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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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After being "lost" for two hundred years, the travel diary of John Aspinwall has been discovered and is published in this volume.On his voyage to England in 1794, Aspinwall and fellow passenger John Jacob Astor endured wild seas and a threat of capture by a French warship. In London, Aspinwall dined with Chief Justice John Jay and his coterie, attended major productions of opera and the theatre; he traveled by stagecoach across southern England and through the Midlands, and sailed north to Scotland. He was intently interested in the wondrously high bridges, the canal system, and new manufacturing processes but was apparently not troubled by the sight of child labor. And he was both fascinated and annoyed by the deference given the nobility and royalty--recording in his diary each glimpse of George III and his family.Back in New York City, for the fifty years of his adulthood, John Aspinwall earned his living in trade and finance. But he was also concerned with civic needs such as the establishment of public schools and the provision of smallpox inoculations for the poor. In addition to serving on the boards of the New York Hospital, the Humane Society, and the Magdalen Society, he was a founder of the American Bible Society in 1816.Equally as valuable as the publication of the 18th-century diary is this first study of the Aspinwalls, a distinguished branch of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's family tree that has been virtually ignored by biographers and historians. The work details the role of various Aspinwalls in the social and political arena over 300 years of American history--from Pilgrims and privateers in the colonial era, merchant princes in the 19th century, to FDR in the 20th. And through the accurate genealogical charts that are included, links can be traced between the Aspinwalls and America's finest families. ... Read more

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Richard Collins sets out to tell the John Fante storythrough the analysis of his books. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Brilliant portrait
This is a brilliant portrait of a misunderstood and underestimated author. I recommend it to any student of California literature.

Ah, If Only The Dead Could Talk
I knew John Fante. We worked together at screenwriting in Los Angeles. While I started out wanting to applaud Mr. Collins' efforts at capturing his subject, again and again in reading this book I came upon unsubstantiated assumptions that I know to be in part or wholly inaccurate. Collins is a decent enough writer but here he takes on alchemy and produces too much hot air. Comparatively, Steven Coopers biography of Fante was at least workmanlike and based on interviews with Fante's widow, Joyce, and Fante's family. Conversely, Mr. Collins' effort appears to be fundamentally realized by intellectual assertion and personal specualtion. Having know Fante I cannot recommend this work. At best too much of it is guesswork and at worst it is insulting to its subject. I have no wish to be unkind to Mr. Collins but I do recommend that he stick to writing about what he actually knows.

Fante Revealed
This book provides an excellent account of the California screenwriter andnovelist's life, and an eminently readable interpretation of his works interms of his life as an Italian-American author. This is essential readingfor anyone interested in Fante and in the Italian-American experience. ... Read more

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"... a ground-breaking contribution to the field of African literature... " -- Research in African Literatures

"Anyone with the slightest interest in West African cultures, performance or theatre should immediately rush out and buy this book." -- Leeds African Studies Bulletin

"A seminal contribution to the fields of performance studies, cultural studies, and popular culture. " -- Margaret Drewal

"A fine book. The play texts are treasures." -- Richard Bauman

African popular culture is an arena where the tensions and transformations of colonial and post-colonial society are played out, offering us a glimpse of the view from below in Africa. This book offers a comparative overview of the history, social context, and style of three major West African popular theatre genres: the concert party of Ghana, the concert party of Togo, and the traveling popular theatre of western Nigeria.

Customer Reviews (1)

the excitement of things one does not understand immediately
the three authors have found an excellent way of trying to put into writing an intense experience in professional drama in west-africa, an experience which is way beyond the western concepts. It communicates in a very lifely way their scholarly preoccupations mixed with their human insights. ... Read more

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The bestselling guide to how to survive in the wild, in any climate, on land or at sea. Written by ex-SAS survival expert John 'Lofty' Wiseman.Have you thought about how you would deal with surviving out in the wild with nothing but the plants you could forage? Do you wonder how you would manage if you were lost and had to set up an improvised camp? Can you tie knots or make basic weather forecasts? All the above and much more are covered in the Gem SAS Survival Guide.The book is based on the training techniques of the Special Air Service, the world's most famous elite fighting force. Whether you are a camper, a hiker, a sailor or anyone else engaged in outdoor pursuits, this reference bible could actually save your life.Using clear line drawings and colour illustrations, survival techniques from the sea to the mountains and from the polar icecaps to the desert are described, complete with what to do in a whole range of medical and meteorological emergencies.This edition has been updated to reflect rapidly changing developments in communication, textile and survival technologies, to make the most of your outdoor pursuits. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

usefull
I like the format I did not realize that the book is small, actually pocket sized. You could actually have this book in a survival kit. I would pull off some pages that are pretty basic. i have to say I ahve not finished reading. Browsed, now going through throughly. Overall worthwhile

Great "pocket" guide
Very small but thick packed with tons of info.Great to throw in your backpack for reference on pretty much any survival topic.Way more complete than the U.S. Army survival manual.FYI this SAS survival guide has no military info (ie. evasion, camo, etc.) if you were expecting that.In a survival situation would definitely help you stay alive and signal rescue or walk out if need be.
... Read more

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Were first-century Jews expecting a messiah? Were other messiahs mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls? Were key early Christian symbols also found in the Judaism of Qumran? Did the Jews of Jesus's day believe in salvation by works? In the Holy Spirit? How did the New Testament authors think about inspired interpretation? In Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls, six leading scholars--John Collins, Craig Evans, Martin Abegg, R. Glenn Wooden, Barry Smith, and Jonathan Wilson--examine some of the major issues that the Dead Sea Scrolls have raised for our understanding of early Christianity. These cutting-edge articles explore the impact of the Scrolls on Christianity, delving deeper than most surveys on the Dead Sea Scrolls. ... Read more

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A study of the life and work of Johann Bessler (aka Orffyreus)who claimed that he had perfected a Perpetual Motion machine in 1712.The evidence for his claims is examined and proof of his sincerity is discussed.The previously unknown existence of a coded message is revealed and described and the possible way in which the machine was constructed is examined. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Not solved yet.
John Collins tells us that this book is the result of his 30 years of research into the story of Johann Ernst Elias Bessler (1680-1745), who called himself Orffyreus (a name derived from his own by a substitution cipher). It is a biography of the man and his times, and an account of the several mechanical wheels he built and publicly demonstrated. He claimed these could produce continuous motion and even useful work, without power input.

The first 11 chapters are the most valuable part of this book, for they tell an interesting story, with excerpts from contemporary sources, letters, newspaper accounts, eyewitness accounts--material not available elsewhere in one place. The book is so generous with details that it becomes tiresomely repetitious in places, but lengthy passages can be skimmed without serious loss.

This was a time of great advances in engineering and physics, but also a time in which such modern ideas as energy and momentum were only vaguely understood by even the best scientists. In fact, the difference between energy and momentum hadn't been resolved. There were some pretty competent scientists then: Isaac Newton, (1642-1726), Gotfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), and Willem Jacob 's Gravesande(1688-1742), who play roles in this story, though Newton, detesting controversy, stayed out of it.

Interest in this episode continues because, while certain historical facts are undeniable, much about it remains a mystery. Besslerhimself was an unpredictable and often unreasonable individual, desperately trying to preserve his secrets, and hoping to sell them for a considerable sum of money. His public demonstrations of his wheel were carefully staged to prevent its close examination. Whenever he felt that someone was too close to discovering something about it, he would "destroy" (dismantle) the machine to prevent disclosure of its method of operation. Where there is incomplete information, people persist in inventing mysteries.

Does John Collins "put forward a convincing argument" that Bessel's machine was capable of extracting energy continuously from gravity? Not at all. Collins' convictions about this pervade most of the book, but are only explicitly brought forth in the concluding chapters. So that doesn't detract seriously from the historical and biographical heart of his story. His subtitle "An ancient mystery solved?" is a clue. If Collins provided a persuasive solution, the "?" wouldn't be necessary. This is much like the disingenuous "you be the judge" disclaimer of those schlocky "unsolved mysteries" programs on television.

The cover blurb declares that the book is "An investigation into the legend of Bessler's wheel". That's accurate, for my dictionary defines "legend" as a story that is "popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable". This story is documented, in letters, newspaper accounts and Bessler's own books, and Collins provides lengthy excerpts from these in abundance. But much that we would wish to know that would help us make sense of this is not known, and only speculation.

The cover text also declares that this story presents "The revolutionary concept which offers a solution to the world-wide energy crisis." This seems designed help sell the book, for the public is eager for a magic solution to the energy crisis. Collins' concluding chapter 13 "Prime mover for the millennium" adopts a sensationalist style, full of speculation about the wonderful consequences IF certain of his assumptions were proven to be correct. This is mere fluff.

In his chapter 12 "The secret", one expects to find out how Bessler accomplished his wonderful public demonstrations. Alas, we do not. Collins teases us with semantics, pointing out (correctly) that the meaning of "perpetual motion" is much abused, and had a different connotation in Bessler's time than it does today. Then he asserts that Bessler's machine did work as advertised, that it did not violate any physics laws, and that if could could recreate it today it would provide unlimited energy for all. Unfortunately he does not deliver on these claims.

Collins frequently tries to convince us that Bessler did not engage in deception, but was an honest seeker after truth. Others who have examined this story (myself included) are not so sure. Bessler's carefully staged demonstrations were deliberately designed to conceal rather than reveal, much as a stage magician uses deception, contrived apparatus, hidden mechanisms, and misdirection.

Collins speculates that Bessler's wheel was actually tapping energy from the gravitational field, much as a windmill steals energy from the wind. In this he displays his failure to understand the nature of gravity. He gives this away in his chapter 12 "The secret." He says "Now the force, gravity, is moving in a perpendicular direction downward." Here he is misled by his own analogy of gravity with wind. Gravity does not move as the air in wind moves. Gravitational force does not move. This could be a careless slip, meaning "the force due to gravity is directed downward". But the surrounding context suggests strongly that it was intended, and if so, displays a fundamental misconception about gravity. His subsequent discussion extends this misconception to an apparent misunderstanding of torques, something that ought to embarrass someone who is trained as an engineer. I could cite more examples, but these are typical of this chapter.

Collins suspects that Bessler left his secret encoded in some of his writings. He presents evidence that Bessler did indeed have a fascination with ciphers and codes, but one can't help wondering if pursuing this chimera might lead nowhere, like the infamous "Bible Code" books of Michael Drosnin, which have been thoroughly discredited. Fortunately that speculation occupies only small space in this book.

For someone who wants a thorough review of the facts of this story, this is a good enough read. It presents an episode in 17th and 18th century science that doesn't appear in textbooks, and can't be found in most libraries. But the book does not deliver on the larger claims of its advertising.

Recommend this book - liken it to 'Da Vinci Code'
Meticulous research, enjoyable read - I liken this book to the Da Vinci Code, but its real, not fiction.
I believe this author is presently writing a follow-up - can't wait!!

I bought this book for my boyfriend, and it blew his mind!!
Jimmy, my boyfriend, heard about this book, and asked me to get it for him. I did, and he really enjoyed it.He reckons that its going to replace our gas-guzzling autos. He's serious!

What a read!!!! This is the best book ever!!!
This book is awesome!!! The author has spent all of his life researching the history of Johann Bessler, AKA Orffyreus, inventor of a perpetual motion machine about 300 years ago.John Collins, the author, puts forward a convincing argument that the machine was genuine. Watch out you oil barons!!!!

Great book - recommended
Couldnt put this book down - a brilliant true scientific/historical mystery, on a par with Dan Browns 'The Da Vinci Code'
This book could solve the energy crisis!! ... Read more

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This is a collection of 12 essays, written since 1997, on themes related to Hellenistic (Greek-speaking) Judaism. They include a review essay on recent scholarship on Hellenistic Judaism, a discussion of the question of anti-Semitism in antiquity, a study of the Hellenistic reform in Jerusalem, several studies of individual texts and an essay on the circumstances that led to the first Jewish revolt against Rome.

Readership: Scholars and students of the Bible, ancient Judaism and early Christianity. ... Read more

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Indispensable grammar support for ages 7+ , this lively handbook provides short, clear definitions of all key grammatical concepts plus lots of examples, tips on spelling, and dictionary and thesaurus work./ Short, clear definitions of key grammatical concepts are easy to grasp/ Fun examples, cartoons and explanations support understanding/ A full A-Z index ensures children can find what they want to know fast/ For ages 7+ ... Read more

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With millions of cars and trucks on the road, America's vehicle recovery industry is kept busy 24 hours a day. This new photographic celebration pays tribute to the hardworking men, women, and machines that rescue stranded motorists. More than 500 photos display the best tow trucks of all makes and models. More than 50 essays feature historical information on the equipment, industry, and auto recovery professionals. Enthusiasts will learn how to find and fix old tow trucks, as well as receive listings of industry publications and vintage clubs. Also provides additional information on toy tow trucks, military tow trucks, and histories of famous towing businesses. -- Tune-up charts for each make from the first V-8 to 1965 models ... Read more

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This title studies aspects of Judaism, from the Persian period through late antiqity, including its influence on early Christianity. The essays cover the problem of the Canon in Second Temple Judaism and deal with apocalypticism, the Book of Daniel, the Sibylline Oracles, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. ... Read more