Peter Harrison

Jon H. Roberts

Rethinking the History of Scientific Naturalism

Science Without God?

Can scientific explanation ever make reference to God or the supernatural? The present consensus is no; indeed, a naturalistic stance is usually taken to be a distinguishing feature of modern science. Some would go further still, maintaining that the success of scientific explanation actually provides compelling evidence that there are no supernatural entities, and that true science, from the very beginning, was opposed to religious thinking. Science without God? Rethinking the History of Scientific Naturalism shows that the history of Western science presents us with a more nuanced picture. Beginning with the naturalists of ancient Greece, and proceeding through the middle ages, the scientific revolution, and into the nineteenth century, the contributors examine past ideas about 'nature' and 'the supernatural'. Ranging over different scientific disciplines and historical periods, they show how past thinkers often relied upon theological ideas and presuppositions in their systematic investigations of the world. In addition to providing material that contributes to a history of 'nature' and naturalism, this collection challenges a number of widely held misconceptions about the history of scientific naturalism.

Peter Harrison takes what we think we know about science and religion, dismantles it, and puts it back together again in a provocative new way. It is a mistake to assume, as most do, that the activities and achievements that are usually labeled religious and scientific have been more or less enduring features of the cultural landscape of the West. Harrison, by setting out the history of science and religion to see when and where they come into being and to trace their mutations over timereveals how distinctively Western and modern they are. Only in the past few hundred years have religious beliefs and practices been bounded by a common notion and set apart from the secular. And the idea of the natural sciences as discrete activities conducted in isolation from religious and moral concerns is even more recent, dating from the nineteenth century. Putting the so-called opposition between religion and science into historical perspective, as Harrison does here for the first time, has profound implications for our understanding of the present and future relations between them. "

The Territories of Science and Religion

John Woinarski

Andrew Burbidge

The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012 is the first review to assess the conservation status of all Australian mammals. It complements The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010 (Garnett et al. 2011, CSIRO Publishing), and although the number of Australian mammal taxa is marginally fewer than for birds, the proportion of endemic, extinct and threatened mammal taxa is far greater. These authoritative reviews represent an important foundation for understanding the current status, fate and future of the nature of Australia. This book considers all species and subspecies of Australian mammals, including those of external territories and territorial seas. For all the mammal taxa (about 300 species and subspecies) considered Extinct, Threatened, Near Threatened or Data Deficient, the size and trend of their population is presented along with information on geographic range and trend, and relevant biological and ecological data. The book also presents the current conservation status of each taxon under Australian legislation, what additional information is needed for managers, and the required management actions. Recovery plans, where they exist, are evaluated. The voluntary participation of more than 200 mammal experts has ensured that the conservation status and information are as accurate as possible, and allowed considerable unpublished data to be included. All accounts include maps based on the latest data from Australian state and territory agencies, from published scientific literature and other sources. The Action Plan concludes that 29 Australian mammal species have become extinct and 63 species are threatened and require urgent conservation action. However, it also shows that, where guided by sound knowledge, management capability and resourcing, and longer-term commitment, there have been some notable conservation success stories, and the conservation status of some species has greatly improved over the past few decades. The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012 makes a major contribution to the conservation of a wonderful legacy that is a significant part of Australia’s heritage. For such a legacy to endure, our society must be more aware of and empathetic with our distinctively Australian environment, and particularly its marvellous mammal fauna; relevant information must be readily accessible; environmental policy and law must be based on sound evidence; those with responsibility for environmental management must be aware of what priority actions they should take; the urgency for action (and consequences of inaction) must be clear; and the opportunity for hope and success must be recognised. It is in this spirit that this account is offered.

The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012

Ronald L. Numbers

Michael H. Shank

When and where did science begin? Historians have offered different answers to these questions, some pointing to Babylonian observational astronomy, some to the speculations of natural philosophers of ancient Greece. Others have opted for early modern Europe, which saw the triumph of Copernicanism and the birth of experimental science, while yet another view is that the appearance of science was postponed until the nineteenth century. Rather than posit a modern definition of science and search for evidence of it in the past, the contributors to Wrestling with Nature examine how students of nature themselves, in various cultures and periods of history, have understood and represented their work. The aim of each chapter is to explain the content, goals, methods, practices, and institutions associated with the investigation of nature and to articulate the strengths, limitations, and boundaries of these efforts from the perspective of the researchers themselves. With contributions from experts representing different historical periods and different disciplinary specializations, this volume offers a fresh perspective on the history of science and on what it meant, in other times and places, to wrestle with nature.

From Omens to Science

Wrestling with Nature

Vincent van Gogh

An introduction to the work of Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, tracing the relationship between the artist's life and work. Photographs show Van Gogh's most famous masterpieces in detail to explore his creative methods and techniques. The book is aimed at both KS2 history and art curriculum.

An Introduction to Vincent Van Gogh

Time Commanders, the TV game show from the BBC and Lion Television, features teams of contestants battling against a computer loaded with the tactics of the greatest military minds of all time. With famous battles from history and contestants from all walks of life - while members of the public try to control one army through a computer simulation, the other army acts as we know from the sources that it did - the show has proved popular. the Ancient World: from Caesar to Spartacus; from the Hittites to the Carthaginians; from Boudicca to Attila the Hun; from Alexander the Great to Rameses II. The book also includes information on the main protagonists, the weapons of war, improving technology and the sources. With graphics from the show and a timeline showing the worldwide background to each battle, relevant websites and a good bibliography, this is much more than a TV tie-in - it is a truly accessible history reference book for adults and children alike.

Great Battles of the Ancient World

Time Commanders

The swallows have always feared Winter. For them it is a time of dying and decay. A time they have always fled from, seeking the warmth and safety of the southlands. But this year is to be different. The swallows' wise and venerable leader, Creakwing, announces that he is now too old and infirm to undertake the epic journey across thousands of miles of land and sea. He intends to remain in the northlands during the cold dark months of Winter and try to survive alone. Knowing that for him this will mean almost certain death, a group of young swallows devise a daring plan to rescue their leader. Many other birds are enlisted to help in the plan. Among them, the thieving jackdaws, a captive yellow bird, a brilliantly ingenious blue tit, a wise old owl who is not as wise as he thinks he is.... and finally, out in the icy wastes of ocean the mysterious storm petrels. There will be triumph and tragedy during the long and dangerous journey, an epic Crossing about which the bardic swallows will tell tales and sing songs for generations to come. 'Creakwing's Crossing' is a stirring tale in a literary tradition stretching from Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in The Willows' to 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams in the present day. It is also a tale to remind us that though the boundaries created by Man continue to create tensions and conflict, the natural world observes no frontiers, and the swallows continue to move through the sky as freely as they have always done, in the ancient mystery of migration.

Creakwing's Crossing

Ian McFarland

Learn how to use Tomcat to quickly build more sophisticated Web applications This comprehensive introduction to developing complex Web applications using Tomcat and related Apache Jakarta technologies examines everything you need to know about Tomcat 4—the popular, award-winning server for implementing and deploying servlets and JavaServer Pages. Tomcat helps developers create dynamic Web content without the problems associated with other methods, like CGI scripts. Author Peter Harrison has written the first book to cover Tomcat from a developer's perspective. He shows you how to use Tomcat by itself as well as with related Apache Jakarta technologies to develop dynamic Web applications, and you'll also learn techniques for improving your programming productivity. This practical, guide is packed with source code and examples of real-world Web applications. Plus, you'll discover other exciting features of Tomcat, including: A code-intensive guide to building Web applications that run on Tomcat Details on using other Apache Jakarta technologies-including Struts, Taglibs, Velocity, and CVS-with Tomcat to form a comprehensive Java Web development process Complete guidelines for installing, configuring, and administering Tomcat, including coverage of the new Manager application and Web application deployment process The companion Web site contains: All source code from the book Working demonstrations Links to additional resources

Mastering Tomcat Development

Peter (COL) Cahill

Discover how cars work by taking the driving seat and finding out what makes the engine turn, how the engine moves the wheels, and how the wheels grip the road.

Cars

The spread of Buddism and Tibetan secular power throughout the Himalayas led to a distinctive style of fortifications not found anywhere else. This book looks at Himalayan fortifications, from their creation in the Middle Ages to their destruction and capture by the Chinese in the 20th century.

Tibet, Ladakh, Nepal and Bhutan

Fortress Monasteries of the Himalayas

A Photographic Guide

Seabirds of the World

It is increasingly clear that histories of secularization are not simply dispassionate descriptions of the decline of religious belief and practice in the West. Rather, such narratives often seek to celebrate secularization, promote some version of it, lament it, or otherwise oppose it in favour of a programme of desecularization or resacralization. The aim of this book is to identify some of the major genres of the history of secularization and to explore their historical contexts, normative commitments, and tendential purposes. The contributors to the volume offer different perspectives on these questions, not least because a number of them are themselves participants in the cultural-political programs described above. The primary purpose of this book, however, is the identification of such programs rather than their promotion. Overall, the collection seeks to bring analytical clarity to ongoing debates about secularization and help explain the co-existence of apparently conflicting stories about the origins of Western modernity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Intellectual History Review journal.

Narratives of Secularization

Harrison contends that the freedom from 'savagery' that the 'modern world' promises is not the freedom of humans but the freedom of things--of humans as commodities. Whereas capitalism and its culture of economic dependence is characterized by hierarchy, control, and the commodification of all things, Indigenous values are based upon personal autonomy, experience, dreaming, and a respect for the environment that refuses to equate it to a monetary worth. There is, Harrison argues, no reconciliation to be had between these two systems. Furthermore, the radical left, including anarchists, remain State-builders immersed within the paternalistic and accumulatory ethos represented by Marxist-Leninism and, therefore, only serve to consolidate and extend the ascendency of the West.

An Ethnology of Control

The Freedom of Things

Fiske Kimball

The Colonial Amateurs and Their Models: Peter Harrison

Max Hunter

Pre-U Chemistry Revision Guide

Mary Harrison

Is there a human spirit? Does it exist after death? Where was Spirit before birth? Since the dawn of time humanity has pondered the question of its own mortality. What domain do we go to after death?

The Children That Time Forgot

The conflict between science and religion seems indelible, even eternal. Surely two such divergent views of the universe have always been in fierce opposition? Actually, that’s not the case, says Peter Harrison: our very concepts of science and religion are relatively recent, emerging only in the past three hundred years, and it is those very categories, rather than their underlying concepts, that constrain our understanding of how the formal study of nature relates to the religious life. In The Territories of Science and Religion, Harrison dismantles what we think we know about the two categories, then puts it all back together again in a provocative, productive new way. By tracing the history of these concepts for the first time in parallel, he illuminates alternative boundaries and little-known relations between them—thereby making it possible for us to learn from their true history, and see other possible ways that scientific study and the religious life might relate to, influence, and mutually enrich each other. A tour de force by a distinguished scholar working at the height of his powers, The Territories of Science and Religion promises to forever alter the way we think about these fundamental pillars of human life and experience.

When I opened my office in Archer Street, Piccadilly London business was very slow. I then started booking all the beat clubs and coffee bars in Soho. But the business only became a success when I focused my efforts on Colleges & Universities. I then formed College Entertainments Ltd. I was managing director until 1972 when I married the love of my life. That is when I sold the company after enjoying twelve hectic years of rock music success. That period from 1960 until the early '70's was an exciting explosive crazy roller coaster ride. It was a frantic time. The start of unadulterated Rock Music. I started out with nothing. I was broke and lived on Tulse Hill estate in Brixton. Homeless people have been known to refuse accommodation on that notorious estate..... I go into detail about my rock music adventures later. But here are some tasty INTRO tit bits. Some rock h'orderves to keep you going before I introduce the main menu... LED ZEPPELIN: Back in 1968 their manager, Peter Grant, phoned me and said that as I had been one of the best agents for The Yardbirds I could be the first agent to book new incarnation, LED ZEPPELIN. Within the hour of Peter Grant's call I had booked them for their very first gig at Surrey University. And the fee was just a few hundred pounds. They became an iconic rock band and Led Zeppelin will live for evermore. Much of it is down to their tough shrewd manager. And to think the young Peter Grant, in the late 1950's, was the doorman at the 2i's coffee bar in Old Compton Street. Before I started my rock music agency I was a young representative for Jukebox Distributors Ltd in Wardour Street. Because I was a crazy teenager crazy about pop rock music, they let me select all the records for that big famous Jukebox in the 2i's, I seem to remember it was a Wurlitzer. I used to see the large, menacing figure of Peter Grant on many occasions at that coffee bar. Nobody would take him on. Peter Grant was also a wrestler. I remember meeting Mickie Most, Gene Vincent and many other legends at that popular coffee bar hang out in London's Soho. Old Compton Street is now a very different place. It is now the hub of London's gay community network. Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard and his Drifters (Later the Shadows) started out by singing at the famous 2i's. Out of little acorns grow... All these other super groups also started as musical acorns. PINK FLOYD: I feel proud and privileged to have booked the original Pink Floyd for all those regular resident gigs at the Royal College of Art Students Union, Kensington Gore.

Peter Harrison

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