The Great Pyramid Disrespected

The Bible and Mythology have a good deal to say about the origin of the Great Pyramid and how it relates to the anthropology of hominins, including modern humans.

Pre-Dynastic, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, Hyksos Period and early New Kingdom Egypt. The great pharaohs of Egypt are placed in context with their Biblical counterparts.

This collection of essays is not interested in the unresolved questions about the origin, original use, and authentic meaning of the prehistoric monuments of the British Isles. It is not concerned with their prehistory. Rather it deals with the history of barrows, standing stones, and stone circles: with the ways in which they have been viewed, the meanings that have been attributed to them, and the significant impact that they have had over the centuries on British life and culture – from motivating artists, authors, musicians and film-makers to inspiring ‘New Age’ religions. It is thus as interested in stones commonly believed to be megaliths – like the foundation stones of the chapel in the Dartmoor village of South Zeal – as in ‘real’ remains. In her recent study of Stonehenge, the historian Rosemary Hill asserted: ‘Stonehenge does not belong to archaeology, or not to archaeology alone’. Likewise, this book is not written primarily for archaeologists – or not for the interest of archaeologists alone. It will also be of interest to social and cultural historians, to those interested in fine art, literature or film, and to anyone fascinated by the construction of national, local, or counter-cultural identities. It should also intrigue anybody who lives near one of the thousands of prehistoric remains that add beauty and mystery to Britain’s countryside. The book surveys over eight hundred years of rediscovery, study, superstition, inspiration, fear, restoration, and destruction, investigating how different generations saw their own anxieties, beliefs and concerns reflected in the mysterious lives of the prehistoric builders. By discussing the many different ways in which prehistoric remains have been treated in different periods, the book interrogates any notion of objective approaches to archaeology. Instead, it asserts that what we think of as ‘the past’ is in fact multiple and man-made. Thus, if we are to effectively interpret and fully understand the prehistoric remains of the past, a variety of disciplines and a range of approaches – both traditional and unconventional – will need to work together. For this reason, this book has been produced as a jointly-authored text – a collaboration between archaeologists, folklorists, historians, journalists, and literary critics.

In January of 2016, Mike Brown, the discoverer of Sedna and other dwarf planets beyond Neptune and Pluto, made the stunning announcement that at least one full size planet (dubbed “Planet 9”) is still waiting to be detected in our outer solar system. Astronomers and Astrophysicists have embarked upon an intensive five-year program to scour the heavens in search of this missing corner piece to the solar system puzzle. In honor of that non-trivial pursuit, “A Twisted History: Genesis and the Cosmos” has been freshly edited and greatly expanded. It is not only a trusty bird dog to the epic scavenger hunt that is “Mission Planet 9,” but your companion in exploring the mysteries of the larger Milky Way Galaxy as well. The central figure of the Book of Genesis is not a mighty hunter (of men or beasts), but a mild-mannered cultivator of human relations and the celestial arts. It is not Nimrod, but Abraham who is reckoned as deserving of twelve entire chapters (Genesis 12 -23) and portions of two others (Genesis 24-25). He is curiously commanded to look toward the heavens and hunt for stars. In extra-Biblical tradition, Abraham is more specifically identified as the leading astronomer of his Age. With this in mind, an interpretation of the Torah from the perspective of Cosmology takes on renewed focus and significance, and especially in light of recent events. In the Book of Genesis, stargazer Abraham has a Nemesis named Abimelech. Adam is cursed with the company of an older, wiser and higher Serpent. Even more tellingly, Jacob (likened by his son Joseph to the Sun) wrestles with his slightly older, reddish and surly twin (Dwarf Sun) brother Esau. Twins are quite prominent and considered special in the Bible and Myth. Astrophysicists have also recently determined that multiple star systems predominate in our galactic neighborhood, and a number of young, developing star systems of this type are now being studied in detail. What we have not suspected is that our own solar system begun as a binary. In retrospect, it perhaps should have been intuitively obvious. There is two of everything! There are two gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. There are two nearly identical other gas planets with extensive damage, Neptune and Uranus. There are two nearly identical rocky planets, Earth and Venus. There are two heavily damaged rocky planets, Mercury and Mars. There may even be the remains of two proto-planetary disks, those being the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt. How many more clues do we really need? Mike Brown and his colleagues are looking for a planet (and maybe two), but may end up rediscovering our solar system’s missing stunted twin instead.

Moments after their wedding reception, Ray Hoover and his wife, Lucy, began a lifelong quest to see the world. To date, they have logged six million miles, taken two thousand trips to seven continents, and filled over four hundred passport pages with thousands of stamps and visas. In a fascinating travelogue, Ray chronicles their most profound exploits to some of the world’s most unusual destinations, often under unique circumstances, that taught them not just about the geography of a location, but also the spirit derived from it. Throughout his narrative, Ray details their travels to the City of Gold, the Middle East including a cruise on the Nile, some of the most conflicted places on Earth, India and Imperial China, Vietnam and Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, East Berlin, Ireland and Greece, Africa, Australia, North America, Antarctica, and much more. Adventures to the World’s Hidden Corners chronicles the lifelong quest of an architect and his wife as they embarked on an odyssey to the world’s most intriguing and out-of-the-way places.

The emergence of CRISPR/Cas9 technology has revolutionized gene editing. The Nobel prize for chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, the scientists responsible for its discovery, in 2020 and it is considered the frontier of sophisticated medical science. This technology contains the promise that both gene therapy and eugenic control of human evolution is possible, even plausible, in our near future. This book looks at these developements in the context of the history of previous social and scientific attempts at genetic editing, and explores the policy and ethical challenges they raise. It presents the case for altering the human germ-line (which contains and controls hereditary genetic information) to eliminate a large number of genetic diseases controlled by a single or few genes, while pointing out that gene therapy is likely to be ineffective for diseases with more complex causes. In parallel it explores the possibility of genetic enhancement in a set of case studies. But it also argues that, in general, genetic enhancement is ethically problematic and should be approached with caution. Given the success of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, and the explosion of related techniques, in practice it would be virtually impossible to ban germ-line editing in our future. A more useful goal is to put regulation in place, with oversight that represents the interests of society. That, in turn, requires an informed public discussion of these issues, which is the intention of this book.