This author explores the lives and works of individuals once esteemed but since forgotten by time. Through compelling narratives, they bring historical figures to life, revealing their extraordinary, often bizarre, pursuits. Their writing demonstrates a deep fascination with the past and the enduring impact of unique personalities on cultural development.
When young, expat businessman Jack Troughton's girlfriend tells him about the Bible she found on a Cheltenham bench, his life is turned upside down. Challenged by Celia's faith, and brought face to face with terrifying Estonian sex-traffickers when tragedy strikes, his response impacts countless lives and threatens all he holds most dear.
A Scientific American Best Science Book of 2012 An Atlantic Wire Best Book of 2012 A New York Times Book Review “Editor's Choice” The “fascinating” (The New Yorker) story of Athanasius Kircher, the eccentric scholar-inventor who was either a great genius or a crackpot . . . or a bit of both. The interests of Athanasius Kircher, the legendary seventeenth-century priest-scientist, knew no bounds. From optics to music to magnetism to medicine, he offered up inventions and theories for everything, and they made him famous across Europe. His celebrated museum in Rome featured magic lanterns, speaking statues, the tail of a mermaid, and a brick from the Tower of Babel. Holy Roman Emperors were his patrons, popes were his friends, and in his spare time he collaborated with the Baroque master Bernini. But Kircher lived during an era of radical transformation, in which the old approach to knowledge—what he called the “art of knowing”— was giving way to the scientific method and modern thought. A Man of Misconceptions traces the rise, success, and eventual fall of this fascinating character as he attempted to come to terms with a changing world. With humor and insight, John Glassie returns Kircher to his rightful place as one of history’s most unforgettable figures.