17 Great eBooks ! ! ! (eBook Compilation)

material included

1. The Gnostics and Their Remains - by Charles William King 2007

King seeks links to Gnostic symbols and beliefs far afield, from India, to the Templars, Rosicrucians and Illuminati. He discusses Mithra and Serapis worship, and gives many examples of Roman and Greek magical spells and talismans. He discusses the fudged birthdate of Jesus, Masons' marks, and Simon Magus. The book is a fascinating tour of hidden knowledge.

2. New Dictionary of the History of Ideas (6 Vol. Set) - by Maryanne Cline Horowitz 2004

*Starred Review* This long-awaited update to the original Dictionary of the History of Ideas (see p.1700 for an excerpted version of our review, which was published October 1, 1974) is "designed to introduce a general audience to the main ideas and movements of global cultural history from antiquity to the twenty-first century." This is an entirely new work rather than a mere revision, featuring more than twice as many articles as the original (well over 700 as compared to just over 300) as well as a more definite global view of the topics covered when compared to the Eurocentric nature of the older set. There are more than 550 contributors, including such well-known writers as Peter Burke, Nathan Glazer, Arthur Hertzberg, Moshe Idel, Margaret L. King, and Martin E. Marty. Entries include those on the same topics but entirely rewritten from the original (City, Nationalism, Time) along with those that could barely have been thought of in the mid-1970s (Computer science, Sexual harassment, Visual culture). Just as telling, reflecting the scholarly shift over the past 30 years, are entries that no longer exist, such as Baconianism; Faith, hope, and charity; and Uniformitarianism and catastrophism.
Although the original edition was not entirely bereft of illustrations, they were sparse. Not so with this edition: black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout, most notably in entries such as Architecture, Humanity in the arts, Iconography, and Maps and the ideas they express.
Each volume opens with a "Reader's Guide" that provides a general outline of the articles in the set, divided into four main sections: "Communication of Ideas," "Geographical Areas," "Chronological Periods," and "Liberal Arts Disciplines and Professions." The detailed "Reader's Guide" is a good companion to the index, which occupies more than 200 pages of volume 6. Main entries in the set are often divided by separately authored subentries; examples include gender (divided into overview and Gender in the Middle East) and motif (Motif in literature and Motif in music. The longest main entry of the set, the 30-page Communication of ideas, is divided into seven parts. Articles conclude with up-to-date bibliographies (often divided into primary and secondary sources) and see also references. The casual reader will likely miss an entry often referred to in various cross-references: the 54-page essay Historiography, which is placed just after the preface in volume 1 rather than in the main alphabetic arrangement. It would have been helpful to mention this placement in the see also references.
The casual reader may also be caught off guard by the fact that many entries presume that the reader is acquainted with the older edition--or at the very least has some background in the topic. Law, for example, begins, "The development of law and jurisprudential ideas since the 1970s" and continues to concentrate on events of the recent past rather than providing the historical concentration seen in the previous edition. The preface affirms that this title "focuses on topics of interest today and features developments in scholarship since 1970." Does this mean libraries must retain the older set? Fortunately, the answer is no. Scribner allowed the first set to be released free of charge online courtesy of a grant authorized by the Journal of the History of Ideas for digitization through the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center. It is accessible at http://www.historyofideas.org.
This well-written set will appeal to anyone interested in the topic and is highly recommended for large public and academic libraries. In all, worth the 30-year wait. Ken Black

3. Dew Of Death: The Story Of Lewisite, America's World War I Weapon Of Mass Destruction - by Joel A. Vilensky, Pandy R. Sinish 2005

In 1919, when the Great War was over, the New York Times reported on a new chemical weapon with "the fragrance of geranium blossoms," a poison gas that was "the climax of this countrys achievements in the lethal arts." The name of this substance was lewisite and this is its story the story of an American weapon of mass destruction.

Discovered by accident by a graduate student and priest in a chemistry laboratory at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., lewisite was developed into a weapon by Winford Lewis, who became its namesake, working with a team led by James Conant, later president of Harvard and head of government oversight for the U.S.'s atomic bomb program, the Manhattan Project. After a powerful German counterattack in the spring of 1918, the government began frantic production of lewisite in hopes of delivering 3,000 tons of the stuff to be ready for use in Europe the following year. The end of war came just as the first shipment was being prepared. It was dumped into the sea, but not forgotten.

Joel A. Vilensky tells the intriguing story of the discovery and development of this weapon and its curious history. During World War II, the United States produced more than 20,000 tons of lewisite, testing it on soldiers and secretly dropping it from airplanes. In the end, the substance was abandoned as a weapon because it was too unstable under most combat conditions. But a weapon once discovered never disappears. It was used by Japan in Manchuria and by Iraq in its war with Iran. The Soviet Union was once a major manufacturer. Strangely enough, although it was developed for lethal purposes, lewisite led to an effective treatment for a rare neurological disease.

4. Top Secret Tales of World War II - by William B. Breuer 2000

Critical Acclaim for TOP SECRET TALES of World War II

"A book for rainy days and long solitary nights by the fire. If there were a genre for cozy nonfiction, this would be the template."-Publishers Weekly

"Perfect for the curious and adventure readers and those who love exotic tales and especially history buffs who will be surprised at what they didn't know. Recommended for nearly everyone."-Kirkus Reviews

This war was fought by soldiers out of uniform. Stealth and ingenuity were their weapons. Victory was their only code of conduct.

In Top Secret Tales of World War II, noted military historian William Breuer documents espionage-in all its forms-as it evolved in the hands of both Allied and Axis agents of intelligence and counterintelligence. Here you'll find riveting tales of patriotism and treachery, subversion and sabotage, kidnappings and assassinations, and bribes and blackmailing-with frequently startling revelations about the secret wars behind both the battlefields and the headlines.

5. Jerusalem, Illustrated History Atlas - Martin Gilbert 1987

Sir Martin Gilbert (born October 25, 1936 in London) is a British historian and biographer and author of over seventy books on a range of historical subjects. He is primarily known as the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during World War II.
He studied modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1960 with a BA. He was knighted in 1995 for services to British history and international relations. An Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford University, he lives in London and since 2002 has been a Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale College, Michigan.
The author writes in the preface to this atlas:
In this Atlas, I trace the history of Jerusalem from biblical times to the present day. Each map is illustrated by a facing page of prints or photographs. The sixty-six maps, taken together, are intended to provide a broad survey of Jerusalem's history, with special emphasis on the City's development during the last hundred and f i f ty years, when it grew from a remote and impoverished provincial town of the Ottoman Empire, with a population of less than 40,000, to a capital city with a population of more than 360,000.
In the bibliography, beginning on page 124, I have listed those maps, atlases, guide books, travellers' tales and historical works which I consulted while preparing the maps, and on which I drew for the contemporary material which they contained for each decade of the city's history.

6. Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies Throughout the Ages - by Ursula King 2003

Ursula King’s Christian Mystics tells the story of sixty men and women whose mystical devotion to God transformed the times in which they lived and still affects our present-day search for spiritual meaning. Moving from key figures of the early Christian age to the great mystics of modern times, special emphasis is given to the great high points of mysticism in the medieval, early modern and Eastern Orthodox traditions. The lives of visionaries, including Clement of Alexandria, Saint Bonaventure, Blaise Pascal and Simone Weil are studied in detail. It reveals the richly diverse expressions that mystical experience has found during two thousand years of Christian history and shows how it underpins Christian ritual and doctrine as a source of spiritual inspiration for all believers.

Beautifully illustrated and written by a prominent name in the British academic world, this significant text has received high acclaim and is the only book to feature biographies of key mystics.

7. Crusade Against the Grail: The Struggle between the Cathars, the Templars, and the Church of Rome - by Otto Rahn 2006

The first English translation of the book that reveals the Cathar stronghold at Montségur to be the repository of the Holy Grail

• Presents the history of the Papal persecution of the Cathars that lies hidden in the medieval epic Parzival and in the poetry of the troubadours

• Provides new insights into the life and death of this gifted and controversial author

Crusade Against the Grail is the daring book that popularized the legend of the Cathars and the Holy Grail. The first edition appeared in Germany in 1933 and drew upon Rahn’s account of his explorations of the Pyrenean caves where the heretical Cathars sect sought refuge during the 13th century. Over the years the book has been translated into many languages and exerted a large influence on such authors as Trevor Ravenscroft and Jean-Michel Angebert, but it has never appeared in English until now.

Much as German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann used Homer’s Iliad to locate ancient Troy, Rahn believed that Wolfram von Eschenbach’s medieval epic Parzival held the keys to the mysteries of the Cathars and the secret location of the Holy Grail. Rahn saw Parzival not as a work of fiction, but as a historical account of the Cathars and the Knights Templar and their guardianship of the Grail, a “stone from the stars.” The Crusade that the Vatican led against the Cathars became a war pitting Roma (Rome) against Amor (love), in which the Church triumphed with flame and sword over the pure faith of the Cathars.

8. Codex Magica: Secret Signs, Mysterious Symbols, and Hidden Codes of the Illuminati - by Texe Marrs 2005

Codex Magica is awesome in its scope and revelations. It contains over 1,000 actual photographs and illustrations. You'll see with your own eyes the world's leading politicians and celebrities—including America's richest and most powerful—caught in the act as they perform occult magic. Once you understand their covert signals and coded picture messages, your world will never be the same. Destiny will be made manifest. You will know the truth and everything will become clear.

9. Apocalyptic Bodies: The Biblical End of the World in Text and Image - BY Tina Pippin 1999

As we approach the new millennium there is a growing interest within western religion in the apocalypse. In Apocalyptic Bodies Tina Pippin traces the biblical notions of end times as represented in ancient and modern texts, art, music and popular culture, and addresses the question of how we, in the late twentieth century, are to be competent and ethical readers of and responders to the " signs of the times." Apocalyptic Bodies presents a postmodern reading of the biblical texts and offers new ways of thinking about the bible and the end of the world.

10. The Golden Dawn (Llewellyn's Golden Dawn Series) - BY Israel Regardie 2002

The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie is considered by many to be the book that started the modern occult movement. The original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which started in the late 1800s, borrowed from a wide variety of occult traditions o Kabalah, Tarot, Geomancy, Enochian Magic, Theosophy, Freemasonry, Paganism, Astrology, and many more o and created a unique and viable system of magic that is still being practiced today. Almost every contemporary occult writer and modern group has been influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Order or its members, making The Golden Dawn one of the most influential occult books of the past 100 years.

The book is divided into several basic sections. First are the knowledge lectures, where you will learn the basics of the Kabalah, symbolism, meditation, geomancy and more. This is followed by the rituals of the Outer Order, consisting of five initiation rituals into the degrees of the Golden Dawn.

The next section covers the rituals of the Inner Order including two initiation rituals, equinox ceremonies, and more. Then you will learn the basic rituals of magic and the construction, consecration, and means of using the magical tools. Once you have these you can go on to evocation rituals, talismans, and invocations.

The book gives explanations for how to design talismans, do skrying and travel on the astral plane. You will also learn geomancy, the Tarot, and Enochian magic.

Filled with numerous illustrations, lists, and tables, The Golden Dawn provides guidance for a lifetime of magic and life-changing transformation. Get your copy today.

11. The Meaning of Masonry - BY W. L. Wilmshurst 1993

The papers here collected have been written with a view to promoting the deeper understanding of the meaning of Masonry; to providing the explanation of it that one constantly hears called for. The meaning of Masonry, however, is a subject usually left entirely unexpounded and that accordingly remains largely unrealized by its members save such few as make it their private study. It seems taken for granted that reception into the Order will automatically be accompanied by an ability to appreciate forthwith and at its full value all that one there finds. The contrary is the case, for Masonry is a veiled and cryptic expression of the difficult science of spiritual life, and the understanding of it calls for special and informed guidance on the one hand, and on the other a genuine and earnest desire for knowledge on the part of those seeking to be instructed. Contents: The Position and Possibilities of the Masonic Order; Deeper Symbolism of Freemasonry; Masonry as a Philosophy; Further Notes on Craft Symbolism; The Form of the Lodge; Holy Royal Arch of Jerusalem; Freemasonry in Relation to the Ancient Mysteries.

12. Apocalypse of Freemasonry: A Constructive Scheme of Interpretation of the Symbolism of the Masonic Lodge - by F. de P. Castells 2003

1943. Interpretation of the symbolism of the Masonic Lodge. Contains considerations of the sources of these symbols. Underlying the ceremonies practiced by the Freemasons of the present day, there is a system of philosophy which is based on the lofty conception of the Most High God as a Being who indwells the Light, and is Himself "light." Those who are in fellowship with Him, enjoy His light, even in the dark. If, therefore, we would grasp the meaning and purpose of what is said and done in the Lodge, we must keep this fundamental thought uppermost in our mind. In His light shall we see light.

13. Global Freemasonry - by Harun Yahya 2002

After reading this book, you will be able to consider many subjects, from philosophical schools to newspaper headlines, rock music songs to political perspectives, with a deeper understanding, and discern the meaning and aims behind events and phenomena.

14. The meaning of masonry: A popular guide to the values of ancient and modern freemasonry - by Lynn F. Perkins
1971

An argument sometimes used against Freemasonry often goes as follows: "Christians claim that only Jesus can save them. Masonry teaches each man must save himself! If you claim to be Christian how can you go against the word of God???" Then a quotation from the middle of this particular book - 'The Meaning of Masonry' by Lynn F. Perkins - will be used to validate that point.

Perkins writes: "Therefore Masonry teaches that redemption and salvation are both the power and the responsibility of the individual Mason. Saviors like Hiram Abiff can and do show the way, but men must always follow and demonstrate, each for himself, his power to save himself, to build his own spiritual fabric in his own time and way. Every man in essence is his own savior and redeemer; for if he does not save himself, he will not be saved. The reader who succeeds in getting back to the real teachings of the masters, including Jesus of Nazareth, will find unanimity of thinking on this matter." (page 95).

Of course, what the anti-Mason neglects to mention is that the author (whose Masonic credentials regrettably, are simply not given anywhere NOR is he mentioned in books like "Masonic Reader's Guide" or the "Masonic Literary Harvest" which list hundreds upon hundreds of Masonic authors) says in the second paragraph of the introduction "Of course, he would be naive indeed who would declare that what Masonry meant to him it would necessarily mean to every other Mason. The author does not know it all, or anywhere near the all of Masonry; his book might well be called 'What Masonry Means To Me'."

In the third paragraph of the introduction Perkins says, in speaking in the third person about himself, "However, he claims to possess no 'authority' because of such studies; if he is right in his conclusions, they are completely valid to him alone."

Then there's the part at the end entitled "Personal Testimony" where Perkins says "I AND I ALONE (his capitalization), am responsible for my own interpretations of Masonic teachings. Masonry does not proclaim any particular techniques whereby the Builder shall construct his spiritual edifice." A few pages later, he says "The writer knows that the Masonic reader should not and will not take what he has said 'on authority';...." Regrettably, in the late 1950's, Perkins clearly was not writing assuming the audience of today's anti-Masons.

15. Manual of Freemasonry - by Richard Carlisle 1992

My object is here to instruct Masons as well as others, and not to give them offence. They ask for light. Here is Light! This book is the CLASSIC EXPOSITION OF ENGLISH FREEMASONRY. Originally published in 1825, just twelve years after the organization of the United Grand Lodge of England, this works boasts the most complete collection of early versions of the English masonic rituals available under a single cover. Contains early versions of the three Craft degrees, the Royal Arch, Knight Templar Druids, Mark Man, Mark Master, Architect, Grand Architect, Scotch Master or Superintendent, Secret Master, Perfect Master, Intimate Secretary, Intendant of the Buildings, Past Master, Excellent Masons, Super-Excellent Masons, Nine Elected Knights, Elect of Nine, Peregnon, Elect of Fifteen, Priestly Order of Israel, Irish Master, Noahites or Prussian Knights, Red Cross Sword of Babylon, Knights of the Sword of the East, Red Cross of Rome and Constantine, Knights of the White Eagle or Pelican, Knights of the Eagle and Rosicrucian or Ne Plus Ultra. Illuminating study for Masons and nonmembers.

16. Morals And Dogma Of The Ancient And Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry: Contains the Fourth Throught Thirty-Second Degrees - by Albert Pike

If you read only one book on Freemasonry, this is it! Contents: The Scottish Rite degrees from the 4th through the 32nd. Secret Master; Perfect Master; Intimate Secretary; Provost and Judge; Intendant of the Building; Elu of the Nine; Elu of the Fifteen; Elu of the Twelve; Master Architect; Royal Arch of Solomon; Perfect Elu; Knight of the East; Prince of Jerusalem; Knight of the East and West; Knight Rose Croix; Pontiff; Master of the Symbolic Lodge; Noachite or Prussian Knight; Knight of the Royal Axe or Prince of Liabanus; Chief of the Tabernacle; Prince of the Tabernacle; Knight of the Brazen Serpent; Prince of Mercy; Knight Commander of the Temple; Knight of the Sun or Prince Adept; Scottish Knight of St. Andrew; Knight Kadosh; Inspector Inquisitor; Master of the Royal Secret.

17. Incredible Visual Illusions

its cool just illusions pictures in pictures,moving things in pictures