'La scienza non può comportarsi come una religione, con una sua unica verità e i suoi dogmi assoluti o, peggio ancora, come una setta che mostra aperta intolleranza verso chi non è conforme al suo credo'.

Dal cielo piovono rane e pesci, cadono ghiaccio e sassi, e intanto scaturiscono dal nulla torrenti d'acqua...numerosi bambini scompaiono, altri ne appaiono, mentre in alto sciamano milioni di mosche, api, lucciole...più mille altri fatti apparentemente tutti inspiegabili.

Charles Fort è il padre della moderna ricerca di frontiera. 'Wild Talents' non è soltanto un surreale viaggio tra sparizioni, autocombustioni, vampiri, lupi mannari, aggressori invisibili, poltergeist, telecinesi, cani parlanti... ma anche e soprattutto un provocatorio gioco intellettuale che, a colpi di ironia e sarcasmo, mira a decostruire la visione convenzionale della realtà. I fenomeni anomali sono segnali che ci aprono alla possibilità dell'oltre, di una dimensione diversa da quella ordinaria o almeno più vasta. Il mentale e il fisico si confondono, le distinzioni saltano. La stregoneria, scopriremo, è un fatto. I poteri occulti della mente sono talenti spontanei che possono essere coltivati e addomesticati.

Piogge di rane, di sassi, di ghiaccio, di pesci, avvistamenti di strane luci in cielo e in mare, testimonianze sugli ufo e tanti altri avvenimenti inspiegabili riportati dai giornali per i quali fino a oggi non è stata possibile trovare nessuna spiegazione plausibile.

'Apparizioni di oggetti luminosi, Ufo, movimenti anomali di corpi celesti, grandi piogge dal cielo di fiori, rane, pesci, insetti, uccelli, sassi, vetro, ghiaccio e sangue... in una raccolta di notizie assolutamente inspiegabili ma vere apparse negli anni sui giornali e sulle riviste scientifiche del mondo intero. Che cosa ci nascondono i governi e gli scienziati?'

La lettura di 'Alla ricerca del tempo perduto' proposta da Charles Blondel privilegia ed esamina, nei loro stringenti rapporti, alcuni dei principali motivi ricorrenti nel capolavoro proustiano: il ruolo dell'immaginazione, le diverse forme di memoria (la memoria dell'intelligenza e della volontà, la memoria del corpo, la memoria del cuore), le modalità dell'attivarsi del ricordo involontario, la decentralizzazione della coscienza nel dispiegarsi della vita psichica, ecc. Questo studio monografico, pubblicato nel 1932, più volte citato e utilizzato all'interno della copiosa letteratura proustiana, illustra questi primari nuclei tematici della 'Recherche' al fine di ricostruire la psicologia di Proust, che, innervata da una concezione estetica, ci offre un dipinto, o meglio traccia una topologia della interiorità (da qui la scelta del termine inusuale di psicografia). Infine, questo Scritto dello psicologo francese delinea un doppio e interessante confronto tra Proust e due protagonisti del mondo culturale novecentesco, Freud e Bergson, per escludere, al di là di significative concordanze, una possibile incidenza di questi sull'opera proustiana, così da porne in risalto la sorprendente originalità.

Beer Is Proof God Loves Us is a funny, engaging, and downright joyous examination of the whole world of beer and brewing. Your guide, Charlie Bamforth, may be the world's #1 expert on every aspect of beer. After a worldwide search, he was selected as the first Anheuser-Busch Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. Now, he presents the most compelling social history of beer ever written: where it came from, where the brewing business stands now, and what the future holds. In this far-reaching book, he reveals:

· The extraordinary complexity and artistry that can be found in great brewing

· The factors that impact beer quality and wholesomeness

· Centuries-old cultural values embedded in good beer

Bamforth also explains what the rise of new craft breweries means to beer drinkers and what the latest global trends will have on beer consumption. The book concludes with a look to the future, illustrating how environmental issues will change the brewing industry and addressing radical new approaches to brewing, such as Happoshu and malternatives.

The site of Recife’s Brasília Teimosa favela emerged as a flash point of economic and political interests in the 1930s and the scene of subsequent strife into the 1980s. The name of this district is a contemptuous allusion to the new capital of Brazil, with its forward-thinking planning policies and urban design, in stark contrast to the favela. This concise account unearths events surfacing through periods of revolution, dictatorship, populism, Cuban Communism, the 1964 military coup d’état and crackdown to the amplified reverberation of civil society voices and engagement decades later. This work examines the interactions between the state and neighborhood associations regarding the allocation of public goods and services in the context of urban resources and their system of supply. In particular it focuses on the political struggles of shanty residents of Brasília Teimosa that are pertinent to the provision of and access to urban land tenure. Control and use of public lands have functioned as instruments of the state to pursue political projects in coalition with private real estate partners, to undermine the strength of opposing factions, or to seal populist pacts with the urban poor who, as illegal occupants of public land, are locked into a dependency relationship with the state. As will be shown, the residents of Brasília Teimosa discovered and exploited “space” for political maneuvers in order to secure permanence on a centrally located, publicly owned site.

A detailed case study explaining how complex multilayered façade systems create energy efficient, architecturally distinctive, and sought-after places to live and work.

In Stalin's Russia, Victor Fischer's father, American journalist Louis Fischer, and his mother, Russian writer Markoosha Fischer, were persecuted as political activists and lived under threat of arrest until Eleanor Roosevelt helped them escape Russia. Victor Fischer grew up to serve in the US Army during WWII and later was a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention. He served in the Territorial House of Representatives and the Alaska State Senate, and also held government positions in Washington, DC. During his return to Russia in recent times, he rekindled old friendships, including the brother of a childhood friend, who wrote about Fischer's childhood in The Troika: The Story of an Unmade Film. Fischer has also been mentioned in his mother's and fathers' autobiographies. In Fischer's own autobiography, he reflects on his early his years, his career, and his personal life with a sense of humor, drawing on his parents' memoirs, correspondence, and other papers, as well as other archives. The book includes a wealth of b&w historical photos and color contemporary photos. Fischer is former director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska. Wohlforth has written other books about Alaska. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

With its vast diversity of land, people, and wildlife, Alaska is the last true American frontier. For the armchair traveler, those planning and dreaming of a future vacation, or those savoring a past trip of a lifetime, this spectacular volume brings together the majestic splendor of America's largest state—591,104 square miles and twice the size of Texas—as captured by some of the world's top outdoor photographers.

Spectacular Alaska celebrates the land—including Mt. McKinley, the highest point in North America at 20,320 feet—the animals—including bald eagles, walruses, moose, whales, wolves, and Alaskan brown bear—and also the people. Much of Alaska is still covered in wilderness, and here lie the giants of America's national parks: Wrangell-St. Elias, almost six times the size of Yellowstone; Denali National Park, which is the size of Massachusetts and known as the Serengeti of the North because of its glorious wildlife; and many other national parks, monuments, and preserves. These parks, as well as the cities, villages, and regions in between are explored in the two hundred photographs and stunning panoramic gatefolds of Spectacular Alaska.

9/10 Stock Orchard Street, colloquially known as the Straw House, is a house and an office designed by two architects for their own use. Completed in 2000, the buildings were experimental in design, execution and inhabitation, and have resisted categorization, challenged received wisdom and provoked debate, especially among architectural critics.

With access to all the material records of the project, this book responds to that debate by presenting multi-faceted narratives from a wide range of writers that have been invited to reflect both positively and negatively on what the buildings represent and how they have performed. Using the buildings as the central case study, it situates them in a broader cultural context, revealing the breadth of conversations and issues engaged by architecture.

Highly illustrated with original material, including the authors’ own drawings and with specially-commissioned photographs, this book discusses theory, practice, ethics, material culture, the media, narrative, feminism, sustainability and construction, offering illuminating and sometimes surprising conclusions relevant to lay, professional and academic readers.

While offering a wide ranging set of approaches and critiques of its subject, this book provides a unique insight into a building’s conception, construction and reception, and in turn facilitates the engagement with the issues facing architectural practice today.

• You're in for a scenic, sensory treat! Alaska has 100,000 glaciers and 10 million lakes. Wildlife roams freely across vast spaces, unfettered by fences or roads. Opportunities to experience real wilderness and enjoy outdoor activities abound. You can't see or do it all, but you can make the most of your time with this friendly guide.
• Our author, Charles Wohlforth, is a lifelong Alaskan who has been writing about his home as a journalist and author for more than 20 years. Wohlforth received wide critical acclaim for his environmental studies of Alaska.
• Alaska For Dummies, 5th Edition gives you comprehensive coverage of America's Last Frontier and includes: Anchorage and road trips from Anchorage; Southeast Alaska, including Juneau, Skagway and Sitka; bush Alaska, covering fascinating places in the Arctic; options for visiting by cruise ship; five great itineraries that touch on Alaska's best destinations; the best places to see marine mammals, birds, humpback whales, black, brown, or polar bears, and other wildlife; the best gold rush towns, including Fairbanks, Juneau, Skagway, and Nome, where the free-wheeling frontier spirit abides today; the top ten questions to ask an Alaskan, and more.
• Like every For Dummies travel guide, Alaska For Dummies, 5th Edition includes down-to-earth trip-planning advice, what you shouldn't miss (and what you can skip), the best hotels and restaurants for every budget, and handy Post-it Flags to mark your favorite pages.

'The Fate of Nature is an important and compelling read. Wohlforth develops critical, unexamined issues about our relationship to nature through the vivid characters and magnificent landscapes of coastal Alaska. You'll be intrigued, and you may be changed.' ---Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

'The great question-to be settled in the next few decades-is whether human nature' will force us to wreck our planet, or whether it will turn out to be the saving grace. Charles Wohlforth doesn't make assumptions-he makes sense. And hopeful sense at that!'---Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

'An ambitious and big-hearted book, The Fate of Nature contains lessons we all need to learn. It should be read by everyone who cares about the oceans and the many lives---human or otherwise---that depend on them.'---Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe

'No one does a better job of bringing the real Alaska to life than Charles Wohlforth. In The Fate of Nature, he has combined compelling storytelling with a provocative contribution to our national environmental debate. I don't agree with everything Charles has to say, but his eye-opening book is an invaluable read for anyone who cares about my state and our planet and wants to leave it better than we found it.'---U.S. Senator Mark Begich, Alaska

'The hidden truths in The Fate of Nature gradually come into focus through the adventures, stories, and exhilarating experiences conveyed with masterful grace and deep understanding of ancient wisdom and modern realities by Charles Wohlforth. A must-read for all who care about securing an enduring future for humankind within the natural systems that sustain us.'---Sylvia A. Earle, Explorer in Residence, National Geographic Society

Starting with this question, award-winning author Charles Wohlforth sets forth on a wide-ranging exploration of our relationship with the world. In The Fate of Nature, he draws on science, spirituality, history, economics, and personal stories to reveal answers about the future of that relationship.

There is no better place to witness the highs and lows of our treatment of the natural world than the vast wilds, rocky coasts, and shifting settlements of Alaska. Since the first encounter between Captain Cook's crew and the Alaskan Natives in 1778, there have been countless struggles between people who have had different plans for the region. Some have hoped to preserve Alaska as they found it, while others aimed to create something new in its place.

Incidents such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill may seem like cause for despair. In the face of such profound tragedies, Charles Wohlforth has found heartening developments in the science of human altruism. This new understanding of what causes humans to cooperate and act conscientiously may be the first step toward taking the actions necessary to preserve an environment that has already been altered drastically in our lifetime.

A clear-eyed, original work of research, reportage, and philosophical reflections, The Fate of Nature gives us a chance to change the way we think about our place in society and the world at large.

Darwin's original work The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was first published 150 years ago. Ray Comfort's abridged version is being released to coincide with this anniversary, and he has added a special introduction, which provides fascinating information about the history of evolution, Darwin's racism, Darwin's thoughts regarding God, creationism, and many other related topics For use as an evangelism tool. Special discounts are available to allow the book to be given away.

Written by one of the world's leading authorities and hailed by American Brewer as 'brilliant' and 'by a wide margin the best reference now available,' Beer offers an amusing and informative account of the art and science of brewing, examining the history of brewing and how the brewing process has evolved through the ages. The third edition features more information concerning the history of beer especially in the United States; British, Japanese, and Egyptian beer; beer in the context of health and nutrition; and the various styles of beer. Author Charles Bamforth has also added detailed sidebars on prohibition, Sierra Nevada, life as a maltster, hopgrowing in the Northwestern U.S., and how cans and bottle are made. Finally, the book includes new sections on beer in relation to food, contrasting attitudes towards beer in Europe and America, how beer is marketed, distributed, and retailed in the US, and modern ways of dealing with yeast.

Brewing is humankind's oldest biotechnology. Over the course of the past 125 years a wealth of research has been devoted to the topic of beer and the processes through which it is produced, namely malting and brewing. Because of this, beer is a highly consistent product and much is known about its quality attributes and how they can be delivered to delight the consumer. This book details, with extensive referencing, the research that has been devoted to the range of quality attributes of beer. It is the first book to approach beer in this way and comprises an essential reference for anyone seeking an authoritative account of the science of beer appearance, flavor, stability and wholesomeness.

* The only detailed book that specifically addresses the science of beer quality
* Addresses the various impacts on and perception of beer quality
* Includes expert insights based on real-world experience

This volume presents Charles Fort's complete procession: four landmark books that reinvented out understanding of the paranormal. Like no one else of his time, Fort was a genius at assembling records of bizarre, haunting, strange, and inexplicable anomalies for which science could not account. In these pages, there appear visitors from space, monsters, poltergeists, and floating islands. Frogs fall from the sky. Mysterious airships take flight in an age before the airplane. People disappear, reappear, and spontaneously combust.
The full range of Fort's investigations is presented unabridged, with a complete subject index and a new introduction by Fort biographer Jim Steinmeyer.

Why is wine considered more sophisticated even though the production of beer is much more technologically complex? Why is wine touted for its health benefits when beer has more nutritive value? Why does wine conjure up images of staid dinner parties while beer denotes screaming young partiers? Charles Bamforth explores several paradoxes involving these beverages, paying special attention to the culture surrounding each. He argues that beer can be just as grown-up and worldly as wine and be part of a healthy, mature lifestyle. Both beer and wine have histories spanning thousands of years. This is the first book to compare them from the perspectives of history, technology, nature of the market for each, quality attributes, types and styles, and the effect that they have on human health and nutrition.

Kazlowski, a wildlife photographer, brings together about 250 color photos he took from the Alaskan Arctic over a period of eight years, with essays by anthropologists, nature writers, environmental activists, and others who cite the effects of global warming on the ecosystem of the polar bear. Essays discuss the political context, how the polar bear is quickly becoming a threatened species, global climate change, the relationship between the Iñupiaq hunters and the animal, and the effects of an oil-dependent world on the Arctic. Excerpts from his journal and an interview with an Iñupiaq elder are included. The book measures 10.5x12.5'. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)