The Life of Hinduism


Book Description

'The Life of Hinduism' collects a series of essays that present Hinduism as a vibrant, truly 'lived' religion. The text offers a glimpse into the multifaceted world of Hindu worship, life-cycle rites, festivals, performances, gurus, and castes.




Cyrion


Book Description

Now for the first time in e-book, a collection of Tanith Lee’s short stories and novella about the fantastical adventures of Cyrion, a hero larger than life. Roilant needs a hero—fast. He’s trapped, betrothed to his cousin Eliset in an agreement made to help the destitute branches of their family line. But rumor has it that Eliset is a witch, a villainess behind the deaths of many in his family, and if Roilant weds her, he’ll meet the same fate. Roilant didn’t put much stock in the rumors—until, that is, he tried to call off the betrothal. Since then, he’s been plagued by a series of nightmares demanding he return to Eliset’s side by the end of the month. If he goes to her, he’ll surely be murdered for his fortune, but if he stays, he fears his cousin will kill him and his beloved, the woman he loves. Convinced only one man alive can help him, Roilant stumbles into the Honey Garden inn looking for a legend—a man named Cyrion. All anyone seems to have are stories, but everyone’s heard tell of the mighty Cyrion. They say that he looks like an angel, with hair like the sky of earnest sunrise. That he’s an adventurer, a vanquisher of evil and a defender of man. That he’s a fearless swordsman, a master of disguise, and a genius detective. Some say he’s defeated demons and outwitted wizards. That he’s solved impossible mysteries and survived inescapable death. But is he for real? And—more importantly—is he for hire?




Any Human Power


Book Description

From the author of the much-loved series Boudica and Rome, and the Sunday Times bestseller A Treachery of Spies, comes the visionary novel of a lifetime. Sometimes it takes a revolution to change the world, sometimes it takes a relationship. When Lan, anthropologist and grandmother, lies dying, she makes a promise that binds her long into the Beyond. A decade later her teenage granddaughter is caught up in a global storm of online outrage that unleashes the fury of a young, betrayed generation. For one shining fragment of time, the world is with her granddaughter. But then the backlash begins, and soon she and her family's rural home are besieged by the press, facing the wrath of the old establishment. Watching over the growing chaos is Lan, who taught her family to think independently, approach power sceptically and dream with clear intent. She knows that more than one generation's hopes are on the line. It is only with courage and conviction, grounded in an ancient wisdom, that this digital uprising will survive and grow into what she knows it can be: a human movement, capable of profound change, that can sweep us all to a future that works before it is too late. But Lan is dead, her powers to influence the living are limited and the challenge her grandchildren face is mythic in scale ...




Found and Lost


Book Description

A luminous memoir from the Holocaust writer, Alison Leslie Gold, told through a series of letters to the living and the dead. Alison Leslie Gold is best known for her works that have kept alive stories from the time of the Holocaust, stories of courage and survival - most famously her Anne Frank Remembered, co-authored with Miep Gies (who risked her life to protect the Frank family). She has never chosen to write about her own life or what made her into a gatherer of other people's stories, until now, in Found and Lost. Starting with her childhood experience of running her primary school 'Lost and Found' depot, Gold charts the origin of her need to save objects, stories, people - including herself - whom she has sensed to be on a road to perdition. After a series of deaths of people close to her (mother, lover, mentor, friend), she develops, though a series of letters, a meditation on aging, friendship, loss and the forces that link us to the dead. The letters tell of her early activism; her descent into alcoholism and subsequent recovery; and they tell of her discovery of the power of writing to give shape and meaning to a life. Found and Lost is both a tender memorial to the extraordinary people in her life, and a compelling tale of redemption.




Men of Wealth


Book Description




Stars Without a Name


Book Description

Alex, Lassiter and Brukk all looked up at the same time when they heard the roar of the two low flying Fighters that buzzed their positions. It was immediately followed by an attack Jetcopter that hovered above. Military vehicles and soldiers began to drop down from airborne supply and troop carriers on all the hillsides. The first thought that came into the two adversaries minds was that the other had brought in air and ground support and they were about to be overrun. That thought stopped when a loudspeaker from the 'copter' began its announcement. "ATTENTION COMBATANTS. YOU ARE ILLEGALLY WAGING ARMED CONFLICT. LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS. PLACE HANDS ON TOP OF HEAD AND COME INTO THE OPEN. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN AIR AND GROUND STRIKES ON ALL, I REPEAT, ON ALL YOUR POSITIONS. WE HAVE SEVERAL HUNDRED HELLPOINT TROOPS ON EACH OF YOUR FLANKS. IF EITHER GROUP FIRES ON THE OTHER OR ON OUR TROOPS WE WILL TAKE OUT YOUR ENTIRE POSITION. ACKNOWLEDGE BY THE LEADERS OF THE TWO GROUPS COMING INTO THE OPEN AND NO ONE WILL BE HARMED. YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES TO COMPLY OR FIRING WILL COMMENCE."




Josh and the Mine


Book Description

Joshua Daniel is nearly fourteen, and he has a story that he must tell. The things that happened to him in the last holidays have been twisted by some of the residents of the hamlet where he and Matthew Forsyth stayed. Now he must tell the true story. It is not a story that makes him proud. The rumors about it could ruin the man who led the rescue and damage his own reputation in the small community in which he grew up. The true facts are bad enough. Josh gets bored on his own, so he invites Matt to go with him to Johns farm. While staying there, they hatch a plan to go into an old gold mine in the bush that borders the farm, a mine that they have been told was dangerous. What happened, as a result of this plan, nearly killed John, who is like an uncle to Josh. The local policeman also goes to hospital. Josh did not mean this to happen, but Matt and he set out to do something forbidden. They started out having a lot of fun in that mine, but Josh later discovered things about the mine and about himself. Those things trapped him there. Matt has to call John to rescue Josh. They succeeded, but the mine got its own back while Josh slept. When he woke up, they are nowhere to be found. He realized that they were still in the mine and that he has to get them out of the mine before either of them die. It becomes a race against time before Elysium claims a friend. What can have happened? Who is Mad Max, and why does Josh hate him? What happened to sending Senior Constable Angus McIntyre to the hospital as the rescue was completed?




English in Singapore


Book Description

English in Singapore provides an up-to-date, detailed and comprehensive investigation into the various issues surrounding the sociolinguistics of English in Singapore. Rather than attempting to cover the usual topics in an overview of a variety of English in a particular country, the essays in this volume are important for identifying some of the most significant issues pertaining to the state and status of English in Singapore in modern times, and for doing so in a treatment that involves a critical evaluation of work in the field and new and thought-provoking angles for reviewing such issues in the context of Singapore in the twenty-first century. The contributions address the historical trajectory of English (past, present and possible future), its position in relation to language policy and multiculturalism, the relationship between the standard and colloquial varieties, and how English can and should be taught. This book is thus essential reading for scholars and students concerned with how the dynamics of the English language are played out and managed in a modern society such as Singapore. It will also interest readers who have a more general interest in Asian studies, the sociology of language, and World Englishes.







The Kantian Imperative


Book Description

Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy is almost universally understood as the attempt to analyse and defend a morality based on individual autonomy. In The Kantian Imperative, Paul Saurette challenges this interpretation by arguing that Kant's 'imperative' is actually based on a problematic appeal to 'common sense' and that it is premised on, and seeks to further cultivate and intensify, the feeling of humiliation in every moral subject. Discerning the influence of this model on a wide variety of historical and contemporary political thought and philosophy and critical of its implications, Saurette explores its impact on the work of two seminal and contemporary thinkers in particular: Charles Taylor and Jürgen Habermas. Saurette also shows that an analysis of the Kantian imperative allows a better understanding of current political problems such as the U.S. torture scandal at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and broader post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy. The Kantian Imperative thus demonstrates that philosophy and political theory are as relevant to contemporary events as at any other time in history.