Ansfried Scheifes Books

From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. In iSteve: The Book of Jobs, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs\' professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with…

This moving collection of letters, diary entries, and writings offers a rare glimpse into Nelson Mandela's life through his own voice—direct, clear, and private. An international bestseller, it serves as an intensely personal complement to his autobiography. In the foreword, President Barack Obama notes that it provides an extraordinary picture of Mandela the man. The book reveals the darkest hours of Mandela's twenty-seven years of imprisonment, his troubled dreams on Robben Island, and includes drafts of an unfinished sequel to his autobiography, notes from his famous speeches, and even doodles from meetings. It features photos from his life, journals from his time on the run during the anti-apartheid struggles, and nearly 70 hours of recorded conversations with friends. This intimate journey traces the evolution of his political conscience and his pivotal role on the world stage. Critics have noted its emotional depth, with one calling it more revealing than his autobiography, while another describes it as a work that breaks the heart and then makes it sing. The narrative is intensely moving, blending personal reflections with significant historical events, providing the fullest picture yet of Mandela.

Christianity emerged nearly two thousand years ago in ancient Palestine, profoundly influencing human history. Yet, the origins remain elusive. How did Jesus, a first-century Jew, ignite a new religion? This question is one of history's greatest mysteries. Traditionally, the birth of Christianity has been linked to the miracle of the Resurrection, where Jesus, after his death, was raised by God and appeared to his disciples, urging them to spread the gospel. Witnessing the Risen Jesus solidified their belief, leading to the rapid spread of Christianity across the Middle East and Europe, eventually dominating much of the world. However, historians struggle to explain this success without the Resurrection as a catalyst. If no one truly saw the Risen Jesus, what convinced his followers of his immortality? Art historian Thomas de Wesselow has dedicated seven years to unraveling this puzzle, reconstructing a new understanding of Christianity's origins. By reassessing a familiar yet misunderstood historical source and reinterpreting biblical passages, he reveals that the answer has been overlooked for over a century: the Shroud of Turin, often dismissed as a fake, is authentic and holds the key to this enduring mystery.

Throughout his life Mozart was inspired, fascinated, amused, aroused, hurt, disappointed and betrayed by women; and he appeared equally fascinating to them. But, first and last, Mozart loved and respected women. His mother, his sister, his wife, her sisters, his patrons, his friends, his lovers and his artists all figure prominently in his life. Jane Glover introduces us to Mozart’s mother, Maria Anna and his beloved and talented sister, Nannerl. We meet, too, Mozart’s ‘other family’, the Webers: Constanze, his wife, much maligned by history, and her sisters Aloysia, Sophie and Josepha. This is their story. But it is also the story of the women in his operas, all of whom were – like his sister, his mother, his wife and entire female acquaintance – restrained by the conventions and strictures of eighteenth-century society. Yet through his glorious writing, he identified and released the emotions of his characters. They hold up the mirror to their audiences and offer inestimable insight, together constituting yet further proof of Mozart’s true genius and phenomenal understanding of human nature. Rich, evocative and compellingly readable, Mozart's Women illuminates the music and the man, but above all, the women who inspired him.

A preeminent scientist - and the world's most prominent atheist - asserts the irrationality of belief in God, and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament, to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion, and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence.The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.