For over 700 years the international language of science was Arabic. Surveying the golden age of Arabic science, the author reintroduces such figures as the Iraqi physicist Ibn al-Haytham, who practised the modern scientific method over half a century before Bacon.

In this book, the author opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and relates the rise of the capitalist economy to the Calvinist belief in the moral value of hard work and the fulfillment of one's worldly duties.

'Nonsense is the breath of my nostrils', wrote Edward Lear (1812-88), and this collection demonstrates the varied ways in which he pursued his philosophy of life. Gently pointing out human follies and the absurdities of the conventional Victorian society in which he lived, Lear's nonsense has enchanted children and adults alike for generations.