“Filled with cool cocktail-party tidbits, Matt Kaplan considers how issues that have been as soon as the stuff of legends might at some point turn into truth” (The Atlantic) during this enjoyable clinical inquiry into the paranormal locations and magical items of historical and modern lore—from the fountain of minor, to like potions, to great Mario’s mushrooms.
Can migrations of birds foretell our destiny? Do stages of the moon carry sway over our lives? Are there sacred springs that treatment the ailing? what's the most sensible method to brew a love potion? How will we create mutant people who regenerate like Wolverine?
“In technological know-how of the Magical, Matt Kaplan takes us on a trip spiced with the wonders of delusion, background and paintings, leavened with impeccable examine, ceaselessly attention-grabbing. And the result's either a compelling learn and a deeply considerate exploration of the realm round us and the methods we search to appreciate it” (Deborah Blum, writer of The Poisoner’s Handbook). Like Ken Jennings and Mary Roach, Kaplan serves as a pleasant armchair consultant to the area of the supernatural. From the strengthening powers of Viking mead to the great squaddies in videos resembling Captain America, Kaplan explores cultures and time classes to indicate that there's usually even more to those enduring magical narratives than mere fable. Informative and enjoyable, Science of the Magical is “a sprightly survey” (The Wall highway Journal) and “a pleasure to read…highly advised” (Library Journal, starred review).
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Extra resources for Science of the Magical: From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpowers
10. Ibid. eleven. Ibid. 12. Ibid. thirteen. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15. Aveni, in the back of the Crystal Ball. sixteen. Collins, “Mapping the Entrails. ” 17. W. J. huge, The Oracle: The misplaced secrets and techniques and Hidden Message of historic Delphi (New York: Penguin Press, 2006). 18. Ibid. 19. Plutarch, Plutarch’s Lives (Cambridge, MA: Harvard college Press, 1914), chap. 14. 20. vast, The Oracle. 21. J. A. S. Evans, “The Oracle of the wood Wall,” Classical magazine seventy eight, no. 1 (1982): 24–29. 22. Ibid. 23. extensive, The Oracle. 24. Ibid. 25. Ibid. 26. J. E. Fontenrose, The Delphic Oracle: Its Responses and Operations, with a list of Responses (Berkeley: college of California Press, 1978). 27. Diodorus, Siculus: historic Library, Loeb Classical Libraries, vol. 289 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard college Press, 1952). 28. Ibid. 29. Ibid. 30. J. R. Hale et al. , “Questioning the Delphic Oracle,” medical American 289, no. 2 (2003): 66–73. 31. Ibid. 32. J. Z. de Boer, J. R. Hale, and J. Chanton, “New facts for the Geological Origins of the traditional Delphic Oracle (Greece),” Geology 29, no. eight (2001): 707. 33. Hale et al. , “Questioning the Delphic Oracle. ” 34. Ibid. 35. Ibid. 36. Ibid. 37. De Boer, Hale, and Chanton, “New proof for the Geological Origins of the traditional Delphic Oracle (Greece). ” 38. Ibid. 39. Ibid. forty. Ibid. forty-one. A. Belcher and W. Sinnott-Armstrong, “Neurolaw,” Wiley Interdisciplinary experiences: Cognitive technological know-how 1, no. 1 (2010): 18–22. forty two. D. D. Langleben et al. , “Brain task in the course of Simulated Deception: An Event-Related sensible Magnetic Resonance Study,” Neuroimage 15, no. three (2002): 727–32. forty three. Ibid. forty four. S. V. Shinkareva et al. , “Using fMRI mind Activation to spot Cognitive States linked to conception of instruments and Dwellings,” PLoS One three, no. 1 (2008): e1394. forty five. B. N. Pasley et al. , “Reconstructing Speech from Human Auditory Cortex,” PLoS Biology 10, no. 1 (2012): e1001251. forty six. Ibid. bankruptcy SEVEN: past THE GRAVE 1. D. L. Paxson, the way in which of the Oracle: improving the Practices of the earlier to discover solutions for this day (San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2012), 21. 2. R. Stillwell, W. L. MacDonald, and M. H. McAllister, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical websites (Princeton, NJ: Princeton college Press, 1976), 251. three. Ibid. four. S. Caliro et al. , “Geochemical and Biochemical facts of Lake Overturn and Fish Kill at Lake Averno, Italy,” magazine of Volcanology and Geothermal study 178, no. 2 (2008): 305–16. five. J. Cabassi, “Geochemical gains of meals and Dissolved Gases within the Volcanic Lake of Averno (Phlegrean Fields, Southern Italy),” Geophysical learn Abstracts 14 (2012). 6. Caliro et al. , “Geochemical and Biochemical facts of Lake Overturn and Fish Kill at Lake Averno, Italy. ” 7. Virgil, The Aeneid, trans. R. Fitzgerald and J. Dryden, Classics of Greece and Rome sequence (New York: Macmillan, 1965), chap. 6, strains 236–60. eight. Stillwell, MacDonald, and McAllister, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical websites, 391. nine. Strabo, The Geography of Strabo (Cambridge, MA: Harvard college Press, 1924), bk. thirteen, chap. four, sec. 14. 10. Ibid. eleven. H. Pfanz et al. , “The historical Gates to Hell and Their Relevance to Geogenic CO2,” in background of Toxicology and Environmental wellbeing and fitness, ed.