Plotinus is often accused of writing haphazardly, with little concern for the integral unity of a treatise. By analyzing each treatise as a whole, From the Alien to the Alone finds much evidence that he constructed them skillfully, with the parts working together in subtle ways. This insight was also key in translating several central passages by considering the flow of the argument as a whole to shed light on the difficulties in these passages as well as reveal the structure often latent in particular treatise. The volume also serves to clarify Plotinus' rich use of images. Commentators, for instance, tend to take the images of light and warmth to explain the relation of soul and body as in conflict, with light casting out warmth. A close look at the text, however, reveals that Plotinus uses each image to correct the limitations of the other. Thus, since the soul is incorporeal, it is actually more transcendent than light and as activating the body is more completely present than warmth. Similarly, recent commentators are quick to take the related impassibility of the soul as implying a Cartesian gap between body and soul. The problem Plotinus faces, however, is that his description of the soul's pervasive presence in the body jeopardizes its impassibility as in the intelligible. His effort then is actually to introduce a gap that preserves the soul's nature, rather than overcome a gap that would make the very existence of the body problematic. While this work confirms much recent scholarly consensus on Plotinus, many of Gurtler's interpretations and general conclusions give constructive challenges to some existing modes of understanding Plotinus' thought. The arguments and their textual evidence, with the accompanying Greek, provide the reader with direct evidence for testing these conclusions as well as appreciating the nature of Plotinus' philosophizing.

After a life's career as a photojournalist recording the horrors of wars and Police Actions throughout the world, Will McCord returns to the mountains of Central Oregon to revive the memories of living there in a cabin during the early 1960's as a young teenager, and to put to rest the demons of self doubt. He returns to refresh his memories of Kampotar Bakar, the little known legendary alien beast he had befriended and for whom Will had to kill a man to protect. Will relives the days of life and legend, and the lawlessness and greed he witnessed while enjoying a boy's life in the mountains during summer days and winter nights, slowly realizing life's circumstances were prematurely transforming him into a man. Will mentally walks once again through his days as a youth until it is manifested to him that although all things change with time, some things change slower than others, and the glorious days as a boy can be relived.

Are we alone in this cosmos, or do we yet have to come to terms with the actual existence of alien life? Never before has so much time and concentrated effort been spent by so many scientists and writers in the pursuit of the answer to this fundamental question. In this extraordinary book, major scientists involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence known as SETI explain their work and reveal their secret thoughts. Now, in joining them here, are some of the best speculative thinkers, from Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov to Gregory Benford, who address the major philosophical questions involved. Intriguing, suspense-filled and intense, this book promises to deliver more than just mundane facts and theory.

In Alone in the World? -- first given as the 2004 Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh -- J. Wentzel van Huyssteen develops the interdisciplinary dialogue that he set out in The Shaping of Rationality (1999), applying this methodology to the uncharted waters between theological anthropology and paleoanthropology. Among other things, van Huyssteen argues that scientific notions of human uniqueness help us to ground theological notions of human distinctiveness in flesh-and-blood, embodied experiences and protect us from overly complex theological abstractions regarding the "image of God." Focusing on the interdisciplinary problem of human origins and distinctiveness, van Huyssteen accesses the origins of the embodied human mind through the spectacular prehistoric cave paintings of western Europe, fifteen of which are reproduced in color in this volume. Boldly connecting the widely separated fields of Christian theology and paleoanthropology through careful interdisciplinary reflection, Alone in the World? will encourage sustained investigation into the question of human uniqueness.

A Top-Secret U.S. special black operations group has been covering up alien visitations and secret alien UFO research projects for decades. This time, they went too far. They are holding a real live alien captive at Area 51 and will do anything to prevent this alien from meeting with the President and going public, finally proving once and for all that extraterrestrials do exist. This Top-Secret organization is called Extraterrestrial Counter Threat Group (ECTG). It is run by a high-ranking Pentagon Chief of Staff Space Force general who heads a secret team of scientists tasked with reverse engineering advanced UFO spacecraft held at Area 4, which is part of the highly restrictive Area 51 military base in Nevada. The ECTG will do anything to prevent this alien from meeting with the President of the United States, including murdering a Washington Post investigative reporter in the name of National Security. With help from a woman staff reporter for the Washington Post and a special agent for the Airborne Object Identification Group (AOIG), the alien finally escapes captivity and meets with the President of the U.S. at Camp David. The alien has an important message and offer of help for the President and the people on this planet. The question becomes, will people listen to the message or ignore the peril the world is facing in this time of extreme environmental crises?

Released in 1979, Ridley Scott's Alien has come to be regarded as a classic film, and has been widely written about. But how have audiences engaged with it? This book presents the – sometimes very surprising – results of a major audience research project, exploring how people remember and continue to engage with the film.