The Book of Immortality

The Book of Immortality PDF Author: Adam Gollner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439109435
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
An exploration of one of the most universal human obsessions charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions and enters the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality.

The Book of Immortality

The Book of Immortality PDF Author: Adam Gollner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439109435
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
An exploration of one of the most universal human obsessions charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions and enters the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality.

Immortality and the Law

Immortality and the Law PDF Author: Ray D. Madoff
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300163274
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This book takes a riveting look at how the law responds to that distinctly American dream of immortality. While American law provides virtually no protections for the interests we hold most dear—our bodies and our reputations—when it comes to property interests, the American dead have greater control than anywhere else in the world. Moreover, these rights are growing daily. From grave robbery to Elvis impersonators, Madoff shows how the law of the dead has a direct impact on how we live. Madoff examines how the rising power of the American dead enables the deceased to exert control over their wealth forever through grandiose schemes like "dynasty trusts" and perpetual private charitable foundations and to control their creative works and identities well into the unforeseeable future. Madoff explores how the law of the dead can, in essence, extend the reach of life by granting virtual immortality to individuals. All of this comes, Madoff contends, at real costs imposed on the living.

Illusions of Immortality

Illusions of Immortality PDF Author: David Giles
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1137096500
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
What drives people to crave fame and celebrity? How does fame affect people psychologically? These issues are frequently discussed by the media but up till now psychologists have shied away from an academic away from an academic investigation of the phenomenon of fame. In this lively, eclectic book David Giles examines fame and celebrity from a variety of perspectives. He argues that fame should be seen as a process rather than a state of being, and that 'celebrity' has largely emerged through the technological developments of the last 150 years. Part of our problem in dealing with celebrities, and the problem celebrities have dealing with the public, is that the social conditions produced by the explosion in mass communications have irrevocably altered the way we live. However we know little about many of the phenomena these conditions have produced - such as the 'parasocial interaction' between television viewers and media characters, and the quasi-religious activity of 'fans'. Perhaps the biggest single dilemma for celebrities is the fact that the vehicle that creates fame for them - the media - is also their tormentor. To address these questions, David Giles draws on research from psychology, sociology, media and communications studies, history and anthropology - as well as his own experiences as a music journalist in the 1980s. He argues that the history of fame is inextricably linked to the emergence of the individual self as a central theme of Western culture, and considers how the desire for authenticity, as well as individual privacy, have created anxieties for celebrities which are best understood in their historical and cultural context.

Immortality

Immortality PDF Author: Stephen Cave
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 184954347X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
There is a cloud-capped peak where gods and immortals while away their infinite days, and since the dawn of humanity everyone - whether they know it or not - has been trying to climb that mountain. But there are only four paths up its treacherous slope. Throughout history, people have wagered everything on their choice and fought wars against those who've decided differently. Each of these four paths - simply staying alive indefinitely, through magic or medicine; being resurrected; persisting as a soul; or living on through one's legacy - is revealed to us by a historical figure who serves as our guide. It is through these diverse individuals - such as the Egyptian queen Nefertiti; vitamin-obsessed Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling; author Mary Shelley; and Alexander the Great - that we come to understand how many of civilisation's greatest achievements have been born of our need to see our essence endure. As optimistic about the human condition as it is insightful, Immortality takes the reader on an eye-opening journey from the beginnings of civilisation to the present day. Bringing together history and philosophy, this fascinating book both enlightens and entertains, investigating whether it just might be possible to live forever, and whether that's something we should actually aspire to. But its most powerful and arresting argument is this - that it is our very preoccupation with defying mortality that has made our civilisation what it is.

Immortality

Immortality PDF Author: Milan Kundera
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063290650
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
New York Times Bestseller "Inspired. . . . Kundera's most brilliantly imagined novel. . . . A book that entrances, beguiles and charms us from first page to last." — Cleveland Plain Dealer Milan Kundera's sixth novel springs from a casual gesture of a woman to her swimming instructor, a gesture that creates a character in the mind of a writer named Kundera. Like Flaubert's Emma or Tolstoy's Anna, Kundera's Agnès becomes an object of fascination, of indefinable longing. From that character springs a novel, a gesture of the imagination that both embodies and articulates Milan Kundera's supreme mastery of the novel and its purpose: to explore thoroughly the great themes of existence.

The Book of Immortality

The Book of Immortality PDF Author: Adam Leith Gollner
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0385667310
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Gollner goes to the ends of the earth to talk to people who want to beat the clock--forever. So far, there's no proof of success, but their efforts prove entertaining, and, through Gollner's lens, touching as well." The Globe and Mail The author of the widely acclaimed The Fruit Hunters weaves together religion, science and magic in this Mark Kurlansky-style exploration of the most universal of human obsessions, immortality. With his singular curiosity, Gollner delves into a strange array of contemporary and historical characters and cults, religions and myths, and businesses all devoted to some form of immortality. His journey begins at a costume party thrown by a group of immortalists in California and ends on David Copperfield's archipelago in the Bahamas, where Copperfield claims to have found the fountain of youth. Along the way he visits St. Augustine, Florida and its purported fountain of youth; Harvard University, where he attends an anti-aging symposium; and Esalen, where he meets a whole host of quirky characters who embody our fascination with escaping death.

Athanasia: Or, Four Books on Immortality

Athanasia: Or, Four Books on Immortality PDF Author: John Howard Hinton (the Elder.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 548

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Book Description


The Golden Book of Immortality

The Golden Book of Immortality PDF Author: Thomas Curtis Clark
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781258042943
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description


Athanasia: or, Four Books on Immortality. To which is appended “Who will live for ever?” an examination of Luke XX. 36; with Rejoinders to the Rev. E. White and the Rev. W. Morris

Athanasia: or, Four Books on Immortality. To which is appended “Who will live for ever?” an examination of Luke XX. 36; with Rejoinders to the Rev. E. White and the Rev. W. Morris PDF Author: John Howard HINTON (the Elder.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description


What If We Don't Die?

What If We Don't Die? PDF Author: Peter Hulsroj
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319190938
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
This book deals with the very real possibility of earthly immortality and the human and societal implications of such immortality, including whether it is desirable. It looks at what makes immortality appear so attractive and at the possibility that we would be better served with longer lives and the freedom to terminate our lives at the time when life has given us all the joy, inspiration and personal development it possibly could. What If We Don’t Die? - Presents major moral dilemmas associated with human immortality, something which seems imminent due to rapidly progressing biomedical research. - Touches on big questions: is it acceptable that the immortal generation will be the last? How much life do you want? What is the purpose of life if life never ends? - Will trigger your imagination by putting a new spin on free will, current concepts of time and eternity, the possibility of multiple universes and multiple yous. What If We Don’t Die? draws extensively on philosophical and religious thought on the purpose of life and introduces novel perspectives on existence, personality and immortality based, for instance, on quantum mechanics and multiverse theory.