Burke's Reflections (1790) predicted with uncanny accuracy the Reign of Terror which lay ahead . . . The book, however, is far more than a supremely eloquent piece of occasional writing. For Burke is without doubt the foremost conservative British political thinker: in his support for piecemeal reform rather than revolutionary change, in his sceptical belief in expediency and practical wisdom rather than abstract theorizing, in his defence of property, religion and traditional institutions. On all these topics Burke gave a definitive expression to a set of attitudes still at the heart of today's controversies. And yet Burke was no mere unthinking reactionary, a useful ally in Cold War propaganda; rather, as Conor Cruise O'Brien shows in his brilliant introduction, he was an Irishman with a good deal of sympathy for the 'revolutionary' Catholic cause - a latent sympathy which, paradoxically, may explain some of the unparalleled power of this great work.

This volume examines the use of the image of the Jewish temple in the writings of the Anglo-Saxon theologian and historian, Bede (d. 735). The various Jewish holy sites described in the Bible possessed multiple different meanings for Bede and therefore this imagery provides an excellent window into his thought. Bede's Temple: An Image and its Interpretation examines Bede's use of the temple to reveal his ideas of history, the universe, Christ, the Church, and the individual Christian. Across his wide body of writings Bede presented an image of unity, whether that be the unity of Jew and gentile in the universal Church, or the unity of human and divine in the incarnate Christ, and the temple-image provided a means of understanding and celebrating that unity. Conor O'Brien argues that Bede's understanding of the temple was part of the shared spirituality and communal discourse of his monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow, in particular as revealed in the great illuminated Bible made there: the Codex Amiatinus. Studying the temple in Bede's works reveals not just an individual genius, but a monastic community engaged actively in scriptural interpretation and religious reflection. O'Brien makes an important contribution to our understanding of early Anglo-Saxon England's most important author, the world in which he lived, and the processes that inspired his work.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics gate crashes the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. A world where Erwin Schrodinger is a wild red haired Scotsman and the universe we know has nothing to do with reality: "Gentlemen, my name is MacSchrodinger " he cried, rolling out the broad Scottish accent, "It was maself who discovered this type of cat yer're been 'erre discussing ... and I think, tha' therre few things yer should need to know abut this 'erre beastie." A deep silence fell into the room as everybody looked expectantly towards the newcomer. He stood spotlighted by the dust sparkling in the beams of light, which shot through the darkness of the room to carve a day in the dark of the theatre. The rabbit woke up and poked its head up over the edge of the box. "As yer very well know indeed," said MacSchrodinger slowly and with distinct care as he made his way down the stairs," a few years aego while on a big game hunting expedition in Cheshire; on tha dark and terrable continent called England," the 'RRR's' thrilled through the air, "that I first discovered this extraordinary species of Cat " He spat the word out. "At great risk to myself, mind ye, and with a terrible loss of life to ma hunting party." He now stood in front of them, before the blackboard and resting his hands on the box in which the rabbit cowered within. "Ach, nae doubt yer have read in the popular press," he paused as if to show his contempt of that institution," of the extra-orrdinary events that took place on the expedition. Of the terrible, terrible battle that took ocurred twixt the camps baker and the deadly, deadly Jabberwocky And how we lost the self-same baker in his last heroic final conflict with tha' terrible, terrible Boojum Quark &quo