Kakaku：599 saved$5.99
McGraw-Hill
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Great Read for Marketer) 『Used this book for a class...it was a great read. Learn a lot about the minds of the consumer. Authors put themselves within the peoeple they are studying which increases their fast knowledge of consumer types.』
(Smart Fun and Readable. Great Insights!) 『Basically a fun read. It's not market research, exactly - Rentel doesn't back up his thinking with hard numbers - but it did a good job of explaining and dimensionalizing some of the key consumer demographics out there today. I have a feeling that lots of the anecdotes and examples in this book are going to rattle around in my head for months to come: Did you know that nearly a third of all adults only have sex a few times a year? Orthat there are websites that count every cigarette smoked onscreen during a movie for hyper parents who want to keep their kids from seeing someone smoks? Or that 20% or new homes are sold to single women buying alone? This isn't a book you need to read cover to cover right away, or even in chronological order, to get something out of it. But if you want something light that's also smart, this is the book for you.』
(Genuinely Helpful) 『If you want to get inside the minds of your consumers, this book will help you. I saw the book sitting on my boss's desk, and the title made me think it might be a little goofy. But once I started to read it, I realized the author really knows what he's talking about. (He runs a market research company in New York, basically talks to consumers for a living.) Karma Queens, Ms. Independents, Parentocrats etc. and all the other consumer types described in the book seem like real people -- usually someone in my own life immediately came to mind -- and after reading the chapter on them I thought that I really did have a handle on how to sell to them. I'd highly recommend it to anyone in in brand management or marketing.』
(Fascinating and fun) 『I have to read a lot of marketing books in my job, and it's usually a slog-- one good idea to start and then a lot of filler. "Karma Queens etc." held my interest to the end, and gave me a lot to think about. You could really almost classify it as human interest rather than marketing, though I think it will be really useful for anybody whose job it is to market to consumers.』 『
What really makes consumers tick?
It's a question every marketer, innovator, entrepreneur, or trend-watcher strives to answer-especially in an age when certain types of consumers are increasingly instrumental in shaping national and even global buying habits.
Karma Queens, Geek Gods and Innerpreneursis your hands-on guide to getting inside the minds of the people who are setting the trends in art, music, technology, fashion, health, and every kind of consumer product and service. Based on thousands of hours of consumer research conducted by Consumer Eyes, a prominent New York-based marketing firm, this book uncovers nine influential consumer types and reveals how to connect with them, market to them, and create the products that will not only win them over, but their entire social networks as well!
Consumer Eyes founder Ron Rentel takes an entertaining yet serious look at today's most emblematic consumers, analyzing everything from the products they buy, to the activities they enjoy, to the behaviors and attitudes they exhibit. You'll meet such real-life characters as:
Karma Queens-women of a certain age who combine a desire to be in harmony with the universe with an appreciation of material pleasures
Parentocrats-who act out of love to assure their kids security and happiness, yet often deny them the classical joys of childhood
Denim Dads-for whom family involvement means more than climbing the corporate ladder
Innerpreneurs-chief managers of their own“brand,” they find their inspiration within themselves
By using C-Types-rich, three-dimensional consumer portraits combining quantifiable data with expressions of personality-Rentel identifies and illuminates the consumers who set the trends. He not only helps you understand Karma Queens, Geek Gods and other consumer types on a deeper level in order to reach them more effectively in your marketing and advertising, he also offers fresh insight into managing your brand and your business.
IPhone 3G used's review (A new fork in the road.) 『The prologue starts with the impending wedding of Ursula to an unknown person. What follows is the story of how she came to her decision to remarry soon after the death of her French Catholic husband Matthew de la Roche. Ursula goes on an unathorized trip in pursue of her traitor cousin Edward at the behest of her estranged Aunt and Uncle. After an exhausting trip to Scotland to stop Edward from delivering a list of Catholic sympathizers to Queen Mary, see finds her cousin murdered.
Ursula set out to investigate his death in the courts of Mary of Scotland and the her "supporters". There she expriences unwanted attentions from a suiter that culminates in a dual. An not unexpected revealation is made about Ursula's paternaty and all ends with her proposal to a character she meets on her adventure to Scotland This book takes the series in a new direction. Though she claims to want a change of pace from her secret agent days she seems hardly sure. Since the marriage hasn't occured, so there is a cliffhanger at the end (or beginning).』
(powerful Ursula Blanchard mystery) 『In 1565, Ursula Blanchard mourns the death of her husband Matthew de la Roche at her English estate Withyshem given to her by Queen Elizabeth I for her services to the crown. Ursula is ready to retire from her life as a secret agent when her relatives the Faldenes ask her to find their son, her cousin Edward, who is traveling to Scotland to give a list of English sympathizers to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Even though she has little love for the Faldenes, Ursula doesn't want to see her cousin hang for treason nor does she want the list to fall into Mary's hands. Ursula and her tirewoman Fran Dale and her manservant Roger Brockley travel into Scotland only to find Edward dead, the victim of an assassin's blade. Instead of going home, Ursula chooses to stay in Scotland to track down the list and find out who killed her cousin. This decision will cost her dearly.
The heroine of this tale acts like a modern day woman with her independence, decisiveness and willingness to go after what she wants.. Her sense of loyalty to family and her queen is admirable even though by going to Scotland without royal permission she knows she could be accused of treason. Fiona Buckley is a gifted storyteller who recreates with accuracy an era long gone but quite vivid in the minds of readers. Fans of this series will be delighted to know that the sixth Ursula Blanchard mystery has a startling revelation as well as a wedding to attend.
Harriet Klausner』
『
A quiet life at Withysham with her young daughter is all that widowed Ursula Blanchard desires. But as the waiting woman and spy for Queen Elizabeth I, she forfeits her needs for the sake of those she is pledged to protect -- even at her own peril....
Ursula's relatives enlist her help when her cousin, Edward Faldene, heads to Scotland carrying a dangerous weapon: a secret list of families loyal to Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots. Desperate to stop the treasonous mission, Ursula rides north in haste to intercept her cousin. It is a journey made without royal permission, and one made in vain....Ursula arrives in Edinburgh too late -- and finds herself tracking a killer inside the Scottish queen's court. Whom can she trust? Mary, the enemy, who is in fact kind and charming? Her genial courtiers? The aristocrat who vies for Ursula's heart? Every player falls under suspicion in a sinister game in which, for a queen, everyone is a pawn.』
Kakaku：1400 saved$14.00
Scribner
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (More even handed than you might think.) 『A very eye-opening portrait of urban poverty and the economic circumstances that lead to it in addition to the dysfunctional relationship with money and lack of "personal responsibility" that aggrevate it.
The first few chapters deal with the economic changes in America's inner cities since the 70's such as job loss and factory closings and outlines, through Odessa, the dysfunctional family dynamics that have arisen out of that situation. The author makes no judgements of the lifestyles of these people, especially the children who don't take care of their own kids or want to live off the dole (not all do, some are hell bent on getting off welfare and working, a nice refutation of that old stereotype) merely offering these facts and allowing the reader to decide, and I greatly appreciate the author's willingness to inlude that information. However, I admire Odessa for being such a determined person and trying her hardest to keep the rent up and raise those children right and keep them out of trouble.
Cheri, I don't have as much sympathy for, but I'll leave it at that.
Overall, a nice, easy read about life in modern urban america.』
(great reporting) 『This book gave a first hand account of the life of welfare moms (and grandmas and great-grandmas) living in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Philadelphia. The book gives no answers for how to solve the problem of urban poverty but it does show you how these families live, day in and day out. You see that some women are trying to make wise choices, such as education, while others have given up hope and turned to drugs, prostitution and laziness. One grandma is getting job training so she can get a good job until her teenage daughter falls asleep during the day while her 2 young boys set the house on fire.
This book also shows the incredible value placed on family in this culture. When these fires occur (there are more than one), the whole family comes together to rebuild. When one mom succumbs to prostitution, the grandmother takes in her 3 children and raises them as her own. On Thanksgiving day, everyone is invited and included -- the prostitute, the drug user, the jail bird -- because family is family.
The book also follows the life of a activist fighting for the rights of the homeless. She is frustrated with the bureaucracy of the city's homeless solution and attempts to house the homeless herself in a tent city, in an abandon church and finally in abandoned homes meant for those who have worked the system. She is clearly breaking the law and yet it is hard to say who is helping the homeless more.
At the end of the book I had more questions than answers.』
(Engaging and human) 『I was hoping for more academic writing, studies, statistics and other tools used to debunk the myth of the welfare queen.
The writing is engaging and effectively humanizes the individuals involved, taking your through their trials and tribulations, but doesn't seem to prove anything beyond the idea that people on welfare are, in fact, people. Now that I think about it, that might be a radical idea for some.』
(The Myth of the Welfare Queen enthralls reader) 『The beauty of this book is the simplicity with which it is written. There are not technical terms to maneuver around. It takes a very candid look at a world many of us will never experience. It shows the very human characteristics of single mothers on welfare. The book never gets boring because it reads like a story. This is a non-fiction piece with all the compelling attributes of a fictional novel. This is not just a light rainy-day read either. It forces you to look into the lives of these women. Zucchino describes Odessa and Cheri's horrible necessicities like dumpster diving and prostitution so flippantly, it makes you want to scream, "But these women shouldn't be living like this!"』
(Unbiased Journalistic View That WIll Make You Think) 『This is not the book to read if you are trying to make up your mind about welfare issues or reinforce the ideas that you already have. It is an amazingly unjudgemental look at the lives of those on welfare in the inner city that will at times make you raving mad, whether at the people who refuse to work with the system for the sake of their children or at a system that fails those who give everything they have to take care of children they only want the best for, and sometimes have no direct responsibility for (grandchildren, children they have taken in). It puts real situations and struggles in the place of the abstract idea of public assistance. Within the pages you will meet kindhearted, incredibly nonbitter people, like Odessa, who you will admire and, at the same time, long to reach out to. Those who you would pity for their horrible circumstances if only you could not tell from reading about their lives that they are far too good of people to need or want pity. You will also meet people who you cannot feel sympathy for. People you will want to just slap for their irresponsibility and for not putting their children's needs before their own whims. This book shows just how complex the issue of welfare is, and that a set of laws or policies is not going help some people who are just stuck between a rock and a hard place. It will show you that there is no typical welfare recipients, even among those living in one neighborhood. Though some of the people are unbelievably good , and some horrible individuals, it will show the many greys in between. It is a portrait of those suffering for the nation's view of the "Welfare Queen." Those with huge hearts and horrible circumstances infinity entitled to whatever they need to do the job that we would not want to (raising troubled grandchildren amd great-grandchildren with meager means like Odessa, or being the self-appointed guardian of the homeless like Cheri). It is also a portrait of those who stubbornly refuse to help themselves, and fully live up to the idea of the irresponsible, neglectful mother who rather hang out with different men and continue to get pregnant than think of her own children. This is not a book that will make up your mind, but it is one that will give you an understanding of why this is such a hard issue to even begin to think of any sort of solution for.』 『
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Zucchino spent a year sharing the lives of Odessa Williams and Cheri Honkala -- two "welfare mothers" in Philadelphia -- to gain an intimate look at their day-to-day existence. Odessa, supporting an extended family, exhibits almost superhuman strength and resolve. Cheri, a single mother, is a tireless advocate for the homeless. Zucchino beautifully portrays them as figures of profound courage and quiet perseverance, systematically shattering all misconceptions and stereotypes about these women and so many others like them.』
『Welfare moms are "the most hated women in America," says Cheri Honkala, a dynamic activist from Philadelphia who is profiled in the engrossingMyth of the Welfare Queen. As the American mood toward welfare turned mean in the mid-1990s and politicians worked to radically change who got benefits and for how long, Honkala used her considerable talents in guerrilla theater to fight bureaucrats on behalf of a rising tide of dispossessed women and children. She keeps the TV news spotlight on the homeless with a host of inspired acts: a long-term tent city for displaced families, the takeover of a church, a grungy encampment next to the Liberty Bell. Nonetheless, folks dispute how helpful such confrontations are. Odessa Williams, a resourceful, resilient woman who supports four grandchildren and then doubles that number when new troubles strike, is the other sympathetic subject in this tough, humanizing portrait of women on welfare by Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper editor David Zucchino.』
IPhone 3G used's review (A bit better than the first installment) 『Newman did a little better with this second part of her trilogy than she did with the first book. While the writing is still very simplistic and many characters remain undeveloped, I found a bit of interest in the subcharacters. Guinevere continues to be a self-absorbed dimwit but at least the unicorn is finally gone. How in the world the unicorn gave it's love of Guinevere to Lancelot is still a mystery to me. It seemed to be nothing more than Newman's weak effort to get rid of the unicorn character - for which I was grateful. Let's see - there are so many silly points...Lancelot goes insane because Guinevere has suffered a flashback of post tramatic stress disorder involving her long dead nurse Flora. However, we had no idea that the Flora episode ever bothered Guinevere in the first place. Luckily Lancelot is saved by the Lady of the Lake and then suddenly gives up his efforts to find his birth mother. Guinevere's brother who returned from "the dead" vanishes from the story opting to live in the wilderness where he has no contact with the rest of Britian...or with the author apparently because she completely forgets about those poor people living in the wilderness. Sound scattered? Sound childish? IT IS! However, Arthur's character was somewhat interesting. It kept me ready....I'm not quite sure why.』
(terrible) 『When I bought this book I thought it would be a story about Guinevere being torn between two men. As far as I can see she didn't love Arthur at all. As another reviewer said, she's spoiled, selfish and an airhead. Lancelot also gets on my nerves. Ugh. I am disappointed in this book because most of the other novels that I've read that involve the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle are at least interesting. This one wasn't, sadly.』
(Very Passionate) 『I loved this book. I have always been intrigued by the legend of Sir Lancelot and Lady Guinevere, it was nice to actually read exactly what I wanted to read without all the garbage that goes with it.』
(engaging) 『engaging - that about covers i』
(A mixed bag, even for Arthurian romance lovers.) 『I was disappointed with this novel, which I expected to be "a beautiful rendering of the world's most timeless romance," as the cover advertises. Aside from Arthur and Gawain, few characters are likeable or well-drawn. The characters themselves seem to spend most of the novel being exasperated with one another. Merlin is not wise or admirable, just hypocritical in his hostility to Guinevere for her selfishness. As for her, why would any reader be captivated by a spoiled, conventionally gorgeous airhead with a phobia of blood? Or a bunch of shallow relationships, few of which make much emotional sense? Readers find two things compelling: mystery and struggle. We would love to see truly deep female character wrestle with jealousy or, say, conflicted love for two men. This element is what keeps many readers absorbed in, and called back several times to, Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. Unfortunately in The Chessboard Queen what we get is a couple of whiners (Elaine was one too) complaining about their lives and inexplicably drawn to a ridiculous caricature of knighthood, the rather stupid Lancelot character. The only struggle here was the reader's, to try not to skip too many chapters. Not astoundingly well-written, or vivid, and with few if any memorable scenes (to be fair, transport and viewing of the Round Table were pretty effective). As a period piece, pretty superficial. But it passes the time, I guess. END』 『
InGuinevere, Sharan Newman told us the story of that lovely and legendary woman's childhood up until her wedding night. Guinevere is now the beautiful young wife and queen of King Arthur, a position much-coveted by all women of Camelot. But nothing in life is ever certain, and soon Guinevere discovers--most alarmingly--her deep and passionate love for another man: Lancelot, the most beloved Knight of the Round Table in all of Camelot. Here Sharan Newman brings the legend of Lancelot and Guinevere to life with the same blend of magic and history that has made her Catherine LeVendeur medieval mystery series such a success. As ambitious and striking asThe Mists of AvalonandThe Hollow Hills,The Chessboard Queenis a beautiful rendering of the world's most timeless romance, a tale of earthly passion and spiritual love like no other before or since.
Kakaku：279 saved$2.79
Prion
In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. IPhone 3G used's review (Easy read but far too many inaccuracies) 『Nice easy read, quite entertaining but way too many inaccuracies. James, Duke of Monmouth was NOT James, Duke of York's son, for instance. I'm not a history professor by any means, but it seemed like nobody proofread this book. If you want something just as entertaining with no factual mistakes, buy Eleanor Herman's Sex With Kings.』 『A chronicle of England’s ongoing royal sexual farce, from “Hal the Horny” and “Edward the Caresser” to the present–day antics of the House of Windsor.』
IPhone 3G used's review (A boring conjuror?) 『Benjamin Woolley have written a non-sensationalist, almost boring, biography of John Dee, one of the more spectacular characters of British and European history.
John Dee (1527 - 1609) was a British scientist and mathematician who became notorious for his involvement in the occult. Together with a medium named Edward Kelley, Dee conjured up spirits and angels, who gave him "the secrets of the universe" and a magic "Enochian" language, still being used by self-proclaimed magicians. Astrology and alchemy were among his other interests. Dee was also connected with the court of Queen Elizabeth I, as a scientific advisor. Indeed, Dee was one of the first to propose English imperial expansion, coined the phrase "British Empire", and played a certain role in the search for the famed Northwest passage to China.
Dee's occult interests eventually made him leave England. Together with Kelley, he travelled to Germany, Poland and Bohemia. During this period, he regularly kept in touch with the "spirits" and "angels", organizing séances with the help of Kelley, crystal balls and a magical seer stone. After a fall-out with Kelley, who had claimed that the spirits wanted him and Dee to share their wives in common, Dee returned to England, only to find that his house had been plundered on all books and scientific instruments.Kelley stayed behind in Bohemia, became a nobleman, but was later thrown in jail. His ultimate fate is unknown. Dee died in relative obscurity in 1608 or 1609 (nobody knows for sure!), but his magical books where found decades later, published and...the rest is history.
I first heard of John Dee as a teenager, reading about him in an otherwise reliable encyclopaedia of matters occult. It turns out that the entry on Dee got most things wrong: it claimed that Dee was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth, and that he toured Europe with a "magic show". Well, not exactly, LOL.
Benjamin Woolley has attempted to disentangle fact and fiction, and come up with a Dee who is surprisingly rational, honest and even somewhat boring. Dee's mixture of science and the occult wasn't strange for his time. Dee apparently didn't see himself as a conjuror or magician, but rather as a scientist exploring the unknown realms of the universe. To him, the "nature magician" was simply using unknown, natural forces. Nor was there anything strange about combining astronomy and astrology. Woolley seconds Dame Frances Yates description of Dee as a true Renaissance man.
So why did Dee constantly get himself in trouble, then? One reason was the widespread belief that the spirits he communicated with were evil, another was his unclear religious sympathies in an age when Catholics and Protestants were deadly enemies. In other words, Dee was too tolerant! Also, his assistant Kelley was a notoriously unstable person. Kelley actually converted to Catholicism, right under Dee's nose, during their protracted stay in Bohemia.
Several things struck me when reading the book. One was that the relationship between Kelley and Dee was very complex. Usually, Kelley is depicted as manipulating the gullible Dee. From "The Queen's Conjuror", I rather got the impression that the two men were manipulating each other. Yes, Kelley must have made it all up (unless you believe in spirits). Very often, however, Kelley wanted the séances to stop, even to the point of arguing that the spirits he called upon were evil, but Dee would force him to continue.
Another thing that struck me were the similarities between the two men and the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith (not mentioned by the author). Today, non-Mormon scholars agree that Smith was a treasure-hunter, a scryer and that he communicated with angels through a seer-stone. Smith also introduced polygamy through a divine revelation, was interested in the Qabalah, and had an obsession with Enoch. The Book of Mormon was supposedly found by Smith when digging in a hill. Compare this to Dee and Kelley: they communicated with spirits and angels through a seer-stone, Kelley claimed to have found ancient documents buried in a hill, Kelley demanded "the sharing of wives" after an angelic revelation, both men attempted to search for buried treasure with the help of magic, Dee was a Qabalist, and his magic language is called "Enochian". An almost perfect match! Did the Mormon prophet had access to John Dee's writings?
"The Queen's Conjuror" isn't a perfect book. Woolley have attempted a fast-paced, popularized study, but Dee's life is so complicated, that the story (perhaps inevitably) gets bogged down in messy details. Sometimes, Woolley looses the red thread.
Still, I found the book interesting, and I recommend it as an introduction to Doctor John Dee, boring conjuror and ultimate Renaissance man. 』
(Precursor to Age of Reason) 『Dr. John Dee is now considered to be the English Renaissance man. This was not always the case, however, because his first biographers, as the author of this fine biography points out, were either `hard-headed rationalist or muddle-headed mystics.' In present time, researchers and historians agree that Dee was a true Renaissance man because he sought to connect or reconcile rationalism with magic, science and the supernatural. This was not unusual for the time. Copernicus cited the mystic Hermes Trismegistus in his Magnum Opus, proposing the heliocentric universe. Isaac Newton began his career as an alchemist, before moving on to modern methods of pure science. John Dee was the most important scientists of the Elizabethan age. But this is only a somewhat recent recognition because throughout the ages he was considered a charlatan, crook, blockhead and "companion of hellhounds". Benjamin Woolley's fine biography combines history, science, espionage and common sense and attempts to answer how a man of genius that had such a major influence in mathematics, astronomy, cartography, navigation and science in general, could die a pauper and in obscurity.
In 1659, a scholar by the name of Meric Casaubon copied and published a collection of Dee's documents, which contained the recordings of spiritual conversations with angels and archangels, and other dialogues, which could be interpreted dubious at best. After the publication Dee's reputation as a credible philosopher went steadily down hill and has taken centuries to recover. Woolley has done some fine research, using Dee's actual diaries, and has painstakingly pieced together his life and career.
The Elizabethan age was a turning point in Western history. The Reformation was essentially a battle for power and knowledge and a bloody war in the name of religion. But it also set the stage for the Enlightenment, and Dr. John Dee was a precursor to the Age of Reason. He was a man of `science', collecting and studying every ancient text he could get his hands on, (his library is the stuff of legend) but rational knowledge, he truly believed, would only take him so far - he desired heavenly knowledge and wisdom. And it is possible that his spiritual researches into the divine nature could have been the cause of his downfall. Dee did not seek worldly gain, riches and material pleasure; his only desire was to attain the secrets of the Holy. Did he pay the ultimate price for this activity?
~The Queen's Conjurer~ is not a dense historical text, but an informative and enlightening piece of research. It casts some light on an intriguing figure, removing him from modern occult history and in to the mainstream.
』
(Dr. John Dee- Mathematician and Mystic) 『I have always found Dr. John Dee to be one of the most intriguing characters of Elizabethan times. Yet, there seemed to be so little information available about him, only bits and pieces and rumors- often spread by his enemies. Here is a most satisfying biography that not only gives you a complete look at the Doctor's life, but is also supplemented with a wealth of associated detail and historical background. This book turns Dee from a shadowy character to a real man, a great man.
What comes across is the amazing breadth and depth of Dee's interests and scholarship. He was already famed for his remarkable intellect and ability as a student at Cambridge. At a time when most scholars barely possessed a reading knowledge of bad Latin, he mastered classical Greek to be able to read the forgotten works of Plato and Pythagoras. He was a personal friend and correspondent to the great men of the age such as Tycho Brahe and Mercator. Dee himself was famed as a great mathematician in Europe (at a time when simple trigonometry was almost unknown in England.) He was offered high positions at the great courts of Europe, but turned these offers down out of a deep seated desire to raise up his country of birth to be their eventual global equal (at this time England was a poor, backward, weak backwater.) Indeed, the first conception of a British Empire, founded upon a strong Royal Navy, was first expounded by Dee.
John Dee was as close to modern scientist as existed in the 16th century. He independently came to the conclusion that bodies of unequal weight fall at the same rate- before Galileo. He was recognized as England's top expert on optics and lenses. He was recognized as one of the top experts on navigation and chart making of his day. He kept detailed astronomical observations that even Tycho Brahe admired. He based his astrological work upon the heliocentric "heresy" of Copernicus. He was an expert in geology and ores and leased his own tin mine. He also collected the biggest research library of the age in Mortlake, which was a gathering place of the greatest minds of England and the continent. In short- Dee was a competent expert in several areas of natural philosophy and applied technology. He believed in detailed observation and record keeping- in both natural, and supernatural, phenomena.
The thing is, Dee believed his accomplishments in the more material and practical sciences to be among his lesser accomplishments. Like Newton after him, his real passion was with the deepest cosmic and spiritual secrets. This led to his fame as an astrologer, and an alchemist, and a cabalist. Dee's passion was to discover the ancient, true, original religion of mankind, the "prisci theology." That is why he could walk easily among both Protestants and Catholics- he ultimately considered both of their dogma's to be equally absurd. Dee had a much more open mind that the "scientists" of later centuries- he studied all unknown forces, natural or supernatural. This was why be studied and practiced natural magic (Agrippa's three books were always open upon his desk for quick reference.) He knew that hidden currents influenced the day-to-day world, and he documented his observations even if he couldn't explain them in terms of material cause and effect. This also led to his interest is scrying and the use of natural sensitives to communicate with spirits. It should be noted, that no one at this time doubted the existence of such spirits- it was as self evident as the existence of God. In fact, many powerful lords of the day employed seers and scryers, including the earls of Leicester, Pembroke, and Northumberland.
All in all, you come away with a renewed respect for Dee. You realize that his only fault was to be born in a society of petty, ignorant, lesser men. It was they that libeled and slandered his image and painted him as a superstitious conjuror. Indeed, the only real mistake that the good Doctor made was to outlive his beloved queen and protector.
』 『Dee was one of the most influential philosophers of the Elizabethan Age. A close confidant of Queen Elizabeth, he helped to introduce mathematics to England, promoted the idea of maths as the basis of science, anticipated the invention of the telescope, charted the New World, and created one of the most magnificent libraries in Europe. At the height of his fame, Dee was poised to become one of the greats of the Renaissance. Yet he died in poverty and obscurity - his crime was to dabble in magic. Based on Dee's secret diaries which record in fine detail his experiments with the occult, Woolley's book is a rich brew of Elizabethan court intrigue, science, intellectual exploration, discovery and misfortune. And it tells the story of one man's epic but very personal struggle to come to terms with the fundamental dichotomy of the scientific age at the point it arose: the choice between ancient wisdom and modern science as the path to truth.』
大満足！北国のホタテ・いくら・ボタンエビがぎっしり！
