Bøker av James Wilson

James Wilson wrote his Dictionary of Astrology in 1819. Based in large measure on a close study of the works of Ptolemy and Placidus (among many others), it is a quirky, highly personal view of the ancient science. It has been acclaimed the finest of all astrological dictionaries. Wilson's goal was to force the student to think about some of the basic assumptions in astrology. In the Preface, he writes: If I had any motive more prominent than the rest (beyond promoting the cause of truth, which, I trust, will always be the principal) for publishing this work, it was a desire to injure those harpies who gather together scarce books of science, and hide them from the perusal of mankind, merely for the sake of gain, which, after all, can be but trifling: men like these are the enemies of knowledge, and ought to be severely punished in every civilized nation. This treatise will render most of their hoards comparatively useless, for I have been careful to insert the substance of all they contain relating to astrology, whether true or false, adding occasionally some remarks of my own to distinguish the latter as far as I am able, that every student may be enabled to found his own conviction on his own experience. Rather than the short, arid articles typical of specialized dictionaries, Wilson offers extensive entries on (Primary) Directions, Faces, Figures, Forms of the Body, Horary Astrology, Marriage, Part of Fortune, Weather, the judgment of Revolutions, Progressions, Ingresses, Riches, Promittors, as well as many more. A few years after this book, the author published his translation of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, one of only a handful of men to have done so. The Dictionary of Astrology is a book of surprises. It will repay study.

Court and Bowled examines a number of stories where cricket or cricketers gave rise to a legal dispute. All of the stories demonstrated something common to both cricket matches and court cases: behind the intrigue, entertainment and theatrics of both there are always real people and real human stories.

Provides the systematic description of the linguistic accommodation of Moravian migrants in Bohemia. This book combines a quantitative analysis of six linguistic variables with an ethnographic study of informants' linguistic and social behaviour. It identifies the impact of various social criteria on informants' acquisition of Common Czech forms.

50 stories of notable court cases spanning more than a century. There are great ethical dilemmas, great Victorian scandals, then there are more topical cases, and the cases that can only be described as absurd. Written in an accessible style, the book will be of interest to lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

A rich, thought-provoking exploration of America's quintessential values, institutions, and challenges, by the nation's top scholars

'This is a book begun, but not finished. I could not finish it. Many times I have come close to destroying it, thinking I should have no rest while it remained to reproach me. I could not bring myself to do it. I have therefore given instructions that it should be sealed in a box, which is to remain unopened until I, my wife Laura, our sister Marion Halcombe, and all our children are dead.'So begins James Wilson's brilliant imaginative recreation of the Victorian sensation novel as the characters from Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White - Walter Hartright and Marion Halcombe - are involved in another dramatic and dangerous conspiracy. Walter is commissioned to write a biography of the greatest of English painters, JMW Turner, whose life was shrouded in mystery. His researches take him to the dark secret at the centre of Turner's work and involve him and Marion in confronting crimes and human degradation that threaten their sanity and their lives.The Dark Clue takes us into Victorian England in all its staggering extremes; of poverty and wealth, of slums and stately homes, of public morality and private vice in an unforgettable tale of suspense.

A leading expert explains what government bureaucracies do and why they behave the way they do.