Added by: Maria | Karma: 3098.81 | Audiobooks | 17 May 2007
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Field Notes from a Catastrophe
On the burgeoning shelf of cautionary but occasionally alarmist books warning about the consequences of dramatic climate change, Kolbert's calmly persuasive reporting stands out for its sobering clarity. Kolbert lets facts rather than polemics tell the story: in essence, it's that Earth is now nearly as warm as it has been at any time in the last 420,000 years and is on the precipice of an unprecedented "climate regime, one with which modern humans have had no prior experience". An inexorable increase in the world's average temperature means that butterflies, which typically restrict themselves to well-defined climate zones, are now flitting where they've never been found before; that nearly every major glacier in the world is melting rapidly; and that the prescient Dutch are already preparing to let rising oceans reclaim some of their land. In her most pointed chapter, Kolbert chides the U.S. for refusing to sign on to the Kyoto Accord.
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Translated by John Addington Symonds
Among the vast number of men who have thought fit to write down the history of their own lives, three or four have achieved masterpieces which stand out preeminently: Saint Augustine in his "Confessions", Samuel Pepys in his "Diary", Rousseau in his "Confessions". It is among these extraordinary documents, and unsurpassed by any of them, that the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini takes its place.
The "Life" of himself which Cellini wrote was due to other motives than those which produced its chief competitors for first place in its class. St. Augustine’s aim was religious and didactic, Pepys noted down in his diary the daily events of his life for his sole satisfaction and with no intention that any one should read the cipher in which they were recorded. But Cellini wrote that the world might know, after he was dead, what a fellow he had been; what great things he had attempted, and against what odds he had carried them through.
The period covered by the autobiography is from Cellini’s birth in 1500 to 1562; the scene is mainly in Italy and France. It was the age of Michelangelo, and in the throng of great artists which then filled the Italian cities, Cellini was no inconsiderable figure. Michelangelo himself he knew and adored.
Nowhere can we gain a better idea than in this book of the passionate enthusiasm for the creation of beauty which has bestowed upon the Italy of the Renaissance its greatest glory.
Tesori di Roma - Guide to the Museums, Monuments, and Archaelogical Areas of Rome The only guide which is able to offer tourists and operators a comprehensive survey of the incomparable cultural heritage of the city . More than 150 sites which include archaeological, medieval, modern, science, military and peculiar museums, monuments, archaeological areas and catacombs. For each site a short description, services available, prices and opening times.
Added by: stovokor | Karma: 1758.60 | Fiction literature | 24 April 2007
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The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (retitled Holy Blood, Holy Grail in the United States) is a controversial book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, which was based in large part on Pierre Plantard’s Priory of Sion.
The book was first published in 1982 by Jonathan Cape in London, as a follow-up to a BBC TV documentary on the series Chronicle. A sequel to the book, called The Messianic Legacy, was published in 1987. The original work was reissued in an illustrated hardcover version in 2005.
Here are twelve fascinating, provocative tales of time and space which reveal the unparalleled ingenuity of one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time.
"Marooned Off Vesta", the first fiction Asimov ever published, is a prime example of the versatility of his imagination. Three men in a spaceship only three hundred miles from Vesta have no way to reach it. His well-known "Nightfall" probes the reactions of a planet to the darkness of night which falls only once in two thousand years. And Asimov’s answer to "The Last Question" is so startling that it will never be forgotten. Other stories in this collection include: "C-Chute", "The Martian Way", "The Deep", "The Fun They Had", "The Dead Past", "The Dying Night", "Anniversary", "The Billiard Ball" and "Mirror Image".
THE BEST OF ISAAC ASIMOV—a delightful introduction for those who have not yet experienced Isaac Asimov, and the pièce de résistance for his many devoted followers.
The only guide which is able to offer tourists and operators a comprehensive survey of the incomparable cultural heritage of the city . More than 150 sites which include archaeological, medieval, modern, science, military and peculiar museums, monuments, archaeological areas and catacombs. For each site a short description, services available, prices and opening times.
