How to Mellify a Corpse
And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition
1st Edition
Published on 29. January 2013
336 pages
978-1-62040-297-9 (ISBN)
Description
In How to Mellify a Corpse, Vicki León brings her particular hybrid of history and humor to the entwined subjects of science and superstition in the ancient world, from Athens and Rome to Mesopotamia, the Holy Land, Egypt, and Carthage. León covers subjects as diverse as astronomy and astrology, philosophy and practicalities of life and death (including the titular ancient method of embalming), and ancient mechanical engineering. How to Mellify a Corpse of course invokes legendary thinkers (Pythagoras and his discoveries in math and music, Aristotle's books on politics and philosophy, and Archimedes' "Eureka" moment), but it also delves deeply into the lives of everyday people, their understanding and beliefs.
A feast for the curious mind, How to Mellify a Corpse is not only for those with an interest in the experimental: it's for anyone who's inspired by the imagination and ingenuity humanity uses to understand our world.
A feast for the curious mind, How to Mellify a Corpse is not only for those with an interest in the experimental: it's for anyone who's inspired by the imagination and ingenuity humanity uses to understand our world.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Illustrations
B&W Illustrations throughout
ISBN-13
978-1-62040-297-9 (9781620402979)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/2010
Walker & Company
€35.64
Article exhausted; check different version
Person
Vicki León is a writer, traveler, and historian who has built a wide readership with her Uppity Women series. She lives in Morro Bay, California. Her website is www.vickileon.com.
Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Confidential to Readers
- Introduction
- Section I Athens & Attica
- Make mine hemlock
- Calendar wars
- The science of seeing
- The whole nine cubits
- Far-from-cynical soul mates
- The lost art of enthusiasm
- Meteorology-mad botanist
- He gave physics weight
- Why ancient forests fell
- River of heaven
- Star struck
- Another kind of lunacy
- How to birth a bouncing boy
- Section II Greece & the Greek Islands
- Hellas, land of the undead
- The first surround sound
- Wired for heavenly tunes
- Philosophical fava phobia
- Inventing the atom, splitting the credit
- Necromancing the stone
- Rail service, minus the trains
- Daring drillers
- Recycling colossal war toys
- Airborne hits and misses
- User-friendly, way back when
- Which way to the pearly gates?
- Dueling domains of Hades
- No matter how weird, just do it
- Section III Asia Minor & the Middle East
- The dark heart of change
- Torch song for marble mansions
- Levitation can be electrifying
- An up-and-down proposition
- Not easily eclipsed
- Girly men and contact highs
- Gold-guarding griffins to dinosaurs
- Stealth bombs, stench warfare
- The citizen who barked at the world
- Rogue reincarnator
- Set free by Stoicism
- Incense OPEC
- Hard-to-handle hydrocarbons
- Horoscopes and other disasters
- The astrologer-emperor connection
- Section IV Rome & its Provinces
- Secrets of Rome's heavenly mud
- Thirst for the Good Life
- The Big Chill B.C.
- Architectural triumphs. And turn-ons
- All's unfair in love and war
- The wasteland
- Fatal spectacles on fake lakes
- Monument to the unknown architect
- Franchising blood and sand
- Sealskin-don't leave home without it
- Channeling Epicurus and company
- Do as I write, not as I do
- Very hairy portents
- Sweetly damning evidence
- Lips to die for
- Wide-open to interpretation
- Section V Italy & Sicily
- Eelmania and other fishy frenzies
- It was fascination, I know . . .
- Seeing their way clear
- Earthquake storms, giant bones
- My birthday's VI-XIV
- what's yours?
- Scapegoating the polluters
- From bloom to blade
- An all-around, also-ran architect
- Under the volcanoes
- Passionate polymath
- Early googling
- Anchors aweigh. Or maybe not.
- Leveraged out
- End game for the geekiest Greek
- The grinch who stole Saturnalia
- Section VI North Africa & Mesopotamia
- If these four walls could talk
- Hot rocks, pearls of wisdom
- The science of nano-artistry
- Shedding light on nautical travel
- Romancing the Philosopher's Stone
- Living large, living unobtrusively
- Naturals at philosophy
- Few takers for green goods
- Mad for more than gadgets
- Greek fire
- It heals, it maddens, it mellifies corpses
- Final launches to remember
- Inventing geography
- Forget the gardens, build me a labyrinth
- Acknowledgments & Special Thanks
- Bibliography
- A Note on the Author
- eCopyright
