In a castle, in the heart of an almost-forgotten country, lived a king, who, like all the kings before him, had one dream - to discover the secret of gold. As the dawn of the new Millenium approached, the king's 19th alchemist, Spinifex, goes to more and more extravagant lengths to build the machine that will realise the king's dream.

This is a book about discovery and disaster, exploitation and invention, warfare and science - and the relationship between human beings and the chemical elements that make up our planet. Lars Öhrström introduces us to a variety of elements from S to Pb through tales of ordinary and extraordinary people from around the globe. We meet African dictators controlling vital supplies of uranium; 18th-century explorers searching out sources of precious metals; industrial spies stealing the secrets of steel-making. We find out why the Hindenburg airship was tragically filled with hydrogen, not helium; why nail-varnish remover played a key part in World War I; and the real story behind the legend of tin buttons and the downfall of Napoleon.

Once in awhile a novel like, The Shackcomes along and captivates our imagination. Such a novel is, The Last Alchemist, a tale involving an ex-priest, a young girl in search of lifes meaning, a Hollywood actor, a cunning detective and an alchemist who has been alive since the ninth century, living in stolen bodies down through the ages. The chance meeting of these characters and their subsequent relationships result in mayhem, lust, murder, love and transcendental magic. You will be shocked over and over again as you try to anticipate what will happen next in this wonderfully twisted story about people trying to hold on to their views of reality. Your own views of reality will be seriously challenged in this paranormal thriller. Visit www.thelastalchemistnovel.com.

DAVID DYPSVIK, A BROKE AND DEPRESSED MBA STUDENT IS GIVEN A SECRET ASSIGNMENT BY HIS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR. FORTY YEARS EARLIER, IN THE 1970S, ONE OF THE WORLD'S RICHEST MEN VANISHED MYSTERIOUSLY FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH. THE BILLIONAIRE HAD JUST COMPLETED A LECTURE SERIES CALLED 'THE PRINCIPLES OF WEALTH' AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY. DID HE SHARE SOME SECRETS HE SHOULDN'T HAVE AT THAT LAST LECTURE? AND WHAT REALLY HAPPENED THE MORNING OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE?The last Alchemist is a roller-coaster ride of a novel. It will take you on a journey through the history of wealth-creation and ancient mysteries. We follow a reluctant hero, an average wanna-get-rich-quick MBA student, in his relentless search for the missing billionaire and the secret of riches.But nothing could have prepared our reluctant hero for what he is about to face.Nobody is who they claim to be, and the stakes are high when the prize is abundant riches.Or maybe something else entirely.....

Freemason ... Shaman ... Prophet ... Seducer ... Swindler ... Thief ... Heretic Who was the mysterious Count Cagliostro? Depending on whom you ask, he was either a great healer or a dangerous charlatan. Internationally acclaimed historian Iain McCalman documents how Cagliostro crossed paths -- and often swords -- with the likes of Catherine the Great, Marie Antoinette, and Pope Pius VI. He was a muse to William Blake and the inspiration for both Mozart's Magic Flute and Goethe's Faust. Louis XVI had him thrown into the Bastille for his alleged involvement in what would come to be known as "the affair of the necklace." Yet in London, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg, he established "healing clinics" for the poorest of the poor, and his dexterity in the worlds of alchemy and spiritualism won him acclaim among the nobility across Europe. Also the leader of an exotic brand of Freemasonry, Count Cagliostro was indisputably one of the most influential and notorious figures of the latter eighteenth century, overcoming poverty and an ignoble birth to become the darling -- and bane -- of upper-crust Europe.

First time in ebook format, this biography of Isaac Newton reveals the extraordinary influence that the study of alchemy had on the greatest Early Modern scientific discoveries. In this ‘ground breaking biography’ Michael White destroys the myths of the life of Isaac Newton and reveals a portrait of the scientist as the last sorcerer.