Search results for ""Author James Miller""

The Dunbars of Ackergill and Hempriggs emerged in the late 1600s as one of the largest landowners in Caithness. As such they played a major part in the history of the county, a role revealed in the family papers with their wide variety of documents, including personal letters and legal missives. Readers will learn about the Dunbars selling Caithness grain in the Lowlands, coping with the effects of the last Jacobite rising, handling disputes with their neighbours, arranging elections, dealing with debt - and that is just in the 18th century. During the Napoleonic wars the Dunbars recruited a fencible regiment called the Caithness Legion that saw action in Ireland. At the same time the British Fisheries Society acquired land from the family and began to develop Pulteneytown as a major herring fishing port. An agricultural revolution swept over the estates, leading to the enclosing of fields, disputes over common land, evictions and refurbishment of farms. In the mid-19th century, when the family home at Ackergill Tower was refashioned by the architect David Bryce, the Dunbars adopted the lifestyle of the Victorian country gentry as well as finding careers in the Empire. With family trees, photographs, maps and documents, the book presents an absorbing, intriguing and, at times, amusing account of the social and economic life of the Dunbars over more than three hundred years, using unique messages from the past, never before made public. A fascinating insight into life in northern Scotland during centuries of change.

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How can Daoism, China's indigenous religion, give us the aesthetic, ethical, political, and spiritual tools to address the root causes of our ecological crisis and construct a sustainable future? In China's Green Religion, James Miller shows how Daoism orients individuals toward a holistic understanding of religion and nature. Explicitly connecting human flourishing to the thriving of nature, Daoism fosters a "green" subjectivity and agency that transforms what it means to live a flourishing life on earth. Through a groundbreaking reconstruction of Daoist philosophy and religion, Miller argues for four key, green insights: a vision of nature as a subjective power that informs human life; an anthropological idea of the porous body based on a sense of qi flowing through landscapes and human beings; a tradition of knowing founded on the experience of transformative power in specific landscapes and topographies; and an aesthetic and moral sensibility based on an affective sensitivity to how the world pervades the body and the body pervades the world. Environmentalists struggle to raise consciousness for their cause, Miller argues, because their activism relies on a quasi-Christian concept of "saving the earth." Instead, environmentalists should integrate nature and culture more seamlessly, cultivating through a contemporary intellectual vocabulary a compelling vision of how the earth materially and spiritually supports human flourishing.

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How can Daoism, China's indigenous religion, give us the aesthetic, ethical, political, and spiritual tools to address the root causes of our ecological crisis and construct a sustainable future? In China's Green Religion, James Miller shows how Daoism orients individuals toward a holistic understanding of religion and nature. Explicitly connecting human flourishing to the thriving of nature, Daoism fosters a "green" subjectivity and agency that transforms what it means to live a flourishing life on earth.Through a groundbreaking reconstruction of Daoist philosophy and religion, Miller argues for four key, green insights: a vision of nature as a subjective power that informs human life; an anthropological idea of the porous body based on a sense of qi flowing through landscapes and human beings; a tradition of knowing founded on the experience of transformative power in specific landscapes and topographies; and an aesthetic and moral sensibility based on an affective sensitivity to how the world pervades the body and the body pervades the world. Environmentalists struggle to raise consciousness for their cause, Miller argues, because their activism relies on a quasi-Christian concept of "saving the earth." Instead, environmentalists should integrate nature and culture more seamlessly, cultivating through a contemporary intellectual vocabulary a compelling vision of how the earth materially and spiritually supports human flourishing.

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Spanning the centuries and crossing the globe, this engaging introduction covers everything Daoist, from the religion of the ancients to 21st century T’ai Chi and meditation. Complete with a timeline of Daoist history and a full glossary, Daoism: A Beginner's Guide will prove invaluable not only to students, but also to general readers who wish to learn more about the origins and nature of a profound tradition, and about its role and relevance in our fast-moving 21st century existence.

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Scapa Flow was one of the world's great naval bases and the scene of many of the major events of twentieth-century naval history. During both World Wars, the Royal Navy made Scapa the home for its capital ships, and thousands of servicemen and women were posted to Orkney. From here the Grand Fleet sailed for Jutland in 1916, from here the escorts for the Russian convoys set off, and it was in this beautiful, bleak anchorage that the German High Seas fleet committed the greatest act of suicide ever seen at sea – 'The Grand Scuttle' – before being later raised and scrapped in the most astonishing feat of maritime salvage in history. It was also in Scapa that the last photographs of Kitchener were taken as he boarded HMS Hampshire, shortly before she was sunk by mine off Marwick Head. Scapa is also the grave of many who fought for their country in both World Wars. In its silent waters lie the wrecks of the battleship Vanguard, blown apart by an explosion in 1917, and the Royal Oak, sunk by U-47 in a spectacular raid at the beginning of World War II . Here the first Luftwaffe raids on Britain occured, here too Italian prisoners-of-war built both the spectacular Churchill causeways and the exquisite chapel on the island of Lamb Holm. In this book, illustrated with over 130 archive photographs, James Miller traces the story of this remarkable place, weaving together history, eyewitness accounts and personal experience to capture the life and spirit of Scapa Flow when it was home to thousands of service personnel and the most powerful fleet in the world.

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From the humorous to the bleak, the dystopian to the dog-filled, there’s a story for every occasion, and an occasion for every story. With stories told in 140 characters or less, A Small Fiction delivers brilliant yet brief tales destined to stick with readers long after they turn the page. Through the genre lenses of science fiction, fantasy, contemporary fiction, folklore, and humour, each of these illustrated micro-fictions is a peephole that reveals a bigger world.

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This brief approaches General Relativity from a planetary navigation perspective, delving into the unconventional mathematical methods required to produce computer software for space missions. It provides a derivation of the Einstein field equations and describes experiments performed on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, spanning General Relativity Theory from the fundamental assumptions to experimental verification.The software used for planetary missions is derived from mathematics that use matrix notation. An alternative is to use Einstein summation notation, which enables the mathematics to be presented in a compact form but makes the geometry difficult to understand. In this book, the relationship of matrix notation to summation notation is shown. The purpose is to enable the reader to derive the mathematics used in the software in either matrix notation or summation notation. This brief is a useful tool for advanced students and young professionals embarking on careers in planetary navigation.

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Lives and the Eminent Philosophers of Diogenes Laertius is a crucial source for much of what we know about the origins of philosophy in Greece. The work covers a larger number of figures and a longer period of time than any other extant ancient source, from the Presocratic Thales to Epicurus. Despite its importance, a complete translation of the work has not appeared in English since 1925. Working from the new, authoritative Greek text established by Tiziano Dorandi (CUP, 2013), translator Pamela Mensch's goal has been to render Diogenes into an English prose that is fluent yet faithful to the original Greek. The annotations are aimed at the general reader rather than the specialist, and explain the various references to people, places, practices, and countless mythological characters as they occur. The translation is accompanied by dozens of artworks to illustrate the ongoing influence of many of the philosophical anecdotes compiled by Diogenes, and by newly commissioned essays by James Allen, Anthony Grafton, Ingrid Rowland, and others to shed light on Diogenes' historical and intellectual contexts as well as his rich reception history.

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Until now, no single work has been devoted to both a scholarly understanding of the complexities of the Daoist tradition and a critical exploration of its contribution to recent environmental concerns. The authors in this volume consider the intersection of Daoism and ecology, looking at the theoretical and historical implications associated with a Daoist approach to the environment. They also analyze perspectives found in Daoist religious texts and within the larger Chinese cultural context in order to delineate key issues found in the classical texts. Through these analyses, they assess the applicability of modern-day Daoist thought and practice in China and the West, with respect to the contemporary ecological situation.

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This approachable method of carving is the perfect starting point for beginners to fall in love with woodcarving, or for experienced carvers to try something new! Featuring 15 wood animal projects that focus on the flat-plane style of woodcarving, each design has little to no rounded edges and can be accomplished in just one day. From rabbits, ravens, and mountain goats to polar bears, sheep, reindeer, and more, learn the super simple Scandinavian flat-plane techniques, further your skills, and discover a new favorite carving method! Author James Miller is an award-winning Scandinavian carver and a contributor to the acclaimed Woodcarving Illustrated magazine.

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The ultimate beginner-friendly project guide to whittling flat-plane carvings with a modern twist! Whittling Workbook is perfect for anyone seeking a range of easy wood carvings they can accomplish with just one knife – including roughing out. All you need is a block of wood and one knife to achieve any of the 15 wood carving projects featured within these pages! From a simple strawberry, whimsical wand, and magical mermaid to a sea captain, Martian, pig, and so much more, each project includes detailed step-by-step instructions to walk you through the entire process from start to finish. Also included are insightful overviews on basic carving cuts, painting and finishing techniques, safety notes, and how to join a carving community. Author James Miller is a recent college graduate and a protégé of decorated Scandinavian-style carver, Harley Refsal. James has been a regular contributor to Woodcarving Illustrated since 2010 and published his first book, Whittling Flat-Plane Animals, in 2020.

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