Cracking The Philosophers Stone

Cracking the Philosophers' Stone is a combination of historical commentary with reproducible chemistry that thoroughly analyses one of the most respected and mysterious chemical reactions in the history of science and technology. This book guides the reader through the origins and evolution of the archetypal recipe for the Philosophers' Stone of early Alexandrian alchemy. LaPort and Gabrielsson also provide details for various chemical reproductions based on the authors' interpretation and hypotheses of ancient chemistry preserved in encrypted form in alchemical texts. Because of the human stories and historical backdrop, every layperson will find something of value to expand their understanding of the ancient world. Even scientists and specifically chemists will be fascinated with the reproducible chemical experiments presented in this ground-breaking work. The book is actually three books in one: 1) an introduction to alchemy, 2) a detailed history of alchemy's origins and evolution, and 3) a technical reference for actual reproducibility of alchemy's most sought-after prize - the Philosophers' Stone. Conclusions are contextually counter-balanced by laboratory experimentation, traditional alchemical texts and original interpretations.

Cracking the Philosophers' Stone is a combination of historical commentary with reproducible chemistry that thoroughly analyses one of the most respected and mysterious chemical reactions in the history of science and technology. This book guides the reader through the origins and evolution of the archetypal recipe for the Philosophers' Stone of early Alexandrian alchemy. LaPort and Gabrielsson also provide details for various chemical reproductions based on the authors' interpretation and hypotheses of ancient chemistry preserved in encrypted form in alchemical texts. Because of the human stories and historical backdrop, every layperson will find something of value to expand their understanding of the ancient world. Even scientists and specifically chemists will be fascinated with the reproducible chemical experiments presented in this ground-breaking work. The book is actually three books in one: 1) an introduction to alchemy, 2) a detailed history of alchemy's origins and evolution, and 3) a technical reference for actual reproducibility of alchemy's most sought-after prize - the Philosophers' Stone. Conclusions are contextually counter-balanced by laboratory experimentation, traditional alchemical texts and original interpretations.

Keys to the Kingdom of Alchemy is a decoding of Basil Valentine's 'The Stone of the Great Philosophers - The XII Keys'. Rich allegorical storytelling and masterful conceptual blending reveals the author of 'The XII Keys' to have been a highly educated polymath.

This guide covers the main schools of thought from the Ancient Chinese philosophies of Confucius and Lao Tzu, Ancient wisdom from Aristotle, Plato, Zeno and Pythagoras through to those most influential of philosophers studied the world over - Hegel, Marx, Descartes, Kant, Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein to name but a few. It also discusses the big questions such as 'What is truth?', the relationship between philosophy and religion and the problem of morality.. Accessible, well-informed and fully-illustrated, this is a wonderful book for anyone who is keen to know more about the history of philosophers and their theories.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1922 Edition.

A dazzling work of personal travelogue and cultural criticism that ranges from the primitive to the postmodern in a quest for the promise and meaning of the psychedelic experience. While psychedelics of all sorts are demonized in America today, the visionary compounds found in plants are the spiritual sacraments of tribal cultures around the world. From the iboga of the Bwiti in Gabon, to the Mazatecs of Mexico, these plants are sacred because they awaken the mind to other levels of awareness--to a holographic vision of the universe. Breaking Open the Head is a passionate, multilayered, and sometimes rashly personal inquiry into this deep division. On one level, Daniel Pinchbeck tells the story of the encounters between the modern consciousness of the West and these sacramental substances, including such thinkers as Allen Ginsberg, Antonin Artaud, Walter Benjamin, and Terence McKenna, and a new underground of present-day ethnobotanists, chemists, psychonauts, and philosophers. It is also a scrupulous recording of the author's wide-ranging investigation with these outlaw compounds, including a thirty-hour tribal initiation in West Africa; an all-night encounter with the master shamans of the South American rain forest; and a report from a psychedelic utopia in the Black Rock Desert that is the Burning Man Festival. Breaking Open the Head is brave participatory journalism at its best, a vivid account of psychic and intellectual experiences that opened doors in the wall of Western rationalism and completed Daniel Pinchbeck's personal transformation from a jaded Manhattan journalist to shamanic initiate and grateful citizen of the cosmos.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'. Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin! Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter eBooks never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new readers.