John Leslie Mackie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._L._Mackie) gives a carefully considered account of the arguments for and against the existence of God. His view is that, in the light of these arguments, it is a miracle that theism persists. The book has two main parts. In the first we get a discussion of the traditional arguments for the existence […]
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The discovery of the nucleus transformed the twentieth century and will revolutionize this one. Nuclear physics is one of the most exciting—and useful—branches of science. In medicine, it helps save lives through innovative medical technologies, such as the MRI, and in nuclear astrophysics, state-of-the-art theoretical and computer models account for how stars shine and describe how
This inspiring and fascinating memoir, subtitled, ‘The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist,’ The Long Loneliness is the late Dorothy Day’s compelling autobiographical testament to her life of social activism and her spiritual pilgrimage. A founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and long-time associate of Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day was eulogized in the New
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This is the definitive biography of one of the Christian Church’s most prominent figures. St. Augustine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Augustine) was born in A.D. 354 in the town of Thagaste in North Africa to a pagan father and a Christian mother. From these inauspicious beginnings, he would eventually become one of the most influential thinkers in the history of the
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Why is belief so hard to shake? Despite our best attempts to embrace rational thought and reject superstition, we often find ourselves appealing to unseen forces that guide our destiny, wondering who might be watching us as we go about our lives, and imagining what might come after death. In this lively and masterfully argued
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In this magnificent biography by Jon Meacham (http://www.jonmeacham.com/about/), the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power (2012) gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars
Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Beard_(classicist)) wrote the following at the time of the major exhibition about Pompeii at The British Museum (http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/past_exhibitions/2013/pompeii_and_herculaneum.aspx, ran from 28 March – 29 September 2013 ) and the publication of her book Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town. ‘Natural disasters create household names. If it wasn’t for the eruption of
E. H. Gombrich’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Gombrich) bestselling history of the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_History_of_the_World) for young readers tells the story of mankind from the Stone Age to the atomic bomb, focusing not on small detail but on the sweep of human experience, the extent of human achievement, and the depth of its frailty. The product of a generous and humane sensibility,
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Latvian-born Oxford historian Isaiah Berlin (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berlin/, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Berlin) was one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. He was an activist of the intellect who marshalled vast erudition and eloquence in defence of the endangered values of individual liberty and moral and political plurality. The essays in The Crooked Timber of Humanity expose the links between
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