From the author of Binding Chaos, this book brings us back to the beginning. The beginning of designing a better method of governance and way of living is to look at the structure of our self.

The scope and originality of this book present a radical challenge to a seldom examined worldview. With an extremely wide reach and richness of detail, The Creation of Me, Them and Us sets the stage for further discussions of institutional reform by tackling the fundamental questions of who are we, what do we want, and why do we act the way we do?

These questions (and answers) are fundamental in understanding a world that may seem incomprehensible today. Welcome to the world of Binding Chaos, a groundbreaking series that introduces an enlightening and thought-provoking new framework to decode social behavior and institutions.

Riches and knowledge of India have attracted many foreign invasions. Each time, Indian culture has emerged stronger. Like a great melting pot, India has assimilated invading cultures and yet maintained its glorious core.

What are the strengths of Indian culture that have enabled it to survive for thousands of years? Were there persistent scientific endeavors that shaped Indian society? What kind of discoveries were Indians trying to make when three thousand years ago they were dealing with such large numbers as "1,971,956,574 years"?

How did ancient Indians figure out that if you pierced the globe and emerged on the opposite side of the globe from India, you would find an advanced culture (Americas)? What is the driving force behind the predominance of vegetarianism in India? What enabled them to perform plastic surgery more than two thousand years ago?

Did they know the role of the spleen in driving the characteristic red pigmentation of blood? Has the Om (ॐ) symbol been discovered in the ancient Americas?

In the mold of his acclaimed History of Beauty, renowned cultural critic Umberto Eco's On Ugliness is an exploration of the monstrous and the repellant in visual culture and the arts.

What is the voyeuristic impulse behind our attraction to the gruesome and the horrible? Where does the magnetic appeal of the sordid and the scandalous come from? Is ugliness also in the eye of the beholder?

Eco's encyclopedic knowledge and captivating storytelling skills combine in this ingenious study of the Ugly, revealing that what we often shield ourselves from and shun in everyday life is what we're most attracted to subliminally.

Topics range from Milton's Satan to Goethe's Mephistopheles; from witchcraft and medieval torture tactics to martyrs, hermits, and penitents; from lunar births and disemboweled corpses to mythic monsters and sideshow freaks; and from Decadentism and picturesque ugliness to the tacky, kitsch, and camp, and the aesthetics of excess and vice.

With abundant examples of painting and sculpture ranging from ancient Greek amphorae to Bosch, Brueghel, and Goya among others, and with quotations from the most celebrated writers and philosophers of each age, this provocative discussion explores in-depth the concepts of evil, depravity, and darkness in art and literature.

Was God telling the truth when he said, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart"? In his #1 bestseller The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel examined the claims of Christ, reaching the hard-won verdict that Jesus is God's unique son. In The Case for Faith, Strobel turns his skills to the most persistent emotional objections to belief—the eight "heart barriers" to faith.

This compelling and thought-provoking book on the Christian faith includes two all-new chapters, a current list of recommended resources for further study, and a new discussion guide. It's for those who may be feeling attracted to Jesus but who are faced with difficult questions standing squarely in their path. For Christians, it will deepen their convictions and give them fresh confidence in defending their faith to skeptical friends, or during the hardest of times, when they have to defend their faith to themselves in moments of doubt.

Explore the tough questions:

• "Since evil and suffering exist, a loving God cannot"
• "Since miracles contradict science, they cannot be true"
• "Evolution explains life, so God isn't needed"
• "God isn't worthy of worship if he kills innocent children"
• "It's offensive to claim Jesus is the only way to God"
• "A loving God would never torture people in hell"
• "Church history is littered with oppression and violence"
• "I still have doubts, so I can't be a Christian"

Also available: The Case for Faith Spanish edition, kids' edition, and student edition. Plus, be sure to check out Lee Strobel's entire collection of Case for... books: The Case for Christ, The Case for a Creator, The Case for Grace, and more!

Miracles: A Preliminary Study is a profound exploration by C.S. Lewis into the realm of supernatural events. In this text, Lewis challenges the rationalists, agnostics, and deists on their own grounds, presenting a compelling argument for the existence of divine intervention.

Lewis argues that a Christian must not only accept but also rejoice in miracles as a testimony of the personal involvement of God in his creation. He employs his characteristic lucidity and wit to develop his argument, providing readers with a poetic and joyous affirmation that miracles do indeed occur in our everyday lives.

The central miracle asserted by Christians, according to Lewis, is the Incarnation. He states, "They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this." This key statement forms the backbone of his discourse, offering a unique philosophical inquiry into the nature of miracles.