The Astronomer & the Witch

The Astronomer & the Witch PDF

Author: Ulinka Rublack

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 0198736770

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In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one that takes us to the heart of his changing world.

The Astronomer and the Witch

The Astronomer and the Witch PDF

Author: Ulinka Rublack

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2015-10-22

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0191056456

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Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the most admired astronomers who ever lived and a key figure in the scientific revolution. A defender of Copernicus ́s sun-centred universe, he famously discovered that planets move in ellipses, and defined the three laws of planetary motion. Perhaps less well known is that in 1615, when Kepler was at the height of his career, his widowed mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft. The proceedings led to a criminal trial that lasted six years, with Kepler conducting his mother's defence. In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one which takes us to the heart of his changing world. First and foremost an intense family drama, the story brings to life the world of a small Lutheran community in the centre of Europe at a time of deep religious and political turmoil - a century after the Reformation, and on the threshold of the Thirty Years' War. Kepler's defence of his mother also offers us a fascinating glimpse into the great astronomer's world view, on the cusp between Reformation and scientific revolution. While advancing rational explanations for the phenomena which his mother's accusers attributed to witchcraft, Kepler nevertheless did not call into question the existence of magic and witches. On the contrary, he clearly believed in them. And, as the story unfolds, it appears that there were moments when even Katharina's children wondered whether their mother really did have nothing to hide...

Kepler's Witch

Kepler's Witch PDF

Author: James A. Connor

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 582

ISBN-13: 0061737429

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“A fascinating book, analyzing a pivotal time in western intellectual history.” — John Shelby Spong, author of A New Christianity for a New World “A detailed and fascinating account of the life and times of one of the great founding figures of modern science.” — John Polkinghorne, author of Belief in God in an Age of Science “James Connor narrates the compelling human drama behind significant scientific discoveries of the seventeenth century.” — Eve LaPlante, author of American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans “Connor has illuminated the life - and thus also the work - of one of history’s greatest star-gazers.” — David Edmonds and John Eidinow, authors of Wittgenstein's Poker and Bobby Fischer Goes to War “Connor’s skillful narrative brings to life an extraordinary man who wanted to know the mind of God.” — Kenneth Silverman, Pulitzer-Prize winner and author of Lightning Man “Kepler has received less than his due from rationally-minded scholars. This luminous biography will help remedy that injustice.” — Booklist - Starred Review “His biographer depicts him brilliantly . . . healthy, purposeful, and illuminating.” — Kirkus Reviews “...a remarkably human portrait of Kepler. . . . [an] engaging narrative.” — Publishers Weekly “A compelling story of scientific discovery. . . crisply written, meticulously researched and highly recommended.” — Tucson Citizen “Fun to read...” — Los Angeles Times “No other Keplerian biography fleshes out so fully the background against which the astronomer worked.” — Christian Century “Connor delves into Kepler’s life in such a way that the scientist becomes a person of flesh and bone.” — National Catholic Reporter

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch PDF

Author: Rivka Galchen

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2021-06-08

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0374711216

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Drawing on real historical documents but infused with the intensity of imagination, sly humor, and intellectual fire for which award-winning author Rivka Galchen’s writing is known, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch is a tale for our time—the story of how a community becomes implicated in collective aggression and hysterical fear. The year is 1619, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katherina Kepler is accused of being a witch. An illiterate widow, Katherina is known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It’s enough to make anyone jealous, and Katherina has done herself no favors by being out and about and in everyone’s business. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katherina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katherina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, Katherina is in trouble. Her scientist son must turn his attention from the music of the spheres to the job of defending his mother. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture, and even execution, Katherina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets. Provocative and entertaining, Galchen’s bold new novel touchingly illuminates a society, and a family, undone by superstition, the state, and the mortal convulsions of history.

The Witch's Daughter

The Witch's Daughter PDF

Author: Paula Brackston

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2011-01-18

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1429989858

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My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins... In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn't know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life. In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers' market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories--and demons--long thought forgotten. Part historical romance, part modern fantasy, Paula Brackston's New York Times bestseller, The Witch's Daughter, is a fresh, compelling take on the magical, yet dangerous world of Witches. Readers will long remember the fiercely independent heroine who survives plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality to remain true to herself, and protect the protégé she comes to love.

Little Witch Goes to School

Little Witch Goes to School PDF

Author: Deborah Hautzig

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Published: 1998-08-04

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 0679887385

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Little Witch wants to go to school just like her friends, but her mother thinks she should stay home and learn from her witchy aunts. Mother Witch finally agrees to let Little Witch go, but only if she promises to be very, very bad. It's a wild ride on a broomstick that kids won't soon forget! The third book in the popular Little Witch series, Little Witch Goes to School has all the mixed-up magic and quirky humor kids have come to love in the first two books.

The Witch Herself

The Witch Herself PDF

Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2002-10

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 0689853173

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From the shadows of the pool, Black as midnight, thick as gruel... Is Mrs. Tuggle a witch? Lynn and Mouse are sure she is - how else can you explain the frightening things that have been taking place over the past several months? Now Lynn's mom is planning to move her writing studio into Mrs. Tuggle's house for the winter, and Lynn can't imagine a more dangerous situation. If she and Mouse don't do something, there's no telling what horrifying things may happen. They've got to save lynn's mom before Mrs. Tuggle strikes again -- but how?

Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande

Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande PDF

Author: Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1976

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0198740298

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An abridged version of the 1937 an-thropological study of the Azande of the southern Sudan, the theoretical insights of which have proven increasingly influential among both anthropologists and others

A Witch's Garden

A Witch's Garden PDF

Author: Miriam Young

Publisher:

Published: 1973

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780689303234

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Convinced that Mrs. Matthews, the new neighbor, is a witch, twelve-year-old Jenny debates whether to expose her or exorcise her.

Epitome of Copernican Astronomy and Harmonies of the World

Epitome of Copernican Astronomy and Harmonies of the World PDF

Author: Johannes Kepler

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2012-07-03

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1615921974

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The brilliant German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), one of the founders of modern astronomy, revolutionized the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe with his three laws of motion: that the planets move not in circular but elliptical orbits, that their speed is greatest when nearest the sun, and that the sun and planets form an integrated system. This volume contains two of his most important works: The Epitome of Copernican Astronomy (books 4 and 5 of which are translated here) is a textbook of Copernican science, remarkable for the prominence given to physical astronomy and for the extension to the Jovian system of the laws recently discovered to regulate the motions of the Planets. Harmonies of the World (book 5 of which is translated here) expounds an elaborate system of celestial harmonies depending on the varying velocities of the planets.