A fascinating story of growing up as a gay fan of comic books in the 1960s, building a fifty-year career as an award-winning writer, and interacting with acclaimed comic book legends Award-winning writer Bill Schelly relates how comics and fandom saved his life in this engrossing story that begins in the burgeoning comic fandom movement of the 1960s and follows the twists and turns of a career that spanned fifty years. Schelly recounts his struggle to come out at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, how the egalitarian nature of fandom offered a safe haven for those who were different, and how his need for creative expression eventually overcame all obstacles. He describes living through the AIDS epidemic, finding the love of his life, and his unorthodox route to becoming a father. He also details his personal encounters with major talents of 1960s comics, such as Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man), Jim Shooter (writer for DC and later editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics), and Julius Schwartz (legendary architect of the Silver Age of comics).

This practical book offers a scientific framework for the early years that is divided into four key areas: biological science, physical science, earth science and environmental science. Topics covered include life, nature, environmental care, sustainability, and biodiversity - with links throughout to the EYFS. A Sense of Wonder is an easy-to-read guide for educators looking to implement play-based science learning and inspire children of all ages in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

There are times when a thought may make the difference of how you may change your feelings. That time is anytime you want to feel something a little different, a little special and to remember. It's the remembering of what you sensed and what it did to you that makes the difference. Take what you read and enjoy what happens.

Reading the essays of Craig Nagel is like enjoying a good, unhurried visit with a good friend, one who is thoughtful, insightful and articulatethe welcome companion whos good to have around and to be around. Hes fun. Nagel simply exudes charm and common senseand he writes so well. (Hes a gentle philosopher of the commonplace.) Hes also organized. His brief sketches flow so nicely together. Just perusing his prefacewell, theres none like it!will convince all thinking readers theyre in for a real treat. And they are: hes that good. Dr. Art Lee Prof. of History (ret.) Bemidji State University

Environmental scientist and writer Haydn Washington argues that we will not solve the environmental crisis unless we change our worldview and ethics, and to do so we must rejuvenate our sense of wonder at nature. This book focuses on humanity’s relation with nature, and the sense of wonder and belonging common to indigenous cultures and children everywhere. Drawing on events in the author’s own four decades working to protect wild places, and the current literature on wonder, it examines what a sense of wonder is, what it has been called in different cultures, and our high points of wonder at nature. It also looks at the ‘Great Divide’ in worldview between anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, and considers the problem of anthropocentric theory in academia, arguing that the focus should instead be on harmony with nature. The book concludes with an examination of why wonder has become buried in Western society and considers ways in which it can be revived, including rituals and education. It also considers how wonder helps humanity to become ‘whole’. The final chapter presents the road back to wonder and how wonder towards nature can be restored in Western society. This book will be of great interest to environmental scientists, conservation biologists, environmental philosophers and ecological ethicists, as well as environmentalists, educators, eco-psychologists, and students looking at sustainability, deep ecology, and environmental philosophy and ethics.

A practical book for making good second starters in prayer, morality, choice of church, and questions of religious content, Searching for God is more concerned with choosing a good church than it is in finding the one, true church. It presents prayer as the beginning of contact with God and love as the foundation of morality.

All too often Scripture is read only to find answers to life’s perplexing questions, to prove a theological point, or to formulate doctrine. But William Brown argues that if read properly, what the Bible does most fundamentally is arouse a sacred sense of life-transforming wonder. In this book Brown helps readers develop an orientation toward the biblical text that embraces wonder. He explores reading strategies and offers fresh readings of seventeen Old and New Testament passages, identifying what he finds most central and evocative in the unfolding biblical drama. The Bible invites its readers to linger in wide-eyed wonder, Brown says -- and his Sacred Sense shows readers how to do just that.

Speakers can get to know the meaning of any of indefinitely many sentences that they have never heard before. This statement encapsulates the problem of linguistic creativity, which lies at the core of philosophy of language and theoretical linguistics. It has also sparked off a considerable amount of work on the philosophy of mind. After establishing the failure of the familiar compositional approach to the problem, the book adopts a radically new start. It develops core elements of the later Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy, putting them to work to`dissolve' the problem, proving it ill-framed by clarifying the questions posing it and breaking the spell of mistaken analogies that inform it. This sharply focused monograph thus has a dual aim: coping with a crucial problem that turns out to be a lot tougher than is generally supposed, and presenting a precise and rigorous demonstration of an unfamiliar and exciting philosophical approach. Audience: Clearly written and lucidly structured, the book addresses professional philosophers and advanced undergraduates alike.

A team of leading contributors from both philosophical and literary backgrounds have been brought together in this impressive book to examine how works of literary fiction can be a source of knowledge. Together, they analyze the important trends in this current popular debate. The innovative feature of this volume is that it mixes work by literary theorists and scholars with work of analytic philosophers that combined together provide a comprehensive statement of the variety of ways in which works of fiction can engage questions of worldly interest. It uses the problem of cognitive value to explore: literature’s contribution to ethical life literature’s ability to engage in social and political critique the role narrative plays in opening up possibilities of moral, aesthetic, experience and selfhood This remarkable volume will attract the attention of both literature and philosophy scholars with its statement of the various ways that literature and life take an interest in one another.

A Sense of the Sacred By: Rev. Norman K. Bakken, Ph.D. Rev. Norman K. Bakken, Ph.D. gleans from his life all that is simple, all that is delicate, and all that is Sacred. On life, Nature has a way of speaking to us when all the world around is quiet, when others are nowhere present and when we, in such moments, pause to listen and to see. On spirit, A child avoids reality by dreaming, an adult by idealistic escape, which is never fully overcome or avoided without an understanding that we, too, are part of that reality. Hopefully, someday we will come to our senses, including a sense of the sacred lying at the base of all life. On our relationship with God, Now I have been tempted to go too far ahead, to say too little of what is already too much. To be quiet, to be attentive, that, I have learned, is the essence of faith in any tradition.