Excerpt from The Stone of the Sun and the First Chapter of the History of Mexico In the course upon Mexico, which has been given repeatedly to my students at the University of Chicago during the last twenty-five years, we have always devoted some time to the study of the Aztec Calendar Stone. As a specimen of native American art it is of extraordinary interest; as a mass of symbols, in which the astronomi cal and chronometric knowledge of the ancient Mexicans is, in a sense, summarized, it is of the highest importance. It has long been my intention to print a sort of study guide regard ing the stone for the use of my students. My plan was to prepare a careful summary of the argument of each and every worker who had seriously attempted to interpret the stone; to arrange these summaries in chronological order; to subject them to critical investigation in order to extract from them what appear to be final conclusions; to add some original suggestions as to significance; and, finally, to point out what further study was necessary in order to a full understanding of the monument. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

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Excerpt from The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard Taylor The author cannot do less than acknowledge, in this place, his great obligations to the father and mother of Mr. Taylor, to Mrs. Annie Carey, his sister, and to Dr. Franklin Taylor, his cousin, for their generous courtesy and most important assistance in gathering the facts for this volume. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Masterly....The complexities of Mexico's ancient cultures are perceptively presented and interpreted.--Library Journal

Our new brief text highlights Mexico's stunning geographical, ethnic, and social diversity. In the sixteenth century, diseases brought by the Spanish conquerors wiped out almost 90 per cent of the indigenous population. Since then, Mexico - first as a colony of Spain and, after 1821, as an independent nation - has exported thousands of tons of silver, affecting currencies and prices as far away as China and India. In the century following independence, Mexico was invaded six times by three different European nations (Britain, France, and Spain) as well as the United States, the latter conflict resulting in the loss of half of Mexico's territory. More recently, Mexico has played an ever more important part in the world economy. Focused primarily on the period since independence in 1821, this brief text effectively summarizes Mexico's rich history, delineating some of the major processes at the national level and hinting at regional and local counter-currents.