In The Myths that Stole Christmas, Johnson argues that Christmas has been hijacked by seven different myths-seven myths that control how people conceive of and celebrate the holiday. Myth #1: Jesus Is the Reason for the Season Myth #2: There Is a War on Christmas Myth #3: Our Christmas Traditions Are Old-Fashioned Myth #4: Christmas Spending Is Good for the Economy Myth #5: Santa Claus Is Saint Nicholas Myth #6: The Santa Claus Lie Is Harmless Myth #7: Christmas Can't Change Historically, holiday celebrations served useful social functions; they smoothed tension between social classes; they helped us prepare for the long hard winter; they turned the literal darkest days into the "hap-happiest season of all." Modern Christmas celebrations, however, serve as a source of conflict-and can make us anxious, stressed, fat, poor and stupid. Christmas owns us; we do what it wants, when it wants. But, Johnson argues, taking a close look at the history of the holiday, and the social, political and economic issues that surround it, can turn the tables and allow us to own Christmas once again. Christmas is not a Christians-only holiday that can only be properly celebrated a certain way. Christmas belongs to us all and we can each simply make it what we need it to be.

Why is Christmas the way it is? How did we get from the birth of Jesus to everyone pushing their credit card and their belts to their maximum extent? Starting with the events surrounding Jesus' birth, this book takes us through centuries of commemoration, celebration and over-consumption. Along the way we'll find out why we eat turkey, how an obscure Turkish saint turned into a man flying a sleigh, and why that tree in your house should really contain an apple and a snake. Combining in-depth historical research, cheerfully irreverent humour and cutting-edge guesswork, Nick Page explores what this festival really means, and how we can get back to something real and true beneath all that wrapping.

Yes, there is a Santa Claus -- and this provocative book will tell you who he really is! Travel back in time to view Santa's pagan origins -- and his fascinating connections to the Horned Shaman, the Greek God Pan, the Norse god Wodan, and Robin Hood. Learn how we are influenced by this ancient myth everyday. Based on ten years of extensive research.

A humorous philosophical investigation into the existence of Santa from a co–executive producer of The Big Bang Theory—the perfect stocking stuffer for the deep thinker on everyone’s list. Emmy award–winning comedy writer and philosophy scholar Eric Kaplan brilliantly turns a search for the truth about Santa into a laugh-out-loud metaphysical romp. Surveying everything from the analytic philosophy of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein to Buddhism, Taoism, and Kabbalah, Kaplan alights on comedy—including The Big Bang Theory and Monty Python—as the best way to resolve life’s most profound paradoxes, including the existence of perfect moments, Santa, and even God.

It wouldn't be Christmas without the "things." How they came to mean so much, and to play such a prominent role in America's central holiday, is the tale told in this delightful and edifying book. In a style characteristically engaging and erudite, Karal Ann Marling, one of our most trenchant observers of American culture, describes the outsize spectacle that Christmas has become.

A philosophical look at the movie Inception and its brilliant metaphysical puzzles Is the top still spinning? Was it all a dream? In the world of Christopher Nolan's four-time Academy Award-winning movie, people can share one another's dreams and alter their beliefs and thoughts. Inception is a metaphysical heist film that raises more questions than it answers: Can we know what is real? Can you be held morally responsible for what you do in dreams? What is the nature of dreams, and what do they tell us about the boundaries of "self" and "other"? From Plato to Aristotle and from Descartes to Hume, Inception and Philosophy draws from important philosophical minds to shed new light on the movie's captivating themes, including the one that everyone talks about: did the top fall down (and does it even matter)? Explores the movie's key questions and themes, including how we can tell if we're dreaming or awake, how to make sense of a paradox, and whether or not inception is possible Gives new insights into the nature of free will, time, dreams, and the unconscious mind Discusses different interpretations of the film, and whether or not philosophy can help shed light on which is the "right one" Deepens your understanding of the movie's multi-layered plot and dream-infiltrating characters, including Dom Cobb, Arthur, Mal, Ariadne, Eames, Saito, and Yusuf An essential companion for every dedicated Inception fan, this book will enrich your experience of the Inception universe and its complex dreamscape.

e-artnow presents to you this unique collection of the greatest Christmas novels and stories, myths, carols and the poetry dedicated to this magical holiday by the masters of literature: _x000D_ Mr. Pickwick's Christmas (Charles Dickens) _x000D_ The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry)_x000D_ The Holy Night (Selma Lagerlöf)_x000D_ A Merry Christmas (Louisa May Alcott)_x000D_ A Letter from Santa Claus (Mark Twain)_x000D_ Silent Night_x000D_ The Night After Christmas_x000D_ The Child Born at Bethlehem_x000D_ The Adoration of the Shepherds_x000D_ The Visit of the Wise Men_x000D_ As Joseph Was A-Walking_x000D_ The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter)_x000D_ Where Love Is, God Is (Leo Tolstoy) _x000D_ The Three Kings (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) _x000D_ A Christmas Carol (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) _x000D_ Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (L. Frank Baum)_x000D_ Christmas At Sea (Robert Louis Stevenson)_x000D_ The Savior Must Have Been A Docile Gentleman (Emily Dickinson)_x000D_ The Heavenly Christmas Tree (Fyodor Dostoevsky)_x000D_ The Little City of Hope (F. Marion Crawford)_x000D_ The First Christmas Of New England (Harriet Beecher Stowe)_x000D_ Christmas in the Olden Time (Walter Scott)_x000D_ Christmas In India (Rudyard Kipling)_x000D_ A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) _x000D_ The Twelve Days of Christmas_x000D_ The Wonderful Wizard of OZ (L. Frank Baum)_x000D_ Ring Out, Wild Bells (Alfred Lord Tennyson)_x000D_ Little Lord Fauntleroy (Frances Hodgson Burnett)_x000D_ Black Beauty (Anna Sewell)_x000D_ The Christmas Child (Hesba Stretton)_x000D_ Granny's Wonderful Chair (Frances Browne)_x000D_ The Romance of a Christmas Card (Kate Douglas Wiggin)_x000D_ Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)_x000D_ The Wonderful Life - Story of the life and death of our Lord (Hesba Stretton)_x000D_ The Christmas Angel (A. Brown)_x000D_ Christmas at Thompson Hall (Anthony Trollope)_x000D_ Christmas Every Day (William Dean Howells)_x000D_ The Lost Word (Henry van Dyke)_x000D_ The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (E. T. A. Hoffmann)_x000D_ The Little Match Girl_x000D_ The Elves and the Shoemaker_x000D_ Mother Holle _x000D_ The Star Talers_x000D_ Snow-White_x000D_ The Christmas Hirelings_x000D_ The Blue Carbuncle_x000D_ An Exciting Christmas Eve_x000D_ The Spirit of Christmas…