The Alchemy Of Words

In tradition of alchemists in the Middle Ages, poet searches for precise language to shed light on why we live the way we do.

The Age of the Discovery of the Americas was concurrent with the Age of Discovery in science. In The Alchemy of Conquest, Ralph Bauer explores the historical relationship between the two, focusing on the connections between religion and science in the Spanish, English, and French literatures about the Americas during the early modern period. As sailors, conquerors, travelers, and missionaries were exploring "new worlds," and claiming ownership of them, early modern men of science redefined what it means to "discover" something. Bauer explores the role that the verbal, conceptual, and visual language of alchemy played in the literature of the discovery of the Americas and in the rise of an early modern paradigm of discovery in both science and international law. The book traces the intellectual and spiritual legacies of late medieval alchemists such as Roger Bacon, Arnald of Villanova, and Ramon Llull in the early modern literature of the conquest of America in texts written by authors such as Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, José de Acosta, Nicolás Monardes, Walter Raleigh, Thomas Harriot, Francis Bacon, and Alexander von Humboldt.

This Peters second book is once again a most wonderful collection to be enjoyed, within you will find poems about life as Peter as both seen and lived it, plus poems with much Humour, about Nature, Spirituality and the joy of Love

A “timely, informative, and fascinating” study of 8 inventions—and how they shaped our world—with “totally compelling” insights on little-known inventors throughout history (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction) In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines 8 inventions and reveals how they shaped the human experience: • Clocks • Steel rails • Copper communication cables • Photographic film • Light bulbs • Hard disks • Scientific labware • Silicon chips Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. She describes how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway’s writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid’s cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies. Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences—intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. She also shows that innovation is universal—whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR.

What do you do when life grants you everything and yet you are not happy? Are you allowed to complain when the rest of the world is plagued by disease, war, and abuse? Instead of feeling shame about her unease, Mena Teijeiro believed she had a responsibility. With resources, a curious brain, and a burning fire within, it was her duty to stop living an empty life and instead explore who she was to understand the human experience. Full of courage and a big heart, Menas poems are vulnerable and raw. Written mostly in free verse and in the first person perspective, her musings are bravely personal. The Alchemy of Words carries the essence of love and truth, disappointment and loss, abandonment and loneliness, and joy and innocence. Mena has been gifted with the ability to alchemize tender and precious moments into vibrant words, offered as whispers to our higher selves. It is time to take a journey of surrender in which we remember that, in our hearts, we are all pure, loved, and awakened to possibility. Menas use of natural phenomena for inner transformation hints at our connection with the Earth. The time is ripe for a deeper understanding.