1421: The Year China Discovered America
by Gavin Menzies
from Harper Perennial
On March 8, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. Its mission was "to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas" and unite the whole world in Confucian harmony.
When it returned in October 1423, the emperor had fallen, leaving China in political and economic chaos. The great ships were left to rot at their moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed. Lost in China's long, self-imposed isolation that followed was the knowledge that Chinese ships had reached America seventy years before Columbus and had circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan. Also concealed was how the Chinese colonized America before the Europeans and transplanted in America and other countries the principal economic crops that have fed and clothed the world.
Unveiling incontrovertible evidence of these astonishing voyages, 1421 rewrites our understanding of history. Our knowledge of world exploration as it has been commonly accepted for centuries must now be reconceived due to this landmark work of historical investigation.
The Secret Art of Seamm Jasani: 58 Movements for Eternal Youth from Ancient Tibet
by Asanaro
from Tarcher
Seamm-Jasani, an ancient Tibetan movement system, teaches us how to look and feel younger than our biological age, to increase health and decrease illness, and to find inner peace, calm, and relaxation.
More than 10,000 years ago in the ancient Himalayan Mountains, an ancestral civilization committed itself to the study and development of the Science and Art for Eternal Youth. A form kept in close secrecy for millennia is now revealed for the first time in this practical and dynamic guidebook. The teachings focus on cultivating the powers of the individual's mind, the harmony of movements, and the discovery of internal potentialities as the ultimate force of self-healing to extend one's lifetime.
Comparable to a cross between yoga and tai chi, this ancient Tibetan system is designed to increase vitality, balance, and Inner Energy. The Secret Art consists of slow and fluid movements that improve coordination and strengthen equilibrium between body and mind through various breathing and movement techniques. In particular, Seamm-Jasani is known for its combination of relaxation, active motion, and breathing exercises.
The Secret Art of Boabom: Awakening Inner Power Through Defense-Meditation from Ancient Tibet
by Asanaro
from Tarcher
From the author of The Secret Art of Seamm Jasani comes the definitive guide to the ancient defense-meditation art of Boabom.
The success of The Secret Art of Seamm Jasani by Asanaro surprised many who wondered whether a little-known Tibetan movement system would be able to compete with yoga, Spinning classes, and tai chi. After several printings and thousands of Seamm Jasani converts, the secret is out. Seamm Jasani schools have cropped up across the country, thanks to the popularity of Asanaro's book, and more people than ever are discovering Seamm Jasani. For students eager to continue learning about ancient Tibetan body movement arts, or for anyone curious about cutting-edge strength and spiritual training, The Secret Art of Boabom is a must read.
A cross between martial arts and yoga, Boabom is an ancient system of relaxation, meditation, breathing, and defense originating in pre-Buddhist Tibet. The movements contained within the collective "Arts" of Boabom are designed to develop vitality and internal energy, as well as mind and body balance, which are achieved through movements of defense, self-healing, relaxation, and meditation. Boabom provides quick relief from stress, and improves focus and confidence, as well as physical condition and mental well-being.
The Secret Art of Boabom includes detailed descriptions and more than three hundred instructional drawings of Boabom movements, as well as information about its positive effects. But The Secret Art of Boabom is more than just a how-to book. Combining the thrill of adventure nonfiction, the depth of history, and the profundity of philosophy along with the practicality of a guidebook, Asanaro offers this companion to those eager to explore the secrets of ancient Tibet in order to improve their health and well-being.
The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci
by Jonathan D. Spence
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Matteo Ricci (1552-1616), an Italian Jesuit, entered China in 1583 to spread Catholicism in the largely Confucian country. In order to make a persuasive argument for the educated Chinese to abandon their traditional faith for the new one he was carrying, Ricci realized that he would have to prove the general superiority of Western culture. He did so by teaching young Confucian scholars tricks to increase their memory skills--an important advantage in a nation with countless laws and rituals that had to be learned by heart. Ricci attracted numerous students with this method; more important, Ricci came to have a sympathetic understanding for China that he communicated to Rome, and thence to the European nations at large. Spence's portrait of Ricci is a gem of historical writing. --Gregory MacNamee
Healing with Ki-Kou: The Secrets of Ancient Chinese Breathing Techniques, Second Edition
by Li Xiuling
from Agora Health Books
Virtually unknown outside of China, Ki-kou is an ancient healing technique that is a unique combination of mindful targeted breathing, simple flowing movements, and restful poses. These gentle exercises, handed down for centuries by traditional Chinese doctors, are designed to harness your body's own natural healing abilities.
Ki-kou is a powerful weapon against illness that moves beyond many traditional yoga techniques, offering targeting healing benefits. Using the principle of chi, considered by Eastern disciplines to be the energy source that carries life through your body, this step-by step guide brings improved health and self-awareness while targeting specific health complaints ranging from the common-cold, to cancer, to back pain.
The gentle yet highly effective nature of the Ki-kou technique makes it appropriate for everyone from those just starting to exercise to athletes—from teenagers to older adults. Ki-kou can be used as a stand-alone fitness and healing program or in combination with traditional yoga, QiGong, or western exercise plans.
The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China Of Ancient China (History and Warfare)
from Basic Books
The Search for Modern China
by Jonathan D. Spence
from W. W. Norton & Company
In this Second Edition of his widely acclaimed history of modern China, Jonathan Spence achieves a fine blend of narrative richness and efficiency. The text is tighter throughout and up-to-date on the most important scholarship in the field. The new discussions in this thorough revision include the extension of imperial power into central Asia by the eighteenth-century emperors, women's literacy and education in the Qing, the early development of Chinese nationalism, the roots of Chinese communism and alternatives to Mao, the early stages of the Great Leap Forward and of the Cultural Revolution. There is a new chapter at the end of the book on economic, cultural, and political developments since 1989. Praised as "a miracle of readability and scholarly authority," (Jonathan Mirsky) The Search for Modern China offers students a matchless introduction to China's history.
The Jesuit and the Skull: Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and the Search for Peking Man
by Amir Aczel
from Riverhead Hardcover
In December 1929, in a cave near Peking, a group of anthropologists and archaeologists that included a young French Jesuit priest named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin uncovered a pre-human skull. The find quickly became known around the world as Peking Man and was acclaimed as the missing link between erect hunting apes and our Cro-Magnon ancestors. It also became a provocative piece of evidence in the roiling debate over creationism versus evolution.
For Teilhard, both a scientist and man of God, the discovery also exposed a deeply personal conflict between the new science and his faith. He was commanded by his superiors to deny all scientific evidence that went against biblical teachings, and his writing and lectures were censored by the Vatican. But his curiosity and desire to find connections between scientific and spiritual truth kept him investigating man's origins. His inner struggle, and, in turn, his public rebuke by the Catholic Church personified one of the central debates of our time: How to reconcile an individual's commitment to science and his commitment to his faith.
In The Jesuit and the Skull, bestselling author Amir D. Aczel vividly recounts the discovery of Peking Man and its repercussions, and how Teilhard de Chardin's scientific work helped to open the eyes of the world to new theories of humanity's origins that alarmed the traditionalists within the Church. A deft mix of narrative history and a poignant personal story, The Jesuit and the Skull brings fresh insight to a debate that still rages today.
The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs
by Robert Beer
from Shambhala
Tibetan Buddhism has one of the most complex iconographies of any religion. Robert Beer, the artist who brought to life the saints of Tibetan Buddhism in Buddhist Masters of Enchantment, has now brought the myriad symbols of Tibetan Buddhist art to life. Not exactly arranged like an encyclopedia, this book is more like a tour of the categories of Tibetan Buddhist symbols, beginning with Landscape Elements (rocks, clouds, rainbows, etc.); moving on to such areas as Flowers and Trees, Cosmology, and Mudras (hand gestures); and ending with Geometric Borders. Exquisitely detailed line drawings (using fine-pointed traditional brushes) are grouped on full-size plates, each of which the author tells us took between 50 and 200 hours to draw. The eight years that went into this book are revealed not only in the drawings but also in the text that is equally detailed in its descriptions of the religious significance of the symbols as well as their sources and development in Tibetan art. Beer's encyclopedic knowledge has not come from book learning, but from 30 years of doing Tibetan art and learning firsthand from Tibetan masters. After glimpsing just of few of these plates, you'll be calling Beer a master too. --Brian Bruya
For artists, designers, and all with an interest in Buddhist and Tibetan art, this is the first exhaustive reference to the seemingly infinite variety of symbols found throughout Tibetan art in line drawings, paintings, and ritual objects. Hundreds of the author's line drawings depict all the major Tibetan symbols and motifs—landscapes, deities, animals, plants, gurus, mudras (ritual hand gestures), dragons, and other mythic creatures—ranging from complex mythological scenes to small, simple ornaments.
The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han (History of Imperial China)
by Mark Edward Lewis
from Belknap Press
In 221 bc the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire. Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia.
The Qin and Han constitute the "classical period" of Chinese history--a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity.
The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China's long history of imperialism--events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.
(20070401)+++
