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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
This book chronicles the history of radio as technology and as
media. Radio grew from a clumsy, temperamental form of wireless
telegraph to a system that is so ubiquitous and easy to use that it
has disappeared to users as a technology and became part of the
fabric of human existence. This biography charts the growth of the
technical end of radio, starting with the history of electricity,
and moving through the invention of vacuum tubes, the heterodyne,
FM, transistors, and microchips. But the history of radio is not
just wires and electricity--it's the story of strange characters,
deep thinkers, visionary mystics, hyperactive minds, ambitious
souls, power hungry demagogues, and utopian humanists; all of whom
strove to make radio into what they thought it should be. In
addition, Radio: The Life Story of a Technology looks at the
technology as a cultural phenomenon, including the corporate
aspects and history of the business of radio. In the middle of the
20th century people saw that radio could be used as an agent of
social change, both good and bad. The transition of radio from
private corporate device to public news provider to entertainment
box back to political tool is at the heart of this work.
How does science treat evidence from the edges? This fresh and
entertaining look at the search for Sasquatch concerns more than
just the startling and controversial nature of monsters and monster
hunting in the late twentieth century, but the more important
relationship between the professional scientists and amateur
naturalists who hunt them-and their place in the history of
science. The traditional heroic narrative of monster-hunting
situates mainstream, academic scientists (the eggheads) as villains
rejecting the existence of anomalous primates and cryptozoology as
unworthy of study. It gives a privileged place to passionate
amateur naturalists (the crackpots) who soldier on against great
odds, and the obstinacy of the mainstream to bring knowledge of
these creatures to light. Brian Regal shows this model to be
inaccurate: many professional scientists eagerly sought anomalous
primates, examining their traces and working out evolutionary
paradigms to explain them. Even though scientific thinking held
that anomalous primates-Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti-did not and could
not exist, these scientists risked their careers because they
believed these creature to be a genuine biological reality.
This study focuses on the ways in which Harold Pinter conceives of
and dramatizes time according to the medium in which he is working.
It goes beyond Pinter's fascination with false and true memory to
trace the various textual and non-textual strategies he employs to
distort sequence and duration in his plays. This book shows how
Pinter undermines the temporal assumptions of naturalism and
realism to form a relativistic world in which time is a central
feature.
A fascinating and wide-ranging look at the controversies
surrounding the search for the origins of the human species.
Written for those new to the subject, Human Evolution: A Guide to
the Debates presents the remarkable history of our understanding of
human origins as it developed from the 1800s to the present. Most
works on this topic focus narrowly on one individual, theory, or
debate. In contrast, Human Evolution draws from a wide range of
sources to offer a fully rounded portrait of the entire field. The
chapters of the book follow a basic chronological order covering
the issues, personalities, and discoveries that are central to the
questions and controversies surrounding human evolution. The
coverage draws from a wide range of associated topics and examines
not only controversies of a religious nature but also those that
have little to do with religion, allowing readers to weigh the
information, come to their own conclusions, and even begin their
own debates.
This book examines the legends of who 'really' discovered America.
It argues that histories of America's origins were always based
less on empirical evidence and more on social, political, and
cultural wish fulfillment. Influenced by a complex interplay of
Nativist hatred of immigrants and Aboriginal people, as well as
distrust of academic scholarship, these legends ebbed and flowed
with changing conditions in wider American society. The book
focuses on the actions of a collection of quirky, obsessed amateur
investigators who spent their lives trying to prove their various
theories by promoting Welsh princes, Vikings, Chinese admirals,
Neo-lithic Europeans, African explorers, and others who they say
arrived centuries before Columbus. These myths acted as mitigating
agencies for those who embraced them. Along with recent
scholarship, this book makes extensive use of archival
materials-some of which have never been employed before. It covers
the period from the sixteenth century to the present. It brings
together separate historiographic ideas to create a unified history
rather than focusing on one particular legend as most books on the
subject do. It shows how questions of who discovered America helped
create the field of historical scholarship in this country. This
book does not attempt to prove who discovered America, rather it
tells the story of those who think they did.
More than just a collection of factual entries, this rich resource
explores the difference between scientific and pseudoscientific
pursuits in a way that spurs readers to ask questions and formulate
answers. What makes science science? How do we tell which
assertions, beliefs, and methods are scientifically sound, and
which are not? Brian Regal's authoritative, entertaining new
reference, Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia gets at the heart
of these questions by helping readers understand how the scientific
method works, how to critically analyze all kinds of "evidence,"
and how to sort through long-running myths and current
pseudoscience controversies. Ranging from the dawn of history to
the present and across world cultures, Pseudoscience uses a field
of endless fascination as a means of driving home the importance of
solid scientific reasoning. The encyclopedia spans the full
spectrum of scientific and nonscientific pursuits, from chemistry,
biology, psychology, and medicine to eugenics, religion,
cryptozoology, the occult, and paranormal activities. Specific
entries focus on general concepts of science, the lives of
individuals, and claims of abilities. Throughout, these entries go
beyond simply stating facts by constantly engaging readers in a
discussion about the very nature of true scientific discovery. 124
entries, from alchemy and alien abductions to yetis and zombies,
that continually focus readers on the true nature of legitimate
scientific methods and findings An introductory essay, drawing on
the work of genuine historians and philosophers of science,
offering guidelines for assessing topics in pseudoscience 40
original line drawings created specifically for this reference,
depicting key individuals, creatures, artifacts, and more An
extensive bibliography of current and classic works on the full
range of pseudoscience topics covered in this volume An index that
makes it easy to locate specific topics, terms, names, and ideas
This book examines the legends of who ‘really’ discovered
America. It argues that histories of America's origins were always
based less on empirical evidence and more on social, political, and
cultural wish fulfillment. Influenced by a complex interplay of
Nativist hatred of immigrants and Aboriginal people, as well as
distrust of academic scholarship, these legends ebbed and flowed
with changing conditions in wider American society. The book
focuses on the actions of a collection of quirky, obsessed amateur
investigators who spent their lives trying to prove their various
theories by promoting Welsh princes, Vikings, Chinese admirals,
Neo-lithic Europeans, African explorers, and others who they say
arrived centuries before Columbus. These myths acted as mitigating
agencies for those who embraced them. Along with recent
scholarship, this book makes extensive use of archival
materials—some of which have never been employed before. It
covers the period from the sixteenth century to the present. It
brings together separate historiographic ideas to create a unified
history rather than focusing on one particular legend as most books
on the subject do. It shows how questions of who discovered America
helped create the field of historical scholarship in this country.
This book does not attempt to prove who discovered America, rather
it tells the story of those who think they did.
The discovery in the 1920s of a huge cache of fossils in the Gobi
Desert fuelled a mania for dinosaurs that continues to the present.
But the original goal of the expedition was to search for the
origins of man. Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935), director of the
American Museum of Natural History, stood at the forefront of the
debate over human evolution and the expedition aimed to prove his
theory of human origins. Osborn rejected the idea of primate
ancestry and constructed a non-Darwinian theory that the evolution
of man was the long adventurous story of individuals and groups
exerting personal will-power and inborn characteristics to achieve
both biological and spiritual success. It is an idea that still
echoes today. Study of Osborn's thinking, however, has been
obscured by the perception that racism influenced his theories.
Brian Regal paints a different and more textured picture in this
book - he shows that Osborn's views on race, like his political
ideas, were motivated by his science, itself grounded in religious
doctrine. His belief in the Central Asian origins of man, his role
as an activist for eugenic reform and immigration controls, his
support for Nordicism, his place in the 'New' versus 'Old' biology
debate, his role in the Christian Fundamentalist controversy, the
Scopes Monkey trial, and finally his construction of the 'Dawn Man'
hypothesis - all stemmed from his desire to support his human
evolution theory, and point the way to salvation. This biography
charts Osborn's intellectual development, from its roots in the
eclectic Christianity of his mother, through his student days with
Arnold Guyot, James McCosh, and T.H. Huxley, to his mature work at
the American Museum. It examines his trials and tribulations,
friendships and conflicts, and the world in which he lived: all
contributed to the construction of his theory. It is the dramatic
story of a man holding onto ideas that for him represented the very
meaning of life itself.
A provocative look at the mystery surrounding the Jersey Devil, a
beast born of colonial times that haunts the corners of the Pine
Barrens-and the American imagination-to this day. Legend has it
that in 1735, a witch named Mother Leeds gave birth to a horrifying
monster-a deformed flying horse with glowing red eyes-that flew up
the chimney of her New Jersey home and disappeared into the Pine
Barrens. Ever since, this nightmarish beast has haunted those
woods, presaging catastrophe and frightening innocent passersby-or
so the story goes. In The Secret History of the Jersey Devil, Brian
Regal and Frank J. Esposito examine the genesis of this popular
myth, which is one of the oldest monster legends in the United
States. According to Regal and Esposito, everything you think you
know about the Jersey Devil is wrong. The real story of the Jersey
Devil's birth is far more interesting, complex, and important than
most people-believers and skeptics alike-realize. Leaving the Pine
Barrens, Regal and Esposito turn instead to the varied political
and cultural roots of the Devil's creation. Fascinating and lively,
this book finds the origins of New Jersey's favorite monster not in
witchcraft or an unnatural liaison between woman and devil but in
the bare-knuckled political fights and religious upheavals of
colonial America. A product of innuendo and rumor, as well as
scandal and media hype, the Jersey Devil enjoys a rich history
involving land grabs, astrological predictions, mermaids and
dinosaur bones, sideshows, Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, a
cross-dressing royal governor, and Founding Father Benjamin
Franklin.
The first academic study of this subject is an entertaining look at
the search for Sasquatch which considers not just the nature of
monsters and monster hunting in the late 20th century, but the more
important relationship between the professional scientists and
amateur naturalists who hunt them-and their place in the history of
science.
"The streets of Vienna are paved with history of medicine," the
famous Viennese writer and journalist Karl Kraus could have said.
In fact, an attentive visitor cana (TM)t move through the city
without being reminded by all the street names, historical
buildings, monuments or memorial stones that Vienna has been a
capital of medicine where students and doctors from all over the
world came to learn.
This city guide is meant for all the visitors of this
fascinating city, who are interested in the history of medicine. 15
walks through the city show the reader the traces of the old
medical Vienna: the Foolsa (TM) Tower, Freuda (TM)s private
practice and apartment, the workplaces of many famous physicians,
through the Old General Hospital, the old university, or the most
important pathological museums. Many unknown details and anecdotes
are included as well as a short history of Vienna and some gourmet
tips and the famous Viennese coffee shops for relaxing.
Wien - medizinisch. Auch von dieser Seite kann Wien betra- tet
werden. Spuren finden sich in dieser Stadt fast uberall, war sie
doch - medizinhistorisch betrachtet - noch vor gar nicht allzu
langer Zeit das "Mekka der Medizin". 15 Spaziergange durch das alte
medizinische Wien sind - schrieben. Naturlich konzentrieren sich
die Touren um die - nere Stadt und den neunten Bezirk, denn hier
war das mitt- alterliche Wien und am Alsergrund entstand das
Allgemeine Krankenhaus. Einige Touren fuhren jedoch auch aus der
Stadt hinaus und zeigen Wien von versteckteren Blickwinkeln. L- gen
sie doch abseits der ausgetretenen touristischen Pfade und
entwickeln so einen ganz eigenen Reiz. Die Orientierung im Buch -
und hoffentlich auch in Wien - fallt leicht. Hat man sich fur eine
Tour entschieden, halt man sich an den UEbersichtsplan. Da der
Mensch nicht nur von - dizin allein lebt, gibt es zusatzlich noch
kunsthistorische No- zen und eine Liste guter Gast- und
Kaffeehauser. So lassen sich die gewonnenen Eindrucke sogar
"wiengerecht" verdauen. Den Museen ohne fixe OEffnungszeiten, sie
enthalten Spezi- sammlungen, die es so nur in Wien gibt, ist eine
eigene Mu- umstour gewidmet. Viel Spass beim touren durch ein
anderes Wien, sowohl fur jene, die die Stadt zum ersten Mal
erkunden als auch fur jene, die sie als "ihre Stadt" bezeichnen.
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