An Alien spaceship loses control over Earth’s gravity and unexpectedly lands in the outskirts of Dholakpur. After trying his best to restart the spaceship, Zark, the little alien from Zarhan planet now lost in Dhoalkpur, wanders in the village for help. The villagers on seeing the strange creature conclude him to be a ghost and complain to the King. The King then summons Bheem and his friends, who reveal that the ghost is actually a harmless alien and help him return home to his planet.

Early Judaism and early Christianity emerged during the Hellenistic and early Roman imperial era. They were, naturally, confronted with the Hellenistic and the Roman religion. The question therefore arose as to whether Jews or Christians were free to participate in religious activities alien to the religious heritage of their own. In his articles, Karl-Gustav Sandelin presents documentary material showing that this problem was a burning issue within Judaism from the beginning of the Hellenistic period until the end of the first century C.E. Several Jewish individuals converted to the Hellenistic or the Roman religion. Such behavior was also discussed and generally condemned, for example by the Books of Maccabees and authors such as Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus. A similar problem is to be found in the New Testament, notably in the letters of Paul, especially in the first letter to the Corinthians and in the Revelation of John.

In this concentrated and detailed look at questions surrounding the act of sacrifice, Dennis King Keenan discusses both the role and the meaning of sacrifice in our lives. Building on recent philosophical discussions on the gift and transcendence, Keenan covers new ground with this exploration of the religious, psychological, and ethical issues that sacrifice entails. According to Keenan, sacrifice is paradoxically called to sacrifice itself. But what does this necessary, yet impossible condition mean for living an ethical life? Along the way to an answer, Keenan considers the views of Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Bataille, Lacan, Levinas, Blanchot, Irigaray, Derrida, Kristeva, Nancy, and Zizek. This thoughtful and provocative work affords a sophisticated philosophical treatment of the question of sacrifice.

“This thoroughly referenced book reveals the importance of the development of forest resources to Canadian social and economic existence. Rather than presenting just a compilation of facts and figures, the authors synthesize the information to make interesting observations. History is revealed as a series of interactive movements by various industrial, social, and political groups. ... Highly recommended for college and university collections that include forest history, forest policy, Canadian history, and conservation history.”–Choice “Lost Initiatives surveys Canadian forestry policy since the early nineteenth century, and particularly between the second American Forestry Congress, held in Montreal in 1882, and 1939. The authors achieve a Canada-wide perspective by including separate chapters on New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia, and offering an extensive account of federal forestry policy. The latter, which derives from archival research, is the most original of the book's contributions. . . Indeed, the book has considerable relevance to those interested in the development of professions in Canada. . . the book can be warmly recommended as a well-documented, genuinely national study that provides numerous points of departure and of context, whether for a comprehensive history of Canadian forests and forest policy or for analyses of parts of a very large subject. And the eloquent concluding chapter, on the last forty years of forest policy, could well serve as a call to arms even for those not persuaded that the previous chapters tell the real story of how we got here.”–The Canadian Historical Review

In the Retro Hugo Award–nominated novel that inspired the Syfy miniseries, alien invaders bring peace to Earth—at a grave price: “A first-rate tour de force” (The New York Times). In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems. Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems. “Frighteningly logical, believable, and grimly prophetic . . . Clarke is a master.” —Los Angeles Times