Numinous Mirrors II continues the ongoing acknowledgment that science is natures poetic reflection. It is well-known, for example, that with the exception of pure mathematics, the paradigms physicists use in their attempt to elucidate their experimental scientific findings are primarily metaphors. However, whenever I hear someone quote some esoteric Quantum research as if they actually know the profound mathematics or physical science behind the statement, I am perplexed! Because until one has studied physics for at least ten years and then taken advanced degrees in math and algorithms, one should not try to impress others with nave expositions (see Schrdingers cat poem). Spirituality is what I define as curiosity. It appears that it is human nature to seek answers to our questionings. When we continue to be curious, we remain in awe and wonder. What could be a better state of spirituality than to be in a constant state awe and wonder? As one skeptically questions the fixed conclusions of mythology and magic, one will discover still more awe and amazing questions revealed by the objective encounter with repeatable empirical experimentation. Once again, the poems within are an attempt of offer to myself partial illumination and still more surprise. Inevitably, curiosity arrives once again to announce more provisional questioning. Like the cycle of life itselfinhale and exhalethe cycle of science, if allowed, will continue unabated to generate awe and wonder.

Numinous Mirrors is a short book of poetry reflecting ideas that cross the boundaries between nature and science; between comprehensible evidence and incomprehensible magic. When the traditional religious impressions of my youth were gradually replaced by the distinctive facts provided by university studies of history and science, I discovered that spirituality still resides within the realms of curiosity and discovery. I live today in an almost constant state of awe, wonder, and amazement -- as I skeptically ask questions and claim answers that lead to more questions. To live in a state of awe is spirituality. Rhetoric is what emerges in squabbles with experts Poetry is what emerges in quarrels with ones self These poems are an attempt to offer to myself partial illumination, contentment and surprise to a few of my ever-surfacing questions. Then inevitably, curiosity arrives once again to announce additional provisional questions followed by empirical evidence leading to still more contemplative resolutions. Like inhaling and exhaling the cycle of science continues to provide new life.

The Lloyd Cotsen Study Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors is a 2009 co-publication of the Cotsen Occasional Press and the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. Volume I, The Lloyd Cotsen Study Collection of Chinese Bronze Mirrors: Catalogue, includes an engaging foreword by Lloyd Cotsen, an overview of major Chinese dynasties and periods, and a brief history of Chinese bronze mirrors by Suzanne E. Cahill. This volume presents a detailed catalogue of the extensive Cotsen Collection through high-quality images and illustrations of the mirrors in their approximate chronological sequence. Volume II, a set of eleven scholarly essays, goes further to investigate these mirrors as a study collection. Guided by the conviction that this particular constellation of mirrors may lead to substantive insights that cannot easily be obtained otherwise, the leading scholars who contributed to this volume used the materials in Volume I as a point of departure for explorations of topics of their own choice. The publication of this two-volume set preceded an exhibition of the mirrors at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens and the return of the collection to China in recognition of that countrys rightful cultural patrimony.

Like its companion volume, "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", this massive reference of 4,000 entries covers all aspects of fantasy, from literature to art.

This volume examines mirrors and mirroring through a series of multidisciplinary essays, especially focusing on the intersection between technological and cultural dynamics of mirrors. The international scholars brought together here explore critical questions around the mirror as artefact and the phenomenon of mirroring. Beside the common visual registration of an action or inaction, in a two dimensional and reversed form, various types of mirrors often possess special abilities which can produce a distorted picture of reality, serving in this way illusion and falsehood. Part I looks at a selection of theory from ancient writers, demonstrating the concern to explore these same questions in antiquity. Part II considers the role reflections can play in forming ideas of gender and identity. Beyond the everyday, we see in Part III how oracular mirrors and magical mirrors reveal the invisible divine – prosthetics that allow us to look where the eye cannot reach. Finally, Part IV considers mirrors' roles in displaying the visible and invisible in antiquity and since.

The papers gathered in this volume explore the economic and social roles of exchange systems in past societies from a variety of different perspectives. Based on a broad range of individual case studies, the authors tackle problems surrounding the identification of (pre-monetary) currencies in the archaeological record.

Violence on the streets. Military expansion. Consumerism. Policies exploiting people and natural resources. Harassment and abuse: 1 & 2 Kings could hardly be more relevant. In the thirty-fourth volume of the Believers Church Bible Commentary series, Old Testament scholar Lynn Jost claims 1 & 2 Kings were written to form a community that would embrace the Ten Commandments and the Great Shema and would champion righteousness and compassion. Jost traces the characteristics of royal justice, with its systems of excess and indulgence, as well as the court intrigue, succession politics, interfamily rivalries, and prophetic judgment that mark the books. Through it all, Israel remains in a covenant relationship with a delivering God. Through it all, God calls the leaders and the people to practice justice, protect shalom, and live righteously. In vivid and accessible prose, Jost invites pastors, scholars, and lay readers to read 1 & 2 Kings as books of promise—ones that gesture toward a faithful God who rescues, judges, commands, and provides. About the Believers Church Bible Commentary series This readable commentary series is for all who seek more fully to understand the original message of Scripture and its meaning for today—Sunday school teachers, members of Bible study groups, students, pastors, and other seekers. –From the Series Foreword