276°
Posted 20 hours ago

The Alchemist’s Secret (Ben Hope, Book 1)

£9.9£99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

Zosimos’s orientation toward a central goal (metallic transmutation), his insightful engagement with the practical problems in reaching it, his search for the means of surmounting these problems, and his formulation and application of theoretical principles clearly underscore his writings as something new. Zosimos’s texts witness a coherent program of research that draws on both material and intellectual resources. He describes a wide array of useful apparatus—for distillation, sublimation, filtration, fixation, and so forth—in great detail.

During the Middle Ages, alchemy became closely associated with Christian theology and mysticism, with alchemists such as Paracelsus and John Dee seeking to uncover the hidden secrets of the universe. Their writings often contained mystical and spiritual elements, as well as practical instructions for conducting experiments and creating potions and elixirs.

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Other notable alchemists throughout history include Mary the Jewess, who is credited with inventing the bain-marie or double boiler, and Nicolas Flamel, who is said to have discovered the philosopher’s stone and achieved immortality. I started reading this book prepared to roll my eyes and groan at the implausibility and impossibility that usually makes up the bulk of such novels, half expecting some miracle of alchemy, half some ludicrous stunt defying all laws of physics. Don't get me wrong - there's always entertainment in those novels - but this one keeps it within the bounds of plausible and even believable story telling. Many of these instruments are adapted from cooking utensils or items used in perfumery or other crafts. Zosimos did not devise all these instruments himself, indicating how developed practical chrysopoeia must already have become by the start of the fourth century AD. The writings of his predecessors form a key resource for him, and he cites them frequently. One of the most prominent authorities is named Maria—sometimes called Maria Judaea or Mary the Jew—and Zosimos credits her with the development of a broad range of apparatus and techniques. Maria’s techniques include a method of gentle, even heating using a bath of hot water rather than an open flame. This simple but useful invention preserved the legacy of Maria the ancient alchemist, not only for the rest of alchemy’s history, but even down to the present day. It is her name that remains attached to the bain-marie or bagno maria of French and Italian cookery. Hope is a slightly more atypical action hero - the education and extreme training, the tragic past, the tortured soul striving to make things right - but not overstatedly so. He just gets on and does what he has to do. He is likeable, which goes a long way to keeping the reader interested.

Ieşi în fugă pe poartă, şchiopătând uşor din cauza piciorului beteag, şi o luă pe cărarea îngustă dintre case, îndreptându-se spre întunericul de sub copacii dincolo de care dispăruse omul. It seems that everyone – from the Nazis during WW2 and powerful Catholic organisation Gladius Domini – wants to unearth the secrets of immortality. The Ben Hope series is a must-read for fans of Dan Brown, Lee Child and Mark Dawson. Join the millions of readers who get breathless with anticipation when the countdown to the new Ben Hope thriller begins… Examples of transmutational alchemy’s continuation after its 18th-century ‘demise’ probably form only the visible tip of the iceberg.it was all too easy to project subjective meanings, beliefs or wishful thinking onto a centuries-old stone carving whose creator was no longer around to say otherwise...too many people were desperate for alternative versions of history...whole subcultures grew up around these myths, rewriting the past like a movie script."

The document is alleged to contain the formula for the elixir of life, discovered by the brilliant alchemist Fulcanelli decades before. But it soon becomes apparent that others are hunting this most precious of treasures – for far more evil ends.Mariani was born in St Andrews in Scotland and studied Modern Languages and Film Studies at Oxford University. [3] He now resides in west Wales, where he first got the idea for the character Ben Hope when out walking. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he worked in various jobs, including as a translator, professional musician and freelance journalist. He has cited his interests outside of writing to be shooting, archery, photography and astronomy; he is a supporter of the Woodland Trust and the World Wide Fund for Nature. [4] [5] [6] Bibliography [ edit ] Ben Hope [ edit ] Un fulger scălda în lumină curtea din jurul lui, precum şi toată întinderea străvechiului sat de pe stânci. De cealaltă parte a zidului grădinii casei sale de ţară se aflau biserica Saint-Jean, construită în secolul al X-lea, şi cimitirul ei simplu, cu pietre de mormânt ciobite şi acoperite de iederă. Fulgerul care brăzda cerul îşi aruncă lumina strălucitoare asupra acoperişurilor caselor şi a peisajului sălbatic de dincolo de ele, toate scufundându-se din nou în întuneric o secundă mai târziu, când bubui tunetul. Cu hainele şiroind de apă, părintele Pascal împinse zăvorul, încuind în interiorul sigur al coteţului găinile care cârâiau. John describes a series of sublimations of mercury with vitriol and saltpeter, followed by digestions and distillations. Despite the apparently clear directions, however, his first step will not work in a modern laboratory if followed verbatim. The sublimate “white as snow” that John describes making is undoubtedly mercuric chloride; therefore, the starting mixture must have included common salt, but this substance is not mentioned in the list of ingredients. There are two possible explanations. First, John’s saltpeter might have been quite impure and contained a large quantity of common salt. In fact, his book contains an annotation toward the end that notes how crude saltpeter ordinarily contains salt, and gives a method for purifying it by fractional crystallization. The second possibility is that John intentionally left out the crucial ingredient as a way of preserving secrecy. If this is the case, then it is significant that the end of his book includes a rather out-of-place paragraph describing the general importance of table salt, its ubiquity, its use in purifying metals, and so forth, and then states that “the whole secret is in salt.” Whichever explanation is correct, the historical message is the same: alchemical recipes have to be read with care. Those that seem unworkable need not reflect negatively on the author’s abilities or veracity, but might rather indicate a “hidden ingredient”—either something present as an unsuspected impurity or something artfully omitted. While alchemy may seem like a pseudoscience, it played a significant role in the development of modern chemistry. Many of the tools and methods used in chemistry today were developed by alchemists. For example, alchemists were the first to use distillation to separate substances, and they were also the first to use chemical symbols to represent elements.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment