This extraordinary book shows how specific musical tones and intervals are related to color, periods of time, the sun, the planets and all the natural cycles and rhythms we find in the universe around us. Cousto reveals how music is truly the language of the cosmos and of the natural world.

When music makes the laws of physics malfunction, then history is at the mercy of. THE OCTAVE DISPLACEMENT Mike Chessel is a musical genius who has discovered the Cosmic Notes, a musical composition whose notes vibrate sympathetically with microscopic structures called "strings," opening up a passage to Antiearth, Earth's cosmic twin. Now humans from forty-two thousand years into the future want those Cosmic Notes. They know the Notes can be used to detonate a weapon far more terrible than ever conceived. To make matters worse, Mike Chessel had played one wrong note making the trip to Antiearth. The physical world around him is now beginning to twist and warp. Anything could happen. Anything. THE OCTAVE DISPLACEMENT reaches beyond the fringes of imagination in a tale interweaving suspense, science fiction, humor, romance, mystery.and a chilling surprise ending. "The Octave Displacement is a highly imaginative work that merges the worlds of science and music so cleverly that one wrong note can mean the difference between life and death." -Vaughn Fritts, published poet.

This 1998 book examines the remarkable story of the emergence of life and intelligence through the complex evolutionary history of the Universe.

One evening some friends were gathered at the home of one of our most celebrated writers. Having dined sumptuously, they were discussing murder—apropos of what, I no longer remember probably apropos of nothing. Only men were present: moralists, poets, philosophers and doctors—thus everyone could speak freely, according to his whim, his hobby or his idiosyncrasies, without fear of suddenly seeing that expression of horror and fear which the least startling idea traces upon the horrified face of a notary. I—say notary, much as I might have said lawyer or porter, not disdainfully, of course, but in order to define the average French mind. With a calmness of spirit as perfect as though he were expressing an opinion upon the merits of the cigar he was smoking, a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences said: “Really—I honestly believe that murder is the greatest human preoccupation, and that all our acts stem from it... “ We awaited the pronouncement of an involved theory, but he remained silent. “Absolutely!” said a Darwinian scientist, “and, my friend, you are voicing one of those eternal truths such as the legendary Monsieur de La Palisse discovered every day: since murder is the very bedrock of our social institutions, and consequently the most imperious necessity of civilized life. If it no longer existed, there would be no governments of any kind, by virtue of the admirable fact that crime in general and murder in particular are not only their excuse, but their only reason for being. We should then live in complete anarchy, which is inconceivable. So, instead of seeking to eliminate murder, it is imperative that it be cultivated with intelligence and perseverance. I know no better culture medium than law.” Someone protested. “Here, here!” asked the savant, “aren't we alone, and speaking frankly?” “Please!” said the host, “let us profit thoroughly by the only occasion when we are free to express our personal ideas, for both I, in my books, and you in your turn, may present only lies to the public.” The scientist settled himself once more among the cushions of his armchair, stretched his legs, which were numb from being crossed too long and, his head thrown back, his arms hanging and his stomach soothed by good digestion, puffed smoke−rings at the ceiling: “Besides,” he continued, “murder is largely self−propagating. Actually, it is not the result of this or that passion, nor is it a pathological form of degeneracy. It is a vital instinct which is in us all—which is in all organized beings and dominates them, just as the genetic instinct. And most of the time it is especially true that these two instincts fuse so well, and are so totally interchangeable, that in some way or other they form a single and identical instinct, so that we no longer may tell which of the two urges us to give life, and which to take it—which is murder, and which love. I have been the confidant of an honorable assassin who killed women, not to rob them, but to ravish them. His trick was to manage things so that his sexual climax coincided exactly with the death−spasm of the woman: 'At those moments,' he told me, 'I imagined I was a God, creating a world!”

A thorough but short review of the history and present status of ideas in cosmology. The book is aimed at a broad audience, but will contain a few equations where needed to make the argument exact.

The M.I.T. Introductory Physics Series is the result of a program of careful study, planning, and development that began in 1960. The Education Research Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (formerly the Science Teaching Center) was established to study the process of instruction, aids thereto, and the learning process itself, with special reference to science teaching at the university level. Generous support from a number of foundations provided the means for assembling and maintaining an experienced staff to co-operate with members of the Institute's Physics Department in the examination, improvement, and development of physics curriculum materials for students planning careers in the sciences. After careful analysis of objectives and the problems involved, preliminary versions of textbooks were prepared, tested through classroom use at M.I.T. and other institutions, re-evaluated, rewritten, and tried again. Only then were the final manuscripts undertaken.

Why is it that certain intervals, scales, and tones sound genuine, while others sound false? Is the modern person able to experience a qualitative difference in a tone's pitch? If so, what are the implications for modern concert pitch and how instruments of fixed tuning are tuned? Renold tackles these and many other questions and provides a wealth of scientific data. Her pioneering work is the result of a lifetime of research into the Classical Greek origin of Western music and the search for modern developments. She deepens our musical understanding by using Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science as a basis, and she elucidates many of his puzzling statements about music. The results of her work include the following discoveries: - The octave has two sizes (a 'genuine' sounding octave is bigger than the "perfect octave") - There are three sizes of "perfect fifths" - An underlying "form principle" for all scales can be found - Equal temperament is not the most satisfactory method of tuning a piano - She provides a basis for some of Steiner's statements, such as, "C is always prime" and "C = 128 Hz = Sun." Intervals, Scales, Tones is a valuable resource for those who wish to understand the deeper, spiritual aspects of music.