Conceived originally as a serious presentation of thedevelopment of philosophy for Catholic seminary students,Frederick Copleston's nine-volume A History Of Philosophyhas journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of its authorto universal acclaim as the best history of philosophyin English. Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit of immense erudition who oncetangled with A. J. Ayer in a fabled debate about theexistence of God and the possibility of metaphysics, knewthat seminary students were fed a woefully inadequatediet of theses and proofs, and that their familiarity with most of history's great thinkers was reduced tosimplistic caricatures. Copleston set out to redress thewrong by writing a complete history of Western philosophy,one crackling with incident and intellectual excitement --and one that gives full place to each thinker, presenting histhought in a beautifully rounded manner and showing hislinks to those who went before and to those who came after him.

Hailed for its searing emotional insights, and for theastonishing originality with which it weaves together personalhistory, cultural essay, and readings of classical texts bySophocles, Ovid, Euripides, and Sappho, The Elusive Embrace is aprofound exploration of the mysteries of identity. It is alsoa meditation in which the author uses his own divided life toinvestigate the "rich conflictedness of things," the double livesall of us lead. Daniel Mendelsohn recalls the deceptively quiet suburb where hegrew up, torn between his mathematician father's pursuit ofscientific truth and the exquisite lies spun by his Orthodox Jewishgrandfather; the streets of manhattan's newest "gay ghetto," where"desire for love" competes with "love of desire;" and the quietmoonlit house where a close friend's small son teaches him themeaning of fatherhood. And, finally, in a neglected Jewishcemetery, the author uncovers a family secret that revealsthe universal need for storytelling, for inventing myths of theself.

For the Earth to move to the next vibration, says RichardGrossinger, consciousness must change in profound ways, and theseinvolve core elements of humanity: evil, grief, bliss, andcompassion. 2013 locates these elements in often unlikely placesand seeks their nature and capacity for change. With playfulnessand precision, 2013 tackles the questions of creation and existencein their twenty-first-century incarnation. In these intellectualfield notes, the author’s absorbing style combines memoir withscientific deconstruction, metaphysical ontology, and experimentalprose that recalls the Black Mountain school to draw transcendentalinsight from the ephemeral space-time we call daily life. Movingwith equal ease between matters cosmic and earthly, Grossingerdetails existence as an exhilarating adventure always pushing ustoward a higher state in this wide-ranging, humorous, and heartfeltbook. Including an informal course in psychic development, 2013sheds light on the ephemera of planets and iPods, politics an

Both scholarly and diverting, "Imagining Atlantis" has beenhailed as the most important book ever written about the Atlantislegend and its perennial appeal. 46 illustrations. 5 maps.