**"A treasure trove of myths and terror… Atmospheric as hell… Immersive."―**The TimesBased on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse.Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in W...

WHAT IF? A COLLECTION OF SHORT FICTION BY J. PAUL COOPER includes both previously published and new short stories by the author.Science Fiction"The Equation" is a story about a university professor who is targeted by an alien race because he discovers a working model of the light speed equation. "How Jason and George Saved the Earth" describes how a couple of drunk university students save the Earth from enslavement by an alien fleet, and have no idea what they have accomplis...

Caslem, Earth's first deep-space colony is attacked by a pair of assassins. A small DNA sample proves they belong to a species known as Therloxians, nicknamed Teddy Bears by humans. To provide them with an alibi, Karzon, the planet that hired the assassins, has them registered as prisoners at a mining complex on the Karzonian home planet.Fearing that Earth computers have been hacked, the Earth Security Divison has to find and train someone who is off the grid. Coulter Hazlow, a stu...

A complete History of Aston Martin at Le Mans (1928-2005)

Jack is happy living with his friend Jennifer, who works at Coastal City University. The cat becomes extremely jealous when Jennifer starts dating John, a Police Officer who works in the nearby town of Split River. Jack is convinced that John is trying to get rid of him, so he's not pleased when they get married and move into John's house. Jack thinks he's all alone, until he meets the cats of the Split River Cat Patrol. When he becomes a member, the Split River Cat Patrol agrees to protec...

What does it mean to truly “think of not thinking”? >This timeless question, posed in a brief yet profound dialogue between the Chinese Chan master Yüeh Shan and a nameless monk, opens the doorway to one of Zen’s most important and misunderstood teachings: shikantaza, or “just sitting.” >Thinking’s Bad Rap invites readers into the radical non-dual vision of Eihei Dōgen (1200–1253), the brilliant Japanese Zen master and founder of the Soto school. Drawing on Dōgen’s writings, koans, and pra...

This book draws on a framework of enregisterment and indexicality to chart the ways in which the Yorkshire dialect came to be associated with particular linguistic repertoires and social stereotypes from the nineteenth century through to today. Cooper situates the work within a historical enregisterment framework, rooted in an ideological approach to the study of language.Focusing on representations of the Yorkshire dialect in a corpus of nineteenth-century writing, comprising poet...

In this book, Cooper brings together psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism by offering a comprehensive and integrated model, described as "The Realizational Model", that is consistent with the core concepts of Soto Zen Buddhism and psychoanalytic practice.Focusing primarily on Soto Zen Buddhism as presented in the original writings of the Japanese scholar monk Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253), and supported and elaborated by relevant contemporary scholarship in relation to the writings of the Bri...

Digital Theology is a rapidly emerging field of academic research and gaining traction with scholars of Computer Science, Theology, Sociology of Religion and the wider Humanities.This book explores Digital Theology from a Computer Science perspective, providing a comprehensive definition of the subject and setting the agenda for future work in the field for both academics and practitioners. A range of Digital Theology case studies highlight the challenges, and suc...

Unlike IQ, emotional competence can be nurtured and developed, and is a key factor in physical and mental health, social competence, academic achievement and other aspects in the personal and social development of children and young people.Promoting Emotional Education connects with the contemporary shift from an exclusively academic focus towards a more balanced and broader approach to education, with an emphasis on both academic and emotional literacy. The book suggests adopting ...

Resilience is a set of qualities that enable children to adapt and transform, to overcome risk and adversity, and to develop social competence, problem-solving skills, autonomy and a sense of purpose. For children and young people it is as vital to possess these qualities in school environments as in the family and the community at large.This handbook for teachers and educators explores ways of nurturing resilience in vulnerable students. It proposes a new, positive way of thinking...

Positive Alternatives to School Exclusion looks at what schools can do to build more harmonious communities and engage students - particularly those at risk of exclusion - more productively in all areas of school life. It describes the Positive Alternatives to School Exclusion Project, a multi-phase, collaborative initiative based at the School of Education, University of Cambridge.Drawing on the perspectives of staff and pupils, the authors provide detailed case studies of...