Trade flows, cities and kinship relations can all be seen as elements of complex networks. In this collection of essays, all of which deal with Asia, we argue that there are good reasons to envisage them as various dimensions of the same networks. Nevertheless, it is fairly rare to find trade, cities and kinship relations as intimately linked as we have portrayed them in this volume, because they are usually classified within different sub-disciplines of history, whose practitioners are all too often not inclined to talk to people outside their own field. The Australian born historian Heather Sutherland, who recently retired from the VU university in Amsterdam, is an exception in this respect because most of her work gravitates towards an approach which aims to integrate this trinity of topics. This collection of essays, written by a number of her students and close colleagues, has taken its cue from her approach. It is not the case that all the contributions deal with all three topics but they as a collective demonstrate how flows of trade, cities—both as urban centres and nodes in wider networks—and kinship relations hang together, and how the study of one topic opens new vistas on the other two, revealing causal links that otherwise would have remained hidden. Thus, the essays in this collective volume support the idea that trade, towns and kin—although often dealt with quite separately—can be viewed as various aspects of the same networks, connecting people, places and commodities.

A major new book overturning our assumptions about how evolution works Earth’s natural history is full of fascinating instances of convergence: phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently, multiple times. But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change—a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze—caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really play in the constantly changing natural world? Are the plants and animals that exist today, and we humans ourselves, inevitabilities or evolutionary flukes? And what does that say about life on other planets? Jonathan Losos reveals what the latest breakthroughs in evolutionary biology can tell us about one of the greatest ongoing debates in science. He takes us around the globe to meet the researchers who are solving the deepest mysteries of life on Earth through their work in experimental evolutionary science. Losos himself is one of the leaders in this exciting new field, and he illustrates how experiments with guppies, fruit flies, bacteria, foxes, and field mice, along with his own work with anole lizards on Caribbean islands, are rewinding the tape of life to reveal just how rapid and predictable evolution can be. Improbable Destinies will change the way we think and talk about evolution. Losos's insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria. This compelling narrative offers a new understanding of ourselves and our role in the natural world and the cosmos.

A primer on the Family Constellations philosophy and its core principles that will inspire and empower readers to take ownership of their lives. Family Constellations begins with the premise: it did not start with me. Many of us become "entangled" with the unhappiness of those who came before us, unconsciously adopting destructive familial patterns of anxiety, depression, failure, and even illness and addiction in an attempt to "redo" the past and "fix" our families. Affirmations and exercises punctuate every chapter, created to help the reader actively engage with and experience the benefits of Family Constellations. Readers will also learn how to: Recognize family system patterns and disrupt them Heal the inner child and parent the adult self Release limiting beliefs and behaviors Dissolve trauma bonds that entangle them with the past Reconcile the past and the present, for a whole and integrated self Arrive at a place of personal peace within the family system Craft future-facing narratives that empower them to live authentically

This liberating book reveals tactics Satan uses against believers and charges believers with a new level of faith to claim the victorious life God has planned for them.

Although it was labeled an anti-epic for trumping the celebratory scope of the Roman national epos, Lucan’s Bellum Civile is a hymn to lost republican liberty composed under Nero’s tyrannical empire. Lucan lost his life in a foiled conspiracy to replace the emperor, but his poem survived the wreckage of antiquity and enjoyed uninterrupted readership. The present collection samples the most current approaches to Lucan’s poem, its themes, its dialogue with other texts, its reception in medieval and early modern literature, and its relevance to audiences of all times.

The Visuddhimagga - here rendered Path of Purification systematically summarizes and interprets the teaching of the Buddha contained in the Pali Tipiṭaka. As the principal non-canonical authority of the Theraváda, it forms the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis of the Tipiṭaka, using the "Abhidhamma method" as it is called. It sets out detailed practical instructions for developing purification of mind.