsky claimed to have done it. There were times when Nikola Tesla, the brilliant electrical experimenter, seems to have lived in an alternative reality where mental images of his machines became solid to him. Tesla expert, Oliver Nichelson, put forward a theory connecting Tesla's awesomely strange apparatus at Wardenclyffe, Long Island, with the Tunguska explosion of 1908. Were similar strange forces responsible for moving the Barbados coffins around in their sealed vault?

Where do poltergeists, like the one that haunted Esther Cox in Amherst, Nova Scotia, get their inexplicable energy? When scores of reliable witnesses continue to report their sightings of UFOs, ghosts, crop circles, lake monsters, enormous cat-like beasts, Yeti, and Sasquatch, how can their observations be explained?

We live in an immeasurably strange universe, miraculously suspended in space and time: a universe that has room for the mysteries of the ancient British King Arthur, Merlin, and the Holy Grail; the Oak Island Money Pit in Canada; the undeciphered Glozel Alphabet, and the Priest's Treasure at Rennes-le-Chateau in France; Mermaids and Sea Monsters; the Kingdom of Prester John; the Riddle of the Pictish Stones at Meigle in Scotland; the Vampire of Croglin Grange; Zombies and Wer-beasts; the Devil's Footprints in Devonshire; the Green Children of Woolpit; Lost Cities and Sunken Islands; Pyramids and Stone Circles; Telepathy, Telekinesis, Teleportation, and Prophecy. The list is endless. The investigations fascinating.

The World's Greatest Unsolved Mysteries invites the reader to accompany Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe on their many intriguing investigations in Canada and worldwide and their years of research into the unexplained.

In this book, Velikovsky s ideas are seriously discussed and criticized by three astronomers, a sociologist, and an expert on ancient astronomical records. The result is a full-scale critique of Velikovsky s work from several perspectives. Lucid and informative, the book not only shows the deficiencies of Velikovsky s views, but also makes clear why these views have attracted such a strong public following."